Lazarus Saturday

Our Lord has introduced a most forcible argument for preserving simplicity, and being zealous for the faith, that we should not after the manner of faithless Jews put one thing in practice, while in words we pretend another, namely, that at the last day the hidden thoughts accusing or else excusing one another, shall be seen to reveal the secrets of our mind. Whence it is added, There is nothing hid which shall not be revealed.

Nothing, however, is covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. And how in the present age does the hypocrisy of many long remain hidden? Therefore, it must be understood about the future time, when God will judge the hidden things of men. For just as one of the friends of blessed Job very truly said: The praise of the wicked is brief, and the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment. If his arrogance rises to the heavens, and his head touches the clouds, he will be lost in the end like dung (Job. XX). In the end, he says, he will be lost, who appeared to flourish at the beginning. Therefore, the sense is: Beware of emulating simulators, because surely the time will come, when both your virtue will be revealed to all, and their hypocrisy. But what follows:

Second, with regard to the certitude of the cause rendering credible information, he adds: Nothing however is covered that shall not be revealed, nor hidden that shall not be known: so that by covered is understood knowledge lying hidden in the intellect, and by hidden, delight lurking in the affections: both of which are manifest to God, according to that passage of Jeremiah 17: "I the Lord, searching hearts and reins, who give to each one" etc.; in the Psalm: "God, who searches hearts and reins." And therefore, because it will be his to make manifest and reveal all hidden things in the judgment, according to that passage of Wisdom 6: "Power has been given to you by the Lord, and strength from the Most High, who will examine your works and search out your thoughts"; and First Corinthians 4: "The Lord will come, who will illuminate the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of hearts" etc.: and thus all evils are to be avoided, however hidden they may be, because all things will be made manifest in the judgment.

He either then says this concerning that time when God shall judge the secrets of men, or He says it because however much a man may endeavour to hide the good deeds of another by discredit, good of its own nature cannot be concealed.

Since, then, He had censured their hypocrisy, which covered the secrets of the heart, and obscured with superficial offices the mysteries of unbelief, because (while holding the key of knowledge) it would neither enter in itself, nor permit others to enter in, He therefore adds, "There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; neither hid, which shall not be known," in order that no one should suppose that He was attempting the revelation and the recognition of an hitherto unknown and hidden god.

Though the Pharisees, he says, think to hide behind hypocrisy, feigning virtue for themselves, nevertheless, "there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed." For all things—both words and thoughts—will be presented in complete nakedness at the Last Judgment (1 Cor. 4:5). And even in the present life, much that is secret is usually brought to light. Therefore, "what you have said in the darkness" and "what you have spoken inside the house" and in secret, "will be proclaimed" in the light and from the rooftops. Apparently, He says this to the disciples, but meanwhile directs it against the Pharisees, hinting at their plots, and although He speaks, apparently, to the disciples, He expresses to the Pharisees something like this: Pharisees! What you plotted in darkness, in your dark hearts, wishing to ensnare Me, will be heard and known in the light, for "I am the light" (John 8:12), and you cannot hide from Me, but in Me—the Light—everything that your darkness devises is discerned. And what you decided among yourselves in a whisper became as well known to Me as if it were proclaimed from the housetops. And you can understand this also in the following way: the light is the Gospel, and the high rooftops are the lofty souls of the apostles. What the Pharisees were plotting was afterwards proclaimed and heard in the light of the Gospel, when upon the lofty souls of the apostles stood the great Preacher – the Holy Spirit. After the Lord exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, turned His disciples away from it, and meanwhile again struck the Pharisees with the words: "what you have said in the dark will be heard in the light," He now addresses His friends with a discourse on more perfect matters. Having already uprooted the thorns, He sows the good seed.

Or this is addressed to the Pharisees; as if He said, O Pharisees, what you have spoken in darkness, that is, all your endeavours to tempt me in the secrets of your hearts, shall be heard in the light, for I am the light, and in My light shall be known whatsoever your darkness devises. And what you have spoken in the ear and in closets, that is, whatsoever in whispers you have poured into one another's ears, shall be proclaimed on the housetops, that is, was as audible to me as if it had been cried aloud on the housetops. Herein also you may understand that the light is the Gospel, but the housetop the lofty souls of the Apostles. But whatever things the Pharisees plotted together, were afterwards divulged and heard in the light of the Gospel, the great Herald, the Holy Spirit, presiding over the souls of the Apostles.

For what you have spoken in darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the ear in chambers will be proclaimed on the rooftops, not only in the future, when all hidden things of the heart will be brought to light, but also in the present time it can be suitably interpreted. For the things which the apostles once spoke or suffered in the darkness of oppressions and shadows of prisons are now proclaimed publicly throughout the world by the Church, now made glorious by their acts being read. Indeed, what he says 'will be proclaimed on the rooftops' refers to the custom of the province of Palestine, where they are accustomed to sit on rooftops. For they do not make their roofs elevated to peaks in our manner, but they make them flat in a level form. Hence, the law commanded that he who built a new house should build a parapet around the roof, so that bloodshed may not occur there if someone were to fall and be precipitated down. And in the construction of the temple, we read: He also covered the house with cedar boards, and built a story over the entire house five cubits in height. Therefore, it will be proclaimed on the rooftops, and it will be said openly for all to hear.

Or He says this, because all the things which the Apostles of old spoke and suffered amid the darkness of oppression and the gloom of the prison, arc now that the Church is made known through the world and their acts are read, publicly proclaimed. The words, shall be proclaimed on the housetops, are spoken according to the manner of the country of Palestine, where they are accustomed to live on the housetops. For their roofs were not after our way raised to a point, but flat shaped, and level at the top. Therefore He says, proclaimed on the housetops; that is, spoken openly in the hearing of all men.

And what is more, for greater confusion they will be made manifest even to all; on account of which he adds: Because what you have said in darkness shall be spoken in the light. He says this with regard to manifestation in respect of sight. An example of this is found in David in Second Kings 12, where the Lord said to David through Nathan: "You did that thing in secret; but I will do this thing in the sight of all Israel and in the sight of this sun." For the light of the sun makes other things manifest to sight.

But with regard to manifestation in respect of hearing it is said: And what you have spoken in the ear in private chambers shall be proclaimed on the housetops, that is, with the rest hearing. This indeed will happen in the judgment, when, namely, according to that passage of John 5, "all who are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of God." And then the whisperings of detraction will be made manifest, according to that passage of Wisdom 1: "He who speaks wicked things cannot be hidden, nor shall the correcting judgment pass him by. In his thoughts" etc. And therefore counsel is given in Ecclesiastes 10: "In your thought do not detract from the king, and in the secret of your chamber do not curse the rich, for the birds of the sky will carry your voice."

On account of the judgment, therefore, which will manifest all things in the future, all hypocrisy is to be avoided in the present age: Sirach 1: "Do not be a hypocrite in the sight of men, lest God reveal your hidden things and cast you down in the midst of the assembly." And note that this is the most noble reason why hypocrisy is to be avoided, namely the universal and complete manifestation of interior things, which is most opposed to the dissimulation of hypocrites. This manifestation, however, will be accomplished through Christ, "who is the splendor of the Father's glory and the figure of His substance, sustaining all things by the word of His power." And because He is the innermost splendor, it belongs to Him to uncover all things: Sirach 23: "The eyes of the Lord are far brighter than the sun, looking about upon all the ways of men and the depths of the abyss and beholding the hearts of men," etc. But because He is the living Word, therefore all things are open to Him, and He makes all things manifest as the Word: Hebrews 4: "The word of God is living and effective and more piercing than any two-edged sword, reaching even to the division of the soul," etc., continuing to: "No creature is invisible in His sight." And therefore Christ the judge, because He will uncover all things in the judgment, is said to come "as lightning" and to "descend with the voice of the Archangel," because He will most clearly reveal all things to all.

The Gnostic, then, is impressed with the closest likeness, that is, with the mind of the Master; which He being possessed of, commanded and recommended to His disciples and to the prudent. Comprehending this, as He who taught wished, and receiving it in its grand sense, he teaches worthily "on the housetops" those capable of being built to a lofty height; and begins the doing of what is spoken, in accordance with the example of life. For He enjoined what is possible. And, in truth, the kingly man and Christian ought to be ruler and leader. For we are commanded to be lords over not only the wild beasts without us, but also over the wild passions within ourselves.

Or this is addressed to the Pharisees; as if He said, O Pharisees, what you have spoken in darkness, that is, all your endeavours to tempt me in the secrets of your hearts, shall be heard in the light, for I am the light, and in My light shall be known whatsoever your darkness devises. And what you have spoken in the ear and in closets, that is, whatsoever in whispers you have poured into one another's ears, shall be proclaimed on the housetops, that is, was as audible to me as if it had been cried aloud on the housetops. Herein also you may understand that the light is the Gospel, but the housetop the lofty souls of the Apostles. But whatever things the Pharisees plotted together, were afterwards divulged and heard in the light of the Gospel, the great Herald, the Holy Spirit, presiding over the souls of the Apostles.

Since unbelief springs from two causes, either from a deeply-seated malice or a sudden fear; lest any one from terror should be compelled to deny the God whom he acknowledges in his heart, He well adds, And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, &c.

He tells us also, that that death is not terrible for which at a far more costly rate of interest immortality is to be purchased.

For our natural death is not the end of punishment: and therefore He concludes that death is the cessation of bodily punishment, but the punishment of the soul is everlasting. And God alone is to be feared, to whose power nature prescribes not, but is herself subject; adding, Yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

But I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do nothing more. If the persecutors of the saints, having killed their bodies, can do nothing more against them, then they rage with futile madness, who throw the dead bodies of martyrs to be torn apart by beasts and birds, or to be dissolved into the air, or to be dissolved in the waves, or to be reduced to ashes by flames, since they can in no way hinder the omnipotence of God from bringing them back to life by resurrection.

Their rage then is but useless raving, who cast the lifeless limbs of martyrs to be torn in pieces by wild beasts and birds, seeing that they can in no wise prevent the omnipotence of God from quickening and bringing them to life again.

It is necessary that we fear God. Whence in the Gospel: "Do not fear those who kill the body and after this have nothing more that they can do; but I will show you whom you should fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into gehenna." I would prefer to be in the greatest punishment of this world for seven thousand years than to endure the least eternal punishment.

But I say to you, my friends, etc. After He instructed them to guard against deceitfulness, here secondly He strengthens them to repel timidity. To this end, however, He brings forward a twofold consideration, namely of the punishment of hell, into which no man can cast; and of the general providence, which no man can escape. The first looks to divine power; the second, to divine providence; and the first instills true fear; the second, true hope; and each of these is a remedy against worldly fear.

First, therefore, he calls them back from the fear of men, because they can do nothing with respect to the punishment of gehenna, which alone is to be feared. On account of which he says: But I say to you, my friends, that is, you who love me and are loved by me, according to that passage of John 16: "The Father himself loves you, because you have loved me," etc. To such he says: Be not terrified by those who kill the body, and after these things have nothing more that they can do. Do not fear the punishment of bodily death, because it is partial and momentary; whence Isaiah 51: "Who are you, that you should fear a mortal man and the son of man, who shall wither like grass?" and 1 Maccabees 2: "Fear not the words of a sinful man, for his glory is dung and worms," etc.; whence, because their power is transitory, it is not to be feared, nor are their punishments. Whence Seneca: "Death, exile, grief, pain are not punishments, but the tributes of living"; "what I owe I am prepared to pay, when the creditor calls upon me." And Chrysostom: "If we are to die freely after a little while, why do we not also die a little before, in the cause of God, with glory? If you have received an ox or a horse on loan, you work diligently and say: Perhaps tomorrow it will be taken from me. Why do you not do this with your body?"

Nor are they to be feared for the spirit, because they are done in the flesh and thus as it were outwardly, as in a garment: according to what is said in 2 Corinthians 5: "We would not be unclothed, but clothed upon." Therefore Chrysostom: "God made the body for the sake of the soul, and the enemy greatly envies and persecutes it; but the body is the garment of the soul. Just as, therefore, if someone tears another's garment, that person indeed feels the injury, but suffers no harm in his nature: so the soul feels the pain of killing, but suffers no harm in its nature." And therefore bodily punishment is not to be feared, nor he who inflicts it; but spiritual punishment is most greatly to be dreaded, and he alone who inflicts it.

To put it in another light, as being his friends, we should not fear death but rather imitate the faith of the holy ancestors. When he was tempted, the patriarch Abraham offered his only-begotten son Isaac, considering that God was able to raise him up even from the dead. What terror of death can assail us, now that life has abolished death? Christ is the resurrection and the life.

For it is not absolutely to every one that this discourse seems to apply, but to those who love God with their whole heart to whom it belongs to say, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Rom. 8:3.) But they who are not such, are tottering, and ready to fall down. Moreover our Lord says, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13.) How then is it not most ungrateful to Christ not to repay Him what we receive?

We must then consider that crowns and honours are prepared for the labours of those upon whom men are continually venting forth their indignation, and to them the death of the body is the end of their persecutions. Whence He adds, And after this have nothing more that they can do.

Notice that this commandment is not given to Jesus' servants but to his friends. "Do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do." The One to fear is he "who can destroy both soul and body in hell." He alone, "after he has killed," has "power to throw into hell." He throws into hell those who fear those who kill the body and do not fear "him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell." We may suppose that no matter who else has the hair of his head numbered, the verse is obviously true of those who are cut off for Jesus. We will confess the Son of God before people and not before gods, that he who is confessed may confess us in turn before God and his Father, and confess in heaven the one who confessed him on earth.

Wherefore, brethren, leaving willingly our sojourn in this present world, let us do the will of Him that called us, and not fear to depart out of this world. For the Lord saith, "Ye shall be as lambs in the midst of wolves." And Peter answered and said unto Him, "What, then, if the wolves shall tear in pieces the lambs?" Jesus said unto Peter, "The lambs have no cause after they are dead to fear the wolves; and in like manner, fear not ye them that kill you, and can do nothing more unto you; but fear Him who, after you are dead, has power over both soul and body to cast them into hell-fire." And consider, brethren, that the sojourning in the flesh in this world is but brief and transient, but the promise of Christ is great and wonderful, even the rest of the kingdom to come, and of life everlasting.

He then turns to His disciples with these words, "I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them which can only kill the body, and after that have no more power over you." They will, however, find Isaiah had already said, "See how the just man is taken away, and no man layeth it to heart.

For "a fire shall proceed before His face, and shall utterly burn His enemies; " striking down not the body only, but the souls too, into hell. Besides, the Lord Himself demonstrates the manner in which He threatens such as judge: "For with what judgment ye judge, judgment shall be given on you.

What was said before was directed not at them, but at the Pharisees. So, I say to you, My friends. For this word is not for everyone, but for those who have loved Him with all their soul and can say: "Who shall separate us from the love of God?" (Rom. 8:35). To such as these, this exhortation is fitting.

Fear him who, after he has killed, has the power to cast into Gehenna. For there are two kinds of persecutors: one openly raging, the other deceitfully and fraudulently flattering: wishing to arm and instruct us against both, the Savior commands us above to beware of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, and here not to fear the slaughter of executioners, because evidently after death neither the cruelty of the former nor the deceit of the latter is able to endure. Rather, it is the Lord, who always sees, that must be pleased, the Lord, who is always able to punish or liberate, that must be feared.

It is necessary that we fear God. Whence in the Gospel: "Do not fear those who kill the body and after this have nothing more that they can do; but I will show you whom you should fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into gehenna." I would prefer to be in the greatest punishment of this world for seven thousand years than to endure the least eternal punishment. The Apostle: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," because God afflicts for eternity. Consider the sublimity of divine power, the perspicacity of divine wisdom, and the severity of divine vengeance, that you may fear God.

On account of which he adds: But I will show you whom you should fear, so that by fear of him you may turn away from evil, according to that passage of Jeremiah 10: "Do not fear those things which can do neither evil nor good"; and afterward: "Who shall not fear you, O King of the nations," etc.

Therefore, that we may not fear worldly power, we must fear the divine; on account of which he says: Fear him who, after he has killed, has power to cast into gehenna: whence in the Psalm: "Let all the earth fear the Lord, and let all the inhabitants of the world be moved by him." And because this kind of fear is most useful and necessary, he therefore repeats: So I say to you, fear him. Whence Isaiah 8: "Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and let him be your dread, and let him be your terror"; and Jeremiah 5: "Will you not then fear me? and before my face," etc.

But as to the threats of the devil, fear them not at all, for he is powerless as the sinews of a dead man are powerless. Give ear to me, then, and fear Him who has all power, both to save and destroy, and keep His commandments, and ye will live to God.

"But I will show you whom ye shall fear: fear Him who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into hell" (meaning, of course, the Creator); "yea, I say unto you, fear Him." Now, it would here be enough for my purpose that He forbids offence being given to Him whom He orders to be feared; and that He orders Him to be respected whom He forbids to be offended; and that He who gives these commands belongs to that very God for whom He procures this fear, this absence of offence, and this respect.

"Do not be afraid," He says, "of those who kill the body" and can do nothing more to harm you. For the harm from those who injure the body does not amount to much. The body will suffer what is proper to it even if they do not harm it. But one should fear Him who punishes not only the body but also the soul, subjecting an immortal being to endless torments, and moreover in fire. In this way Christ trains His friends in spiritual courage, makes them witnesses, and drives away from them the fear of man. People, He says, extend their malice only against the perishable body, and the end of their schemes against us is bodily death. But when God punishes, He does not stop at the flesh alone, but the wretched soul itself is subjected to torments. Note from this that death brings sinners to punishment: they are punished here, being killed, and there they are cast into Gehenna. Examining this saying, you will understand something else as well. Notice, the Lord did not say: fear the one "who...after killing" "casts" into gehenna, but: "who...can cast." For sinners who die are not necessarily cast into gehenna, but it is within God's power to also forgive, for example, on account of those offerings and alms which are made on behalf of the dead and which bring no small benefit even to those who die in grievous sins. Thus, God does not unconditionally cast into gehenna after killing, but has the power to cast. Let us therefore also unceasingly devote ourselves to acts of mercy and prayers, and through them propitiate Him Who has the power to cast, but does not necessarily exercise this power, and is able also to forgive.

Here observe, that upon sinners death is sent as a punishment, since they are here tormented by destruction, and afterwards thrust down into hell. But if you will sift the words you will understand something farther. For He says not, "Who casts into hell," but has power to cast. For not every one dying in sin is forthwith thrust down into hell, but there is sometimes pardon given for the sake of the offerings and prayers which are made for the dead.

Our Lord then had instilled the virtue of simplicity, had awakened a courageous spirit. Their faith alone was wavering, and well did He strengthen it by adding with respect to things of less value, Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? and not one of them is forgotten before God. As if He said, If God forgets not the sparrows, how can He man?

But perhaps some one will say, How is it that the Apostle says, Does the Lord care for oxen? (1 Cor. 9:9.) whereas an ox is of more value than a sparrow; but to care for is one thing, to have knowledge another.

Or else; A good sparrow is one which nature has furnished with the power of flying; for nature has given us the grace of flying, pleasure has taken it away, which loads with meats the soul of the wicked, and moulds it towards the nature of a fleshly mass. The five senses of the body then, if they seek the food of earthly alloy, cannot fly back to the fruits of higher actions. A bad sparrow therefore is one which has lost its habit of flying through the fault of earthly grovelling; such are those sparrows which are sold for two farthings, namely, at the price of worldly luxury. For the enemy sets up his, as it were, captive slaves, at the very lowest price. But the Lord, being the fit judge of His own work, has redeemed at a great price us, His noble servants, whom He hath made in His own image.

Lastly, the numbering of the hairs is not to be taken with reference to the act of reckoning, but to the capability of knowing. Yet they are well said to be numbered, because those things which we wish to preserve we number.

If then such is the majesty of God, that a single sparrow or the number of our hair is not beside His knowledge, how unworthy is it to suppose that the Lord is either ignorant of the hearts of the faithful, or despises them so as to account them of less value. Hence He proceeds to conclude, Fear not then, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

(pluris estis) Now I ask the Arians, if God, as if disdaining to make all other things, made only His Son, but deputed all things to His Son; how is it that He extends His providence even to such trifling things as our hair, and the sparrows? For upon whatever things He exercises His providence, of these is He the Creator by His own word.

Are not five sparrows sold for two assaria, and not one of them is forgotten before God? If, he says, the smallest of animals, and those birds that fly through the air everywhere, cannot be forgotten by God, you who are made in the image of the Creator should not be frightened by those who kill the body, because he who governs the irrational does not cease to care for the rational. An assarius, which sells five sparrows, that is, they are sold for, is a type of very light weight, composed of two asses. Perhaps someone may ask how the Apostle says: Does God care for oxen? (1 Cor. 9) when certainly an ox is more valuable than a sparrow. But care is one thing, and knowledge is another. Lastly, the number of hairs, about which he consequently says:

The dipondius is a coin of the lightest weight, and equal to two asses.

Second, he calls back from the fear of men, because they can do nothing against the general protection of God: with regard to which he says: Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? Dipondius here is the name of a coin having two obols or asses. Whence Bede: "A dipondius is a weight composed of two asses. Now what in numbers is one, in weights is an as; what is two, that is a dipondius." With this agrees, nor does it disagree, what is said in Matthew 10: "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?" Because, as we see, when five eggs are sold for one denarius, two are given for an obol. A sparrow is therefore of small price, since so many are found for one denarius: yet not even it is excluded from divine protection. On account of which he adds: And not one of them is in forgetfulness before God, but rather is governed by divine providence, according to that passage of Wisdom 11: "You love all things that are, and hate nothing of those things which you have made: for you did not appoint anything out of hatred." From which it is apparent that divine providence extends itself even to the least things: nor does that passage of 1 Corinthians 9 contradict this: "Does God have care for oxen?" For that is understood of the care of special providence, by which he leads by the hand along the way of eternal salvation: but this is understood of the providence of general administration and conservation, of which it is said in the Psalm: "Who gives to beasts their food, and to the young ravens that call upon him."

And note that he says: Is not in forgetfulness before God: saying less and signifying more, because nothing happens to them except according to divine providence ordaining it; whence Matthew 10: "Not one of them shall fall upon the ground without your Father." And yet sparrows fall most easily: whence they are said to have the falling sickness: and for this reason he most aptly sets forth the example of them as of a manifest thing. From which it is gathered as from the lesser, that divine providence is most especially attentive to the governance of man.

To bestow yet another means of comfort on our minds, he forcibly added that five sparrows are scarcely perhaps worth a penny, and yet God does not forget even one of them. He also said that the separate hairs of your head are all numbered. Consider how great care he takes of those that love him. The Preserver of the universe extends his aid to things so worthless and descends to the smallest animals. How can he forget those who love him, especially when he takes so great care of them? He condescends to visit them, to know exactly each particular of their state, and even how many are the hairs of their heads.…Let us not doubt that with a rich hand he will give his grace to those who love him. He will not permit us to fall into temptation. If, by his wise purpose he permits us to be taken in the snare in order that we may gain glory by suffering, he will most assuredly grant us the power to bear it.

(ordin.) Now that which in number is one is in weight an ass, but that which is two is a dipondius.

Literally, hereby is signified the quickness of the Divine foresight, which reaches even to the least things. But mystically, the five sparrows justly represent the spiritual senses, which have perception of high and heavenly things: beholding God, hearing the Divine voice, tasting of the bread of life, smelling the perfume of Christ's anointing, handling the Word of Life. And these being sold for two farthings, that is, being lightly esteemed by those who count as perishing whatever is of the Spirit, are not forgotten before God. But God is said to be forgetful of some because of their iniquities.

To this I answered, "Those, therefore, who do wrong are not guilty, because they wrong the just by the judgment of God." Then Peter said, "They indeed sin greatly, for they have given themselves to sin. Wherefore knowing this, God chooses from among them some to punish those who righteously repented of their former sins, that the evil things done by the just before their repentance may be remitted through this punishment. But to the wicked who punish and desire to ill-use them, and will not repent, it is permitted to ill-use the righteous for the filling up of their own punishment. For without the will of God, not even a sparrow can fall into a girn. Thus even the hairs of the righteous are numbered by God."

Many, He says, think that those who die for the truth are abandoned by God; but do not think so. You will die not because you will supposedly be abandoned by Me. For if not one of the sparrows, which are sold cheaply, is forgotten by God, how much more should your death not be forgotten, My friends, as though I do not care for you.

Or these five senses are sold for two farthings, that is, the New and Old Testament, and are therefore not forgotten by God. Of those whose senses are given up to the word of life that they may be fit for the spiritual food, the Lord is ever mindful.

When our Lord said, "not a hair," he was not thinking of length but of the number of hairs, as we see from these words, "The hairs of your head are numbered." I still think that nothing that was a natural part of the body should be lost. Ugly outgrowths, which have the purpose of reminding us of the penal condition of mortal life, will be integrated into the substance as a whole so that no deformity will appear in any one part. After all, a human artist can make a botch of a statue and then reshape it into beauty without a loss of any of his material. It is not a matter of chiseling away some paticular part that was ugly or out of proportion. He can break down and remold the same mass of material so that nothing but the blemish disappears. Of course, the omnipotent Artist can do this even better. There is no deformity of any human body, whether normal, exceptional or even monstrous, which he cannot so eliminate as to leave the total substance intact, while the ugliness disappears. Such outgrowths are not out of place among the other miseries of temporal existence, but they are incompatible with the happiness of the saints in the life to come.

But even the hairs of your head are all numbered, not actually in the act of counting, but understood in the capacity of knowledge. For God does not direct a watchful solicitude in tedious counting, but to whom all things are known, as if all things were numbered. Nevertheless, they are well said to be numbered, because we count the things we want to keep. Here he shows the immense providence of God towards men, and marks the ineffable affection that nothing of ours escapes God's notice, and that even small and trivial things spoken do not elude His knowledge. Those who deny the resurrection of the flesh deride ecclesiastical understanding in this place, as if we were to say that the same earthly matter, which becomes a corpse when the soul departs, is to be restored in the resurrection in such a way that the things which decay and are transformed into different shapes and forms of other things must necessarily return not only to the body from which they dissolved but also to the same parts of the body where they were. Otherwise, if the hair of the head returns, which frequent cutting has removed, if to the nails, which frequent trimming has taken off, it appears excessive and indecent to those who think about it, and thus the resurrection of the flesh does not present itself acceptably to those who do not believe. But just as if a statue of any soluble metal were either melted by fire or ground into powder or reduced to a mass, and the artist wished to restore it again from that quantity of material, it would make no difference to its integrity which particle of material is restored to which member of the statue, provided that all from which it was constituted is reconstituted: so God, wonderfully and ineffably the artist, from all that our flesh was constituted, will restore it with wonderful and ineffable speed, nor will it matter for its reconstitution whether hairs return to hairs and nails to nails, or whether whatever of them had perished is transformed into flesh and recalled to other parts of the body, with the providence of the artist ensuring that nothing indecent happens.

Therefore, do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Not 'you are many,' which pertains to the comparison of numbers, but 'you are worth more,' that is, you are of greater merit, dignity, and esteem before God than countless sparrows, whether bodies or kinds.

We must not read, Ye are more, which relates to the comparison of number, but ye are of more value, that is, of greater estimation in the sight of God.

For the expression of which he adds: But even the hairs of your head are all numbered: from which it is given to understand that he has the greatest care for man. Whence Bede: "But even the hairs, to say nothing of the mass of the body: for even the minute particles are preserved by the providence of God." Whence numbering refers not so much to knowledge as to most diligent preservation, because from the bodies of the Saints who suffer not even a hair can perish; whence below in chapter 21: "A hair of your head shall not perish." So great therefore is God's care for us that not even a hair of our head can be taken away without his will. Therefore it is not fitting that we be troubled by fear, according to that passage of 1 Peter last chapter: "Casting all your care upon him, because he has care for you."

And this is what he infers: Do not therefore fear; you are of more value than many sparrows, "that is, of greater worth"; in which is touched upon simultaneously the conclusion and the reason of the inference through an argument from the lesser. For if God has care for the lesser, much more so for the greater; and if he has care for us, the world need not be feared by us. Moreover, we are of greater worth than brute creatures, than birds, because we are rational creatures, and this because we are made in the image of God; on account of which all other things are subject to man: Genesis 1: "Let us make man in our image and likeness, and let him have dominion over the birds of the heavens," etc. And therefore man is most immediately under the protection of God, and especially the just man and friend of God. And for this reason it is not necessary that he have the aid of anything perishable; whence Genesis 15: "Fear not, Abram, I am your protector and your exceedingly great reward"; as if to say: fear not, because you can suffer nothing for lack of aid, nor can you suffer anything without the recompense of reward, so long as you cling to me.

It is His care then diligently to know the life of the saints. Whence it follows, But the hairs of your heads are all numbered; by which He means, that of all things which relate to them He has most accurate knowledge, for the numbering manifests the minuteness of the care exercised.

Now mystically, indeed, the head of a man is his understanding, but his hairs the thoughts, which are open to the eye of God.

On the contrary, I have such care for you that I know all your affairs down to the finest detail; for example, even your "hairs are numbered." Therefore, if I permit you to fall into temptation, I will undoubtedly also give you the strength to endure it (1 Cor. 10:13). And often, when I see someone weak, I do not even permit him to fall into temptation. For being watchful and knowing all things — and keeping account of even the most trifling matters — I arrange for each person what is fitting and beneficial. If you pay attention, you will find that in Scripture everything male that has reached the measure of maturity and is generally worthy of divine counting is numbered (Exod. 18:21; Num. 26:62). By "head" one must understand the Christ-pleasing life of each of the faithful, and by "hairs" its most particular deeds, by which the body is mortified, which are numbered by God and taken into consideration. For such deeds of yours are deemed worthy of God's regard. By the "five" sparrows some understand the five senses, which, being purchased for two assaria, that is, at the price of the Old and New Testaments, are not forgotten before God. For whoever tempers his senses and subjects them to reason, so that they are not useless for spiritual nourishment, that person is not forgotten before God.

Or, by the head of each of the faithful, you must understand a conversation meet for Christ, but by his hair, the works of bodily mortification which are numbered by God, and are worthy of the Divine regard.

He has also well introduced faith, stimulating us to its confession, and to faith itself He has placed virtue as a foundation. For as faith is the incentive to fortitude, so is fortitude the strong support of faith.

But I tell you, everyone who confesses me before men, the Son of Man will also confess him before the angels of God. But whoever denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. He looks at what was said before, where it was stated that any covered and hidden things are to be revealed, concluding that this revelation will take place not in any lowly meeting, but in the sight of the heavenly city and the eternal king and judge. And lest it be thought that because he says those who deny him will be denied, the condition of all, that is, of those who deny out of zeal and those who deny out of weakness or ignorance, is the same, he immediately adds:

It was said above, that every hidden work and word is to be revealed, but He now declares that this revelation is to take place in the presence of the heavenly city and the eternal Judge and King; saying, But I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me, &c.

But I say to you: Everyone, etc. After he has urged them to guard against deceitfulness and to repel timidity, here thirdly he urges them to preserve truthfulness. For the truthfulness of confession is opposed to the deceitfulness of dissimulation. Moreover, he leads to this in two ways: first, by intimating the equity of the divine sentence; and second, by intimating the irremissibility of the sin of blasphemy. By the first he admonishes them to confess the truth; by the second, to avoid falsehood.

First, therefore, he admonishes them to confess the truth on account of the equity of the divine sentence, when he says: But I say to you: Everyone who shall confess me before men. Me, namely, indicates the person in two natures, namely, whoever confesses me to be true God and man, not only saying in the heart, according to that of 1 Corinthians 12: "No one can say: Lord Jesus, except in the Holy Spirit," but also expressing with the mouth, according to what is said in Romans 10: "With the heart one believes unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation"; and not only with the mouth, but also by works, against hypocrites and wicked Christians, of whom it is said in Titus 1: "They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him." Against whom, Matthew 7: "Not everyone who says to me: Lord, Lord," etc.; and therefore 1 John 3: "Let us not love in word nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth."

He who confesses thus confesses fully, namely, by heart, mouth, and works. Of such a one he adds: And the Son of man shall confess him before the Angels of God, namely, that he is one of his own, according to that of Matthew 25: "Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom." Whence that saying of Proverbs 11 shall be verified: "The soul that blesses shall be made fat."

On martyrdom the Lord hath spoken explicitly, and what is written in different places we bring together. "But I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess in Me before men, the Son of man also shall confess before the angels of God; but whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I deny before the angels." "Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me or of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of man also be ashamed when He cometh in the glory of His Father with His angels. Whosoever therefore shall confess in Me before men, him will I also confess before my Father in heaven." "And when they bring you before synagogues, and rulers, and powers, think not beforehand how ye shall make your defence, or what ye shall say. For the Holy Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what ye must say." In explanation of this passage, Heracleon, the most distinguished of the school of Valentinians, says expressly, "that there is a confession by faith and conduct, and one with the voice. The confession that is made with the voice, and before the authorities, is what the most reckon the only confession. Not soundly: and hypocrites also can confess with this confession. But neither will this utterance be found to be spoken universally; for all the saved have confessed with the confession made by the voice, and departed. Of whom are Matthew, Philip, Thomas, Levi, and many others. And confession by the lip is not universal, but partial. But that which He specifies now is universal, that which is by deeds and actions corresponding to faith in Him. This confession is followed by that which is partial, that before the authorities, if necessary, and reason dictate. For he will confess rightly with his voice who has first confessed by his disposition. And he has well used, with regard to those who confess, the expression 'in Me,' and applied to those who deny the expression 'Me.' For those, though they confess Him with the voice, yet deny Him, not confessing Him in their conduct. But those alone confess 'in Him,' who live in the confession and conduct according to Him, in which He also confesses, who is contained in them and held by them. Wherefore 'He never can deny Himself.' And those deny Him who are not in Him. For He said not, 'Whosoever shall deny' in Me, but 'Me.' For no one who is in Him will ever deny Him. And the expression 'before men' applies both to the saved and the heathen similarly by conduct before the one, and by voice before the other. Wherefore they never can deny Him. But those deny Him who are not in Him." So far Heracleon. And in other things he seems to be of the same sentiments with us in this section; but he has not adverted to this, that if some have not by conduct and in their life "confessed Christ before men," they are manifested to have believed with the heart; by confessing Him with the mouth at the tribunals, and not denying Him when tortured to the death. And the disposition being confessed, and especially not being changed by death at any time, cuts away all passions which were engendered by corporeal desire. For there is, so to speak, at the close of life a sudden repentance in action, and a true confession toward Christ, in the testimony of the voice. But if the Spirit of the Father testifies in us, how can we be any more hypocrites, who are said to bear testimony with the voice alone? But it will be given to some, if expedient, to make a defence, that by their witness and confession all may be benefited-those in the Church being confirmed, and those of the heathen who have devoted themselves to the search after salvation wondering and being led to the faith; and the rest seized with amazement. So that confession is by all means necessary. For it is in our power. But to make a defence for our faith is not universally necessary. For that does not depend on us. "But he that endureth to the end shall be saved." For who of those who are wise would not choose to reign in God, and even to serve? So some "confess that they know God," according to the apostle; "but in works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient, and to every good work reprobate." And these, though they confess nothing but this, will have done at the end one good work. Their witness, then, appears to be the cleansing away of sins with glory. For instance, the Shepherd says: "You will escape the energy of the wild beast, if your heart become pure and blameless." Also the Lord Himself says: "Satan hath desired to sift you; but I have prayed." Alone, therefore, the Lord, for the purification of the men who plotted against Him and disbelieved Him, "drank the cup;" in imitation of whom the apostles, that they might be in reality Gnostics, and perfect, suffered for the Churches which they founded. So, then, also the Gnostics who tread in the footsteps of the apostles ought to be sinless, and, out of love to the Lord, to love also their brother; so that, if occasion call, enduring without stumbling, afflictions for the Church, "they may drink the cup." Those who witness in their life by deed, and at the tribunal by word, whether entertaining hope or surmising fear, are better than those who confess salvation by their mouth alone. But if one ascend also to love, he is a really blessed and true martyr, having confessed perfectly both to the commandments and to God, by the Lord; whom having loved, he acknowledged a brother, giving himself up wholly for God, resigning pleasantly and lovingly the man when asked, like a deposit.

In the Gospel the Lord speaks, and says, "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father which is in heaven: but he that denieth me, him will I also deny." If He does not deny him that denies, neither does He confess him that confesses; the Gospel cannot be sound in one part and waver in another. Either both must stand firm, or both must lose the force of truth. If they who deny shall not be guilty of a crime, neither shall they who confess receive the reward of a virtue. Again, if faith which has conquered be crowned, it is of necessity that faithlessness which is conquered should be punished. Thus the martyrs can either do nothing if the Gospel may be broken; or if the Gospel cannot be broken, they can do nothing against the Gospel, since they become martyrs on account of the Gospel. Let no one, beloved brethren, let no one decry the dignity of martyrs, let no one degrade their glories and their crowns. The strength of their uncorrupted faith abides sound; nor can he either say or do anything against Christ, whose hope, and faith, and virtue, and glory, are all in Christ: those cannot be the authority for the bishops doing anything against God's command, who themselves have done God's command. Is any one greater than God, or more merciful than God's goodness, that he should either wish that undone which God has suffered to be done, or, as if God had too little power to protect His Church, should think that we could be preserved by his help?

"Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God."

It is then a thing above all others worthy of our attention to see who it is that confesses Christ, and in what way one may rightly and blamelessly confess Him. Most wise Paul, therefore writes to us, "Say not in yours heart, Who shall ascend unto heaven? that is to bring Christ down: or who shall descend into the deep? that is, to bring Christ up from the dead. But what says the Scripture? The Word is nigh you, in your mouth and in your heart; that is, the Word of faith which we preach: because if you shall say with your mouth that Jesus is the Lord, and shall believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall live. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." In which words the mystery of Christ is most excellently explained. For first of all it is our duty to confess that the Son, Who sprang from God the Father, and Who is the Only-begotten of His substance, even God the Word, is Lord of all: not as one on whom lordship has been bestowed from without, and by imputation, but as being by nature and in truth Lord, as the Father also is. And next we must believe, that "God raised Him from the dead," that is, when having become man, He had suffered in the flesh for our sakes: for so He arose from the dead.

Whosoever therefore confesses Christ before men, as God and Lord, shall be acknowledged by Him before the angels of God. But where and how? Evidently at that time, when He shall descend from heaven in the glory of His Father with the holy angels at the end of this world: then shall He crown His true confessor, who possessed an unwavering and genuine faith, and so made profession. There also shall the company of the holy martyrs shine, who endured the conflict even unto life and blood, and honoured Christ by their patient endurance: for they denied not the Saviour, nor was His glory unknown to them, but they kept their fealty to Him.

Now Paul says, If thou wilt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Rom. 10:9.) The whole mystery of Christ is conveyed in these words. For we must first confess that the Word born of God the Father, that is, the only-begotten Son of His substance, is Lord of all, not as one who had gained His Lordship from without and by stealth, but who is in truth by His nature Lord, as well as the Father. Next we must confess that God raised Him from the dead, who was Himself truly made man, and suffered in the flesh for us; for such He rose from the dead. Whoever then will so confess Christ before men, namely, as God and the Lord, Christ will confess him before the angels of God at that time when He shall descend with the holy angels in the glory of His Father at the end of the world.

But what will be more glorious than to have the only-begotten Word of God Himself to bear witness in our behalf at the divine judgment, and by His own love to draw forth as a recompense for confession, a declaration upon that soul to whom He bears witness, For not as abiding without him to whom He bears witness, but as dwelling in him and filling him with light, He will give His testimony.

(Hom. 34. in Matt.) The Lord is not then content with an inward faith, but requires an outward confession, urging us to confidence and greater love. And since this is useful for all, He speaks generally, saying, Whosoever shall confess me, &c.

(ubi sup.) Both in condemnation a greater punishment is announced, and in blessing a greater reward; as if He said, Now you confess and deny, but I then, for a far greater recompense of good and evil awaits them in the world to come.

There are other modes also of denying which St. Paul describes, saying, They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him. (Tit. 1:16.) And again, If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. (1 Tim. 5:8.) Also, Flee from covetousness, which is idolatry. (Col. 3:5.) Since then there are so many modes of denial, it is plain that there are many likewise of confession, which whosoever has practised, shall hear that most blessed voice with which Christ greets all who have confessed Him. But mark the precaution of the words. For in the Greek he says, Whosoever shall confess in Me, showing that not by his own strength, but by the aid of grace from above, a man confesses Christ. But of him who denies, He said not "in Me," but me. For though being destitute of grace he denies, he is nevertheless condemned, because the destitution is owing to him who is forsaken, or he is forsaken for his own fault.

But this conclusion I can draw also from the following words: "For I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before God." Now they who shall confess Christ will have to be slain before men, but they will have nothing more to suffer after they have been put to death by them.

Now He offers a reward for the confession of faith. Since He said, "do not fear those who kill the body" and added that "the very hairs of your head are all numbered," lest someone should say: then give me some reward as well, for what good does it do me that You have numbered my hairs. He says (to such a person): do you desire a reward as well? Listen. Whoever confesses (faith) in Me, that one will be acknowledged by Me before God. He said: will confess "in Me," that is, with My assistance and by My power, and I will confess him "in him," that is, with his assistance. For just as we first need God, since without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5), so also God needs us. For if He does not find in us worthy deeds, He does not accept us either; otherwise He would be a respecter of persons. So we confess "in Him," that is, with His assistance, and He "in us," that is, with our assistance. For if we do not give Him cause, He will not bear witness for us either. Since every saint abides in Christ, and Christ in him (John 15:5), then perhaps is it not for this reason also that He said thus: whoever confesses (Me) "in Me," that is, abiding, that one I too will confess, abiding in him.

From which appears the equity of retribution with respect to those who confess: and so that nothing be lacking, the equity with respect to those who deny is shown, when he adds: But he who shall have denied me before men shall be denied before the Angels of God, namely when the Lord will say that word from Matthew twenty-five: "I know you not," etc. Whence above, in the ninth chapter: "He who shall have been ashamed of me and of my words, him shall the Son of man be ashamed of," etc. And this the equity of the divine sentence requires, concerning which is said in First Kings two: "Those who honor me, I will honor; but those who despise me shall be ignoble." And note that he who confesses the truth which Christ taught confesses Christ, whether in faith or in morals; but he who denies that truth consequently denies Christ as well. He who says that it is false consequently says that Christ is a liar, and thereby that he is not God, but a deceiver.

And note that the confession of the name of Christ has a great recompense, because the confession by which Christ will confess the one confessing him will be approbative, honorificative, and salvific: for Christ is king, judge, and pontiff. His confession also is public, illustrious, and perpetual; ours however is small and momentary. And similarly, the contrary is understood concerning his denial: which manifestly appears in the judicial disputation: "Come, blessed ones," and "Depart, accursed ones."

This therefore is the most noble proposition, which raises our minds to the Truth. The reason for this is as follows: because the Truth is veracious, therefore he can neither deny himself nor the one confessing him, nor acknowledge a liar nor act against himself; whence Second Timothy two: "If we shall deny him, he also will deny us; if we do not believe, he remains faithful, he cannot deny himself."

Nay, if they shudder at the magnitude of the guilt incurred; if with a truly medicinal hand they deal with the deadly wound of their heart and conscience and the deep recesses of the subtle mischief, let them blush even to ask; except, again, that it is a matter of greater risk and shame not to have besought the aid of peace. But let all this be in the sacrament; in the law of their very entreaty let consideration be had for the time; let it be with downcast entreaty, with subdued petition, since he also who is besought ought to be bent, not provoked; and as the divine clemency ought to be looked to, so also ought the divine censure; and as it is written, "I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me," so it is written, "Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father and before His angels." For God, as He is merciful, so He exacts obedience to His precepts, and indeed carefully exacts it; and as He invites to the banquet, so the man that hath not a wedding garment He binds hands and feet, and casts him out beyond the assembly of the saints. He has prepared heaven, but He has also prepared hell. He has prepared places of refreshment, but He has also prepared eternal punishment. He has prepared the light that none can approach unto, but He has also prepared the vast and eternal gloom of perpetual night.

But the rest, those who denied and despised him, shall be denied: when the Judge shall say to them that, as it were, which was spoken by the holy prophets to certain of old; "As you have done, it shall be done unto you; and your requital shall be requited upon yours own head;" and shall deny them in these words: "Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity, I know you not." And who then are they that shall be denied? First of all, those who when persecution was pressing upon them, and tribulation had overtaken them, deserted the faith.

And in like manner both the followers and teachers of heresy deny him. For they venture to say that the Only-begotten Word of God is not by nature and in truth God; and they traduce His ineffable generation, by saying that He is not of the substance of the Father.

Now they who deny are first indeed those who in time of persecution renounce the faith. Besides these, there are heretical teachers also, and their disciples.

But having confirmed them with good hope by so great promises, He again rouses them by more alarming threats, saying, But he that denieth me before men, shall be denied before the Angels of God.

He rightly declares this threatening, in order that none should refuse to confess Him by reason of the punishment, which is to be denied by the Son of God, to be disowned by Wisdom, to fall away from life, to be deprived of light, and to lose every blessing; but all these things to suffer before God the Father who is in heaven, and the Angels of God.

These therefore will be they whom He forewarns above not to be afraid of being only killed; and this forewarning He offers, in order that He might subjoin a clause on the necessity of confessing Him: "Every one that denieth me before men shall be denied before God" -by Him, of course, who would have confessed him, if he had only confessed God.

Now He offers a reward for the confession of faith. Since He said, "do not fear those who kill the body" and added that "the very hairs of your head are all numbered," lest someone should say: then give me some reward as well, for what good does it do me that You have numbered my hairs. He says (to such a person): do you desire a reward as well? Listen. Whoever confesses (faith) in Me, that one will be acknowledged by Me before God. He said: will confess "in Me," that is, with My assistance and by My power, and I will confess him "in him," that is, with his assistance. For just as we first need God, since without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5), so also God needs us. For if He does not find in us worthy deeds, He does not accept us either; otherwise He would be a respecter of persons. So we confess "in Him," that is, with His assistance, and He "in us," that is, with our assistance. For if we do not give Him cause, He will not bear witness for us either. But the one who denies is not denied by the power of God, which is why He did not add "by Me," but said: whoever denies "Me." Since every saint abides in Christ, and Christ in him (John 15:5), then perhaps is it not for this reason also that He said thus: whoever confesses (Me) "in Me," that is, abiding, that one I too will confess, abiding in him.

Truly by the Son of Man we understand Christ, Who by the Holy Spirit was born of a virgin, seeing that His only parent on earth is the Virgin. What then, is the Holy Spirit greater than Christ, that they who sin against Christ should obtain pardon, while they who offend against the Holy Spirit are not thought worthy to obtain it? But where there is unity of power there is no question of comparison.

Thus it is thought by some that we should believe both the Son and the Holy Spirit to be the same Christ, preserving the distinction of Persons with the unity of the substance, since Christ both God and man is one Spirit, as it is written, The Spirit before our face, Christ the Lord; (Lam. 4:20.) the same Spirit is holy, for both the Father is holy, and the Son holy, and the Spirit holy. If then Christ is each, what difference is there except we know that it is not lawful for us to deny the divinay of Christ?

(Ep. 4. ad Serap.) The ancients indeed, the learned Origen and the great Theognostus, describe this to be the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, when they who have been counted worthy of the gift of the Holy Spirit in Baptism, fall back into sin. For they say that for this reason they can not obtain pardon; as Paul says, It is impossible for those who have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost to renew them again, &c. (Heb. 6:4.) But each adds his own explanation. For Origen gives this as his reason; God the Father indeed penetrates and contains all things, but the power of the Son extends to rational things only; the Holy Spirit is only in those who partake of Him in the gift of Baptism. When then catechumens and heathens sin, they sin against the Son who abideth in them, yet they may obtain pardon when they become worthy of the gift of regeneration. But when the baptized commit sin, he says that their offence touches the Spirit, after coming to whom they have sinned, and therefore their condemnation must be irrevocable. But Theognostus says, that he who has gone beyond both the first and second threshold deserves less punishment, but he who has also passed the third, shall no more receive pardon. By the first and second threshold, he speaks of the doctrine of the Father and the Son, but by the third the partaking of the Holy Spirit. According to St. John, When the Spirit of truth is come, he will lead you into all truth. (John 16:13.) Not as though the doctrine of the Spirit was above that of the Son, but because the Son condescends to those who are imperfect, but the Spirit is the seal of those who are perfect. If then not because the Spirit is above the Son, blasphemy against the Spirit is unpardonable; but because remission of sin is indeed to the imperfect, but no excuse remains to the perfect, therefore since the Son is in the Father, He is in those in whom the Father and the Spirit are not absent, for the Holy Trinity cannot be divided. Besides this, if all things were made by the Son, and all things consist in Him, He will Himself be truly in all; so that it must needs be, that he who sinneth against the Son, sinneth against the Father also, and against the Holy Spirit. But holy Baptism is given in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And so they that sin after baptism commit blasphemy against the holy Trinity. But if the Pharisees had not received baptism, how did He condemn them as if they had spoken blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, of which they were not yet partakers, especially since He did not accuse them simply of sin, but of blasphemy? But these differ, for he who sins transgresses the Law, but he who blasphemes offends against the Deity Himself. But again, if to those who sin after baptism there is no remission of the punishment of their offences, how does the Apostle pardon the penitent at Corinth; (2 Cor. 11:10) but he travails in birth of the backsliding Galatians until Christ be formed again in them. (Gal. 4:19.) And why also do we oppose Novatus, who does away with repentance after baptism? The Apostle to the Hebrews does not thus reject the repentance of sinners, but lest they should suppose that as according to the rites of the Law, under the veil of repentance there could be many and daily baptisms, he therefore warns them indeed to repent, but tells them that there could be only one renewal, namely, by Baptism. But with such considerations I return to the dispensation (οἰκονομίαν) which is in Christ, who being God was made man; as very God raised the dead; as clothed with the flesh, thirsted, laboured, suffered. When any then, looking to human things, see the Lord athirst or in suffering, and speak against the Saviour as if against a man, they sin indeed, yet may speedily on repentance receive pardon, alleging as excuse the weakness of His body. And again when any, beholding the works of Deity, doubt concerning the nature of our Lord's body, they also sin grievously. But these too if they repent may be quickly pardoned, seeing that they have an excuse in the greatness of the works. But when they refer the works of God to the Devil, justly do they undergo the irrevocable sentence, because they have judged God to be the Devil, and the true God to have nothing more in His works than the evil spirits. To this unbelief then the Pharisees had come. For when the Saviour manifested the works of the Father, raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, and such like deeds, they said that these were the works of Beelzebub. As well might they say, looking at the order of the world and the providence exercised over it, that the world was created by Beelzebub. As long then as regarding human things they erred in knowledge, saying, Is not this the carpenter's son, and how knoweth this man things which he never learnt? He suffered them as sinning against the Son of man; but when they wax more furious, saying that the works of God are the works of Beelzebub, He no longer endured them. For thus also He endured their fathers so long as their murmurings were for bread and water; but when having found a calf, they impute to it the divine mercies they had received, they were punished. At first indeed multitudes of them were slain, afterwards He said indeed, Nevertheless, in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. (Exod. 32:34.) Such then is the sentence passed upon the Pharisees, that in the flame prepared for the devil they shall be together with him everlastingly consumed. Not then to make comparison between a blasphemy spoken against Himself and the Holy Spirit said He these things, as if the Spirit were the greater, but each blasphemy being uttered against Him, He shows the one to be greater, the other less. For looking at Him as man they reviled Him, and said that His works were those of Beelzebub.

(Serm. 71.) Or if it were here said, "Who hath spoken any blasphemy whatever against the Holy Spirit," we ought then to understand thereby "all blasphemy;" but because it was said, who blasphemeth against the Holy Spirit, let it be understood of him that blasphemed not in any way, but in such a manner that it can never be pardoned him. For so when it was said, The Lord tempteth no man, (James 1:13.) that is not spoken of every, but only of a certain kind of temptation. Now what that kind of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is, let us sec. The first blessing of believers is forgiveness of sins in the Holy Spirit. Against this free gift the impenitent heart speaks. Impenitence itself therefore is blasphemy against the Spirit, which is neither forgiven in this world, nor in that which is to come; for repentance gains that forgiveness in this world which is to avail in the world to come.

And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him. But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him. He who is scandalized by my flesh, considering me only a man because I have James, Joseph, and Judas as brothers, and that I am a human glutton and wine drinker, such opinion and blasphemy, though not free from the guilt of error, has pardon because of the benefit of the body. But he who, clearly understanding the works of God since he cannot deny their power, yet stirred by envy, slanders them, and says that Christ and the works of the Holy Spirit are of Beelzebub, this one will not be forgiven, neither in this age nor in the age to come. Not that we deny that even he, if he were able to repent, could be forgiven by Him who wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, but we believe this blasphemer, due to his deserving merits, will never reach forgiveness nor the fruits of worthy repentance. As the evangelist John truly wrote about some who were blinded due to the merit of their blasphemy: Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them (John XII). Some indeed say that he who speaks the word or blasphemes against the Holy Spirit resists with an impenitent heart the unity of the Church where the forgiveness of sins is effected by the Holy Spirit, saying it is a remedy lest the blasphemy be irremissible, that an impenitent heart should be avoided. Of whom, many consider their opinion by no means firm, because obviously anyone who resists the unity of the Church with an impenitent heart, whether he is a Jew or a Gentile or even a heretic, can certainly have the remission of sins in the Holy Spirit, if he flees with a repentant heart to the unity of the Church. But they say that as long as someone resists the Spirit of grace with an impenitent heart, he does not have forgiveness. But the others object that this condition applies to all crimes. For as long as someone commits fornication, idolatry, adultery, male concubinage, theft, and other crimes, he does not have an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God; but once these crimes have been forsaken, he can be washed, sanctified, justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God; so, they say, an impenitent person as long as he has an impenitent heart cannot have forgiveness; but as soon as he repents, he will also obtain forgiveness. And impenitence is found to be no more binding or irremissible than any other sins, which, remaining until repentance, will be erased once repentance is performed. However, only blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, by which someone in the likeness of the devil and his angels does not shudder to attack the majesty of the Deity against his own conscience, does not have forgiveness eternally, but will be guilty of an eternal offense. As the evangelist Mark clearly explains, who, having placed this testimony of the Lord, added and said: Because they were saying, He has an unclean spirit. For neither those who do not believe that the Holy Spirit exists, nor those who believe that He exists but is not God, nor those who believe that He is God but inferior to the Father and the Son, because they act out of human ignorance rather than diabolical envy, are held by this crime of irremissible blasphemy. Therefore, the leaders of the Jews, and all those corrupted by a similar plague of envy, blaspheme the majesty, and will perish without end. Read the first book of the blessed Augustine on the Sermon of the Lord on the Mount.

But lest from what He says, that those who have denied Him are to be denied, it should be supposed that the condition of all was alike, that is, both of those who deny deliberately, and those who deny from infirmity or ignorance, He immediately added, And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him.

Or else; Whoso saith that the works of the Holy Spirit are those of Beelzebub, it shall not be forgiven him either in the present world, or in that which is to come. Not that we deny that if he could come to repentance he could be forgiven by God, but that we believe that such a blasphemer as by the necessity of his deserts he would never come to forgiveness, so neither to the fruits themselves of a worthy repentance; according to that, He hath blinded their eyes, so that they should not be converted, and I should heal them. (Isa. 6:10.)

Nor however are all they who say that the Spirit is not holy, or is not God, but is inferior to the Father and the Son, involved in the crime of unpardonable blasphemy, because they are led to do it through human ignorance, not a demoniacal hatred, as the rulers of the Jews were.

Secondly, he admonishes to decline falsehood on account of the irremissibility of blasphemy, which, although it is remissible when committed through ignorance, is nevertheless irremissible when committed from certain malice. On account of which he says: And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him. Against the Son of man he speaks a word who imputes what is false, deceived through ignorance: and such ignorance can obtain remission. Whence it shall be forgiven does not denote the act, because not all repent, but the aptitude, because ignorance excuses. Moreover, sin from ignorance is said to be against the Son. And in this manner Paul blasphemed, and therefore obtained mercy; whence First Timothy one: "I was a blasphemer and a persecutor and insolent, but I obtained mercy, because I did these things ignorantly in unbelief."

But it is not so when someone blasphemes from deliberate malice; on account of which it is added: But he who shall have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven. He blasphemes against the Holy Spirit who from deliberate malice attacks the truth and says unworthy things of God; and of such a one it is said that it shall not be forgiven, not because such a one will never obtain forgiveness, but because he is unfit for forgiveness, because that sin has no color of excuse. Whence Richard says: "One person blasphemes from compulsion, and this one sins against the Father; another from deception, and this one against the Son; another from malice alone, and this one against the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the most wicked in this kind is that in which malice has grown to the utmost, when someone takes delight in reviling God. What else, then, does the spirit of blasphemy seem to be than the desire for divine revilement? From this, therefore, because this evil has nothing in itself of excuse, it deserves to receive nothing of forgiveness."

He is also unfit for forgiveness because he attacks divine grace, through which one is prepared for repentance; whence such a one is disposed to impenitence, in which if he perseveres, the fault will never be forgiven. Whence Bede says: "He who, not acknowledging the grace of the Holy Spirit by which repentance is inspired and return to communion is effected, shall have persevered with an impenitent heart—since this is now not human but diabolical—it shall be irremissible." And concerning such blasphemy, which has joined to it final impenitence, it is true that it shall never be forgiven. Whence in Matthew twelve it is said that "it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the age to come."

He is unfit, thirdly, nonetheless, because, although by appropriation it is appropriated to the Holy Spirit, such a one most greatly dishonors the whole Trinity. For he who knowingly and deliberately attacks the saving truth and from deliberate malice is the greatest despiser of divine power, the greatest calumniator of divine truth, the greatest persecutor of the highest goodness, according to that passage in Job fifteen: "He ran against God with an outstretched neck and was armed with a thick neck." Whence, because such contempt, calumny, and persecution cannot exist without hardness of heart, and impenitence accompanies this, and the irremissibility of sin accompanies that, therefore blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven.

The man who remains an unbeliever for such reasons is not in a state of honest error. He is in a state of dishonest error, and that dishonesty will spread through all his thoughts and actions: a certain shiftiness, a vague worry in the background, a blunting of his whole mental edge, will result. He has lost his intellectual virginity. Honest rejection of Christ, however mistaken, will be forgiven and healed—"Whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him." But to evade the Son of man, to look the other way, to pretend you haven't noticed, to become suddenly absorbed in something on the other side of the street, to leave the receiver off the telephone because it might be He who was ringing up, to leave unopened certain letters in a strange handwriting because they might be from Him—this is a different matter. You may not be certain yet whether you ought to be a Christian; but you do know you ought to be a man, not an ostrich, hiding its head in the sand.

He has taught us that blasphemy is the most wicked crime for people to commit. He said that whoever speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. In what way is this to be understood? If the Savior means that if any one of us uses any scornful word toward some mere man, he will receive forgiveness if he repents, the matter is free from all difficulty. Since God is by nature good, he will free from blame all those who repent. If the declaration has reference to Christ, the Savior of all, how can he who has spoken against him be innocent or secure from condemnation? Some one who has not learned the meaning of his mystery or understood that being by nature God he humbled himself to our estate and became man may say something blasphemous to a certain extent against him. If this is not so wicked as to pass forgiveness, God will pardon those who have sinned from ignorance.…On another hand, condemnation and the eternal punishment both in this world and in that which is to come is inevitable for those who have blasphemed the Godhead itself. By "the Spirit," he means not only the Holy Spirit but also the whole nature of the Godhead, as understood [to consist] in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Savior also somewhere said, "God is a Spirit." Blasphemy against the Spirit is against the whole supreme substance. The nature of the Deity, as offered for our understanding in the holy and adorable Trinity, is one.

But if our Saviour means to imply, that if any injurious word is spoken by us against a common man, we shall obtain pardon if we repent, there is no difficulty in the passage, for since God is by nature merciful, He restores those who are willing to repent. But if the words are referred to Christ how is he not to be condemned who speaks a word against Him?

But if the Holy Spirit were a creature, and not of the divine substance of the Father and the Son, how does an injury committed against Him entail upon it so great a punishment as is denounced against those that blaspheme against God?

After deterring His disciples from denial of Himself, He adds an admonition to fear blasphemy: "Whosoever shall speak against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him." Now, if both the remission and the retention of sin savour of a judicial God, the Holy Ghost, who is not to be blasphemed, will belong to Him, who will not forgive the, blasphemy; just as He who, in the preceding passage, was not to be denied, belonged to, Him who would, after He had killed, also cast into hell.

This means: whoever speaks blasphemy against Me, who in appearance am a simple son of man, eating, drinking, associating with tax collectors and harlots, whether he repents or does not repent of his blasphemy, will be forgiven. For such a person's unbelief is not imputed to him as sin. For what did he see that would dispose him to faith? On the contrary, what did he not see that was worthy of blasphemy? He saw a man associating with harlots and speaks blasphemy against him, and therefore the sin is not imputed to him. For he could naturally think, what kind of Son of God is one who associates with harlots? Therefore, one who acts in this way and yet claims to be the Son of God, he may revile and call an impostor. But whoever, seeing Divine signs and great and extraordinary works, does not believe and reviles the actions of the Holy Spirit, attributing them to Beelzebub, that person, spewing forth "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit" and saying that these signs are performed by an evil spirit and not by God's, if he does not repent, will not be excused and forgiven. For the one who speaks blasphemy against the Son of Man, the sin is not imputed, and therefore he is forgiven even without repentance, but for the one who sees the works of the Spirit of God and blasphemes without repentance, it will not be forgiven, but will be imputed as the greatest sin.

The Christian should not fear or be distressed in difficult circumstances and thus be distracted from trust in God. He should take courage as if the Lord were at hand directing his affairs and strengthening him against all his adversaries. It is as if the Holy Spirit were instructing him even as to the very replies he should make to his enemies.

When they bring you into the synagogues, and to the rulers, and authorities. For He had said before: I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute.

Do not worry about how or what you are to answer, or what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. Therefore, when we are brought before judges for Christ's sake, we should only offer our will for Christ; for Christ Himself who dwells in us, speaks for Himself, and the grace of the Holy Spirit in responding will be provided.

For when we are led for Christ's sake before judges, we ought to offer only our will for Christ, but in answering, the Holy Spirit will supply His grace, as it is added, For the Holy Spirit will leach you, &c.

But when they shall bring you in, etc. Here now, fourthly, he exhorts to having confidence against faintheartedness. And he does this by a twofold way, namely by removing anxiety about danger and by conferring certainty of protection.

First, therefore, he removes anxiety about danger, when he says: When they shall bring you into synagogues and to magistrates and powers: in which he indicates that the disciples would suffer tribulation from the Jews and the Gentiles. Whence in Matthew 10 this is said more expressly: "For they will deliver you up in councils and in synagogues" etc.; whence in the Psalm: "The kings of the earth stood up" etc.

And note that he enumerates three kinds of persons before whom a man fears to speak, namely before the many, before the learned, and before the powerful. Before the many, when he says: In synagogues: against which Job 31: "If I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of kinsmen terrified me." Before the learned, whence he adds: to magistrates: Acts 5: "Then the magistrate went with the officers and brought the Apostles." Before the powerful, when he adds: and powers: Romans 13: "Do you wish not to fear the power? Do what is good." The first are not to be feared, because "there are more with us," 4 Kings 6; the second are not, because one wiser is with us, since Acts 6: "They could not resist the wisdom and the spirit" etc.; likewise neither the third; 1 John 4: "You have overcome them, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world."

And since it is dangerous to speak in the sight of a watchful multitude, and danger induces fears, and fear anxiety, and anxiety restlessness, and restlessness disturbance, and disturbance is the occasion of impatience and ruin: therefore he calls back from superfluous anxiety, when he adds: Be not anxious how or what you shall answer, namely to those "questioning" maliciously, or what you shall say, namely to those "wishing to learn"; in which word he does not remove the anxiety of studiousness, but of curiosity. Concerning which, Philippians 4: "Be anxious for nothing, but in every prayer with thanksgiving let your petitions be made known to God"; because, as is said in James 1, "if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God" etc. And this is especially to be done in the moment of necessity, where one should not seek ornament of words or profundity of sentences, but the pure and simple truth of faith set forth with great constancy and fervor: according to what is said in 1 Corinthians 2: "Our speech was not in the persuasive words of human wisdom" etc. He does not, however, intend to draw back from the study of truth, since he himself says in John 5: "Search the Scriptures, in which you think you have eternal life"; but he intends to persuade that a man in danger of death should not trust in his own wit, because man fails in discovering, errs in judging, and therefore frequently goes astray, leaning on his own wit. On account of which, Proverbs 3: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not upon your own prudence."

On martyrdom the Lord hath spoken explicitly, and what is written in different places we bring together. "But I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess in Me before men, the Son of man also shall confess before the angels of God; but whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I deny before the angels." "Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me or of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of man also be ashamed when He cometh in the glory of His Father with His angels. Whosoever therefore shall confess in Me before men, him will I also confess before my Father in heaven." "And when they bring you before synagogues, and rulers, and powers, think not: beforehand how ye shall make your defence, or what ye shall say. For the Holy Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what ye must say." ...But if the Spirit of the Father testifies in us, how can we be any more hypocrites, who are said to bear testimony with the voice alone? But it will be given to some, if expedient, to make a defence, that by their witness and confession all may be benefited-those in the Church being confirmed, and those of the heathen who have devoted themselves to the search after salvation wondering and being led to the faith; and the rest seized with amazement. So that confession is by all means necessary. For it is in our power. But to make a defence for our faith is not universally necessary. For that does not depend on us.

But the Lord after having inspired such great fear, and prepared men to resist those who depart from a right confession, commanded them for the rest to take no care what they should answer, because for those who are faithfully disposed, the Holy Spirit frames fit words, as their teacher, and dwelling within them. Whence it follows, And when they shall bring you into synagogues, take no thought how or what ye shall answer.

You must also know that the Holy Spirit empowers the martyrs to bear witness.… A person cannot testify as a martyr for Christ's sake except through the Holy Spirit. If "no man can say 'Jesus is Lord,' except in the Holy Spirit," will any man give his life for Jesus' sake except through the Holy Spirit?

(inter.) Now he says, how, with respect to the manner of speaking, what, with respect to the manner of intention. How ye shall answer to those who ask, or what ye shall say to those who wish to learn.

I would therefore beseech you, Pammachius, as a foremost lover of learning, and Marcella, as an outstanding examplar of Roman virtue, men who are bound together by faith and blood, to lend aid to my efforts by your prayers, in order that our Lord and Savior might in His own cause and by His mind make answer through my mouth. For it is He who says to the prophet, "Open thy mouth and I will fill it" (Psalm 81:10). For if He admonishes us, when we have been hailed before judges and tribunals, not to ponder what answer we are to give to them (Luke 12:11-12), how much more is He able to carry on His own war against blaspheming adversaries and through His servants to vanquish them?

(Hom. 33. in Matt.) But elsewhere it is said, Be ready to answer every one who shall ask you for a reason of the hope that is in you. When indeed a contest or strife arises among friends, He bids us take thought, but when there are the terrors of a court of justice and fear on every side, He gives His own strength so as to inspire boldness and utterance, but not dismay.

When "brought before magistrates," and examined, He forbids them "to take thought how they shall answer; ""for," says He, "the Holy Ghost shall teach you in that very hour what ye ought to say." If such an injunction as this comes from the Creator, the precept will only be His by whom an example was previously given.

Our weakness is of two kinds: we flee from the confession of faith either out of fear of punishments or out of simplicity and inability to give an answer for our faith. The fear of punishments the Lord healed with the words: "fear not them which kill the body." Now He heals the fear that comes from simplicity. Since few of the "wise after the flesh" (1 Cor. 1:26) believed, and the greater part were simple folk, He says: do not be afraid, you who are uneducated and simple, and do not worry how or what to answer when examined by a ruler, or what to say on another occasion — you will have a different manner of speech.

Since then our weakness is twofold, and either from fear of punishment we shun martyrdom, or because we are ignorant and can not give a reason of our faith, he has excluded both; the fear of punishment in that He said, Fear not them which kill the body, but the fear of ignorance, when He said, Take no thought how or what ye shall answer, &c.

Second, he confers certainty concerning assistance, when he adds: For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. Now this Spirit is the best teacher, because he teaches man to understand and to express himself eloquently. On account of the first, it is said in Job thirty-two: "The inspiration of the Almighty gives understanding"; and in John sixteen: "When that Spirit of truth shall come, he will teach you all truth," because, as is said in First Corinthians two, "The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God." On account of the second, it is said in Wisdom ten: "Wisdom opened the mouth of the mute," etc.; and in Matthew ten: "It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father." Therefore the Apostle said in Second Corinthians thirteen: "Do you seek proof of Christ who speaks in me?"

Concerning these two things, below in chapter twenty-one: "I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and contradict"; and in First John two: "The anointing teaches you concerning all things." Whence Bernard: "Reading is good, but better is the anointing, which teaches concerning all things." For the anointing teaches the love of God and neighbor, and on this "the whole Law hangs and the Prophets," according to what is said in Matthew twenty-two. The entire wisdom of philosophy also, as Augustine says, "herein is natural, moral, and civil philosophy." The Holy Spirit also, by making the soul cling to God, makes it intimate with himself, and through this causes secrets to be revealed; John fifteen: "But I have called you friends." Moreover, the fervor of the spirit elevates the soul above itself, where it hears and sees hidden things, as Paul, Second Corinthians twelve; as Ezekiel, three: "The spirit lifted me up," etc.; as John, Apocalypse one: "I was in the spirit," etc.

Therefore what need is there to worry, if in that hour you will be taught by the Holy Spirit? And so, from both sides He strengthens us for the feat of confession, healing both the fear of bodily weakness and the fear of simplicity and ignorance.

"But when Jesus heard that, He said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified." Such a glorifying of Himself did not add to His dignity, but benefited us. Hence He says, "is not unto death," because even that death itself was not unto death, but rather unto the working of a miracle whereby men might be led to faith in Christ, and so escape the real death. And mark how the Lord, as it were indirectly, called Himself God, for the sake of some who deny that the Son is God. For there are heretics who make such a denial, that the Son of God is God. Let them hearken here: "This sickness" He says. "is not unto death, but for the glory of God." For what glory? For the glory of what God? Hear what follows: "That the Son of God may be glorified." "This sickness," therefore, He says, "is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby." By what? By that sickness.

(Tr. xlix. 6) When Jesus heard that, He said, This sickness is not unto death. For this death itself was not unto death, but to give occasion for a miracle; whereby men might be brought to believe in Christ, and so escape real death. It was for the glory of God, wherein observe that our Lord calls Himself God by implication, thus confounding those heretics who say that the Son of God is not God. For the glory of what God? Hear what follows, That the Son of God might be glorified thereby, i. e. by that sickness.

But when Jesus heard it, he said to them. Here the third point is touched upon, namely the reason for the infirmity, which the Lord intimates to those seeking healing; on account of which he said to them: This infirmity is not unto death, but for the glory of God. He says this according to the divine dispensation; on account of which he adds: That the Son of God may be glorified by it, that is, that through this work he may manifest his glory, because in the raising he manifested his power, and through this his glory; whence above in chapter two: "This sign Jesus performed and manifested his glory" before his disciples. But why glory was to be manifested in him, the Evangelist secretly hints: on account of a special love toward those persons.

There is a manifold infirmity, namely that of the grace of virtue, to be embraced: and this is fourfold: of humility: Proverbs 30: "The ants are a feeble people, who prepare their food in the summer"; 1 Corinthians 1: "God chose the weak things of the world and the contemptible things," etc.; Matthew 11: "Because you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and have revealed them to little ones." Of penitence; Ecclesiasticus 31: "A grievous sickness makes the soul sober"; concerning this in the Psalm: "Who heals the broken of heart and binds up their wounds," or infirmities, of theirs, according to another reading. Of patience; 2 Corinthians 12: "Power is made perfect in infirmity," namely of patience, because James 1: "Patience has a perfect work." Therefore it is said in 2 Corinthians 12: "Gladly will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell in me." Of fellow-suffering or compassion; 2 Corinthians 11: "Who is weak, and I am not weak?" and 1 Corinthians 9: "I became weak to the weak, that I might gain the weak."

Likewise, there is an infirmity of the perversity of fault, to be fled: and this is fourfold, namely of cupidity: Ecclesiastes 5: "There is also another most grievous infirmity that I have seen under the sun: riches gathered to the harm of their owner, for they perish in most grievous affliction." Of carnal pleasure; Isaiah 24: "The vintage has mourned, the vine has grown weak, all who rejoiced in heart have groaned." Of pride; Isaiah 24: "The height of the people of the earth has been weakened, and the earth has been polluted by its inhabitants." Of obstinacy; Deuteronomy 7: "The Lord will take away all sicknesses, and the most grievous infirmities of Egypt, which you have known, He will not bring upon you." The infirmities of Egypt are obstinacies in evil.

Likewise, there is an infirmity of the difficulty of following, to be relieved: and this is fourfold: for resisting the evil of fault; Lamentations 1: "My strength has been weakened; the Lord has given me into a hand from which I cannot rise"; and Isaiah 40: "The youths shall fall in their infirmity." For enduring the evil of punishment; 1 Thessalonians, last chapter: "Comfort the fainthearted, support the weak": against which Ezekiel 34: "That which was weak you did not strengthen." For undertaking the good: Ecclesiasticus 31: "In all your works be swift, and no infirmity shall come upon you"; Romans 14: "But receive him who is weak in faith." For persevering in the good: 1 Kings 2: "She who had many children has grown weak." All these infirmities are to be relieved; Romans 8: "The Spirit Himself helps our infirmity."

Likewise, there is an infirmity of the passibility of punishment, to be borne: and this is fourfold, namely of that contracted on account of transgression; the Psalm: "Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your infirmities"; Romans 14: "Let him who is weak eat herbs." Of that assumed for our redemption; Isaiah 53: "We saw him the lowest of men, a man of sorrows and knowing infirmity." Of that inflicted for purgation; the Psalm: "Their infirmities were multiplied; afterwards they hastened." Of that brought about for the manifestation of divine glory, as above in the same place: This infirmity is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.

Question. Likewise it is asked concerning what he says: This sickness is not unto death—because he died. Whence Chrysostom asks: How were the women not scandalized, when what the Lord had foretold to them did not come to pass? I respond: It must be said that the meaning is: it is not unto death, that is, unto the final end of life, so that he would live no more; yet it was unto death, that is, unto the separation of the soul from the body. As to the question: why were the women not scandalized? It must be said that they still hoped that the Lord would raise him. Or they believed, since it did not come to pass literally, that the Lord had spoken parabolically.

The Lord now says this, not that the men may go away and report it to the sisters of Lazarus, but as God foretelling what should come to pass, because He saw that the conclusion of the affair would be for the glory of God; not that the sickness came upon the man for this reason, that He should be glorified; for it would be silly to say this; but since it had come, He also saw that it would result in a wonderful end. And He says that Himself is in His Nature God, for that which is done, is done for His glory. For after saying that the sickness was for the glory of God, He added: That the Son of God may be glorified thereby, speaking concerning Himself.

And if He Himself said that the sickness of Lazarus was not unto death, and yet his death took place, there is nothing to marvel at. For looking on to the final result of the affair, and seeing that He was going to raise him up after a little time, we do not consider anything that took place in the interval, but only how the end would result. For the Lord determined to set forth the weakness of death, and to show forth all that happened as for the glory of God, that is, of Himself.

Jesus saw that in the end, Lazarus's illness and death would be for the glory of God. This is not to say that the sickness came on Lazarus so that God should be glorified, for it would be silly to say this, but rather, since the sickness had come upon Lazarus, Jesus foresaw the wonderful conclusion to Lazarus's illness.

"This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." Observe how He again asserteth that His glory and the Father's is One; for after saying "of God," He hath added, "that the Son of God might be glorified."

"This sickness is not unto death." Since He intended to tarry two days where He was, He for the present sendeth away the messengers with this answer. Wherefore we must admire Lazarus' sisters, that after hearing that the sickness was "not unto death," and yet seeing him dead, they were not offended, although the event had been directly contrary. But even so they came to Him, and did not think that He had spoken falsely.

The expression "that" in this passage denotes not cause, but consequence; the sickness happened from other causes, but He used it for the glory of God.

Since Jesus intended to remain in that place for two days, He says that "this sickness is not unto death," although it did lead to death; He says this in order to encourage the messengers and to give them a kind of consolation, so that they would not persist in urging Him and would not grieve. It is for this reason that He says: "This sickness is not unto death."

And in another way. If you look carefully, this sickness was not unto death—the kind of death by which many die, that is, unto a prolonged death, but unto a temporary one that lasted four days. Since Lazarus was raised on the fourth day, looking at the outcome of the matter, we say: this sickness is not unto death. "But for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified through it." Do you see that the Father and the Son have one glory? For having said "for the glory of God," He added "that the Son of God might be glorified," for the glory of God, that is, of the Father, in no way differs from the glory of the Son. Consequently, the Son is properly and truly God just as the Father is, for those who have one glory have one Essence as well.

Let the Arians be put to shame by this saying as well. "That He may be glorified." Understand this not as a cause, but as an event and outcome of the matter (as we have said more than once). For Lazarus was not sick in order that God might be glorified, but sickness befell Lazarus, and the Lord turned it to the glory of God.

1476 Now we have the reasons for the foregoing: first, the illness of Lazarus; secondly, the reason why, according to Augustine, his sisters did not come in person to Christ (v 5).

1477 The reason for the illness of Lazarus is the glorification of the Son of God; thus the Evangelist says, when Jesus heard it he said, This illness is not unto death; it is for the glory of God. Here we should note that some physical illness is unto death and some is not. Those are unto death which are not ordained to something else. Further, every evil of punishment is inflicted by divine providence: "Does evil befall a city, unless the Lord has done it?" (Amos 3:6). But as for the evil of fault, God is not the author, but the punisher. Now all things that are from God are ordered. Consequently, every evil of punishment is ordered to something: some to death, and some to something else. This illness was not ordered to death, but to the glory of God.

1478 But Lazarus did die! Yes, otherwise he would not have had the odor of one four days in the tomb, nor would his raising have been a miracle. I answer that his illness was not ordained to death as a final end, but to something else, as has been said, that is, that he who was raised, chastened as it were, might live a holy life for the glory of God, and that the Jewish people who saw this miracle might be converted to the faith: "The Lord has chastened me sorely but he has not given me over to death" (Ps 118:18). Thus he adds, it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it.

In this passage, according to Chrysostom, the words "for" and "that" do not indicate the reason for the events, but their sequence. For Lazarus was not made ill so that from it God might be glorified; rather, his illness came from some other cause, and from it the fact followed that the Son of God would be glorified insofar as Christ used it for the glory of God by raising Lazarus.

This is true in one way, but not in another. It is possible to consider two reasons for Lazarus' illness. One is the natural cause, and from this point of view the statement of Chrysostom is true, because Lazarus' illness, considering its natural causes, was not ordained to his rising from the dead. But we can consider another reason, and this is divine providence; and then Chrysostom's statement is not true. For under divine providence an illness of this kind was ordained to the glory of God. And so according to this, the "for" and the "that" do indicate the reason. It is the same as saying: it is for the glory of God, because although it was not ordained to this from the intent of its natural cause, yet from the intent of divine providence it was ordained to the glory of God, insofar as, once the miracle had been performed, people would believe in Christ and escape real death. So he says, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it.

Here our Lord clearly calls himself the Son of God: for he was to be glorified in the resurrection of Lazarus because he is true God: "that we may be in his true Son" (1 Jn 5:20); "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be made manifest in him" (9:3).

Then after these things he said to his disciples. After the announcement of the illness has been made, the arrival of the Physician is described here. First, therefore, is noted Christ's security, on account of which he exhorts his fearful disciples, saying: Then after these things he said to his disciples, namely Jesus: Let us go into Judea again. He exhorted them for this reason, because they were fearful; and this is evident from their response.

Now when the Lord said: Let us go into Judaea again, He seems almost to declare "Even though the people there are unworthy of kindness, yet now that an opportunity presents itself of conveying them some advantage, let us go back to them;" but the disciples in their love for Him think it right to try to hinder Him, and moreover as men they suppose that He would be unwilling to put Himself in peril by going amongst the Jews. Wherefore also they remind Him of the madness of the Jews against Him, all but saying: "Why again dost Thou seek to be amidst the unbelieving and ungrateful people who are not softened either by Thy words or even by Thy works? who even yet are of murderous intent against Thee, and who are boiling with passionate rage?" Either then they say this, or their language signifies that He is leading them into evident danger. Nevertheless, they are obedient to their Teacher, as to One Who knows what is best.

"Then saith He to his disciples, Let us go into Judea." Why, when He never in other places told them beforehand where He was going, doth He tell them here? They had been greatly terrified, and since they were in this way disposed, He forewarneth them, that the suddenness might not trouble them.

In other cases the Lord never stated beforehand where He intended to go, but only here does He announce in advance, it seems, because His disciples were very afraid to go to Judea. He announces beforehand so that they would not be troubled by the unexpectedness, if He were to suddenly lead them into a country which they were afraid to enter.

1482 Here (v 7) our Lord declares his intention to go to the place where Lazarus died. First, we see our Lord's plan; secondly, we see the fear in the disciples (v 8); and thirdly, we have our Lord dispelling their fear (v 9).

1483 With respect to the first the Evangelist says, Then after this, the prolonged delay, he said, Jesus did, to the disciples, Let us go into Judea again. One might ask here why Christ made a point of mentioning to the apostles that he was about to go into Judea again, since he had not done this on other occasions. The reason for this was that the Jews had just recently persecuted Christ in Judea and had almost stoned him; indeed, that is why he had left. So it was to be expected that when Christ wanted to go there again, the disciples would become fearful. And because "Darts that are foreseen do not strike and foreseen evils are more easily borne," as Gregory says, our Lord mentioned his planned journey to them to calm their fears. As to the mystical sense, we can understand by the fact that Christ is returning once again to Judea, that he will return again at the end of the world to the Jews, who will be converted to Christ: "A hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in" (Rom 11:25).

Consider what I have said, that the Light is Christ. Everyone who will walk in his commandments will not be laid hold of by evil. These twelve hours that are in the day are the twelve apostles. The devil … is compared with the night. He who walks in the will of the devil will stumble because he does not have the light of Christ.

Jesus answered: Are there not twelve hours of the day? in which, namely, to walk is good and safe; whence he says: If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. This light is Christ: above in chapter 8: "I am the light of the world." He who walks after this light does not stumble, because, as is said above in chapter 8, "he who follows me does not walk in darkness"; and therefore he does not stumble. Therefore Wisdom says in Proverbs 4: "I will lead you through the paths of equity, which when you have entered, your steps shall not be straitened, and running you shall have no stumbling block."

Spiritually, three things are to be noted: first, what does it mean that Lazarus is loved by the Lord? Second, what does it mean that he grows sick, dies, and is found four days dead? Third, what does it mean that the Lord exhorts his disciples to walk in the day?

Lazarus is interpreted as helped by the Lord. He signifies the man who has helping grace, according to that passage of Isaiah chapter forty-nine: "In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you." He loves the Lord, and therefore is also loved: Proverbs chapter eight: "I love those who love me."

This Lazarus grows sick in the delight of sin, concerning which sickness Ecclesiasticus chapter ten says: "A prolonged sickness burdens the physician": because it scarcely happens that lingering delight does not plunge one into mortal sin. But he dies in consent, because then sin is consummated interiorly: James chapter one: "Concupiscence, when it has conceived, brings forth sin; but sin, when it has been consummated, begets death." And he becomes four days dead and foul-smelling, when from consent one arrives at the deed, from the deed to habit, from habit to shamelessness of sin, when the forehead of a harlot becomes the man's, so that he no longer wishes to blush; and then he is foul-smelling, because now his sin spreads to others: Amos 4: "I made the stench of your camps rise up into your nostrils," etc.

To raise this sinner from the dead, the Lord stirs up his disciples, whom he had also ordained as prelates: Proverbs 6: "Run about, make haste, rouse your friend." And he exhorts that they walk by day. Day is called the time of meriting, because when the sun rises, man goes out to his work, and the demons hide themselves: Psalm: "The sun has risen, and they were gathered together," etc.; and afterward: "Man shall go forth to his work," etc. This day lasts from the coming of Christ until the day of judgment; because above in chapter nine: "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world"; and he himself is in the world until the consummation of the age; Matthew, last chapter: "Behold, I am with you all days until the consummation of the age." And this must be done, so that sinners may be raised: Galatians 6: "Let us work good toward all, but especially toward those of the household of faith."

The twelve hours of this day can be called the twelve states of Christ, concerning which was treated above in chapter four. Or they can be called the twelve Apostles, who were also signified by the twelve stones, by the twelve springs at Elim, by the twelve oxen around the bronze sea of Solomon, by the twelve precious stones, and now by the twelve hours. Or the twelve hours are the twelve virtues which were in Christ, namely the four cardinal virtues, one theological virtue, and the seven gifts. Or the twelve hours are called the twelve fruits of the Spirit, concerning which Revelation 22: "The tree of life bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month."

Perhaps He compares to the ever-moving course of the day, the easily-swayed and novelty-loving mind of men, which is not established in one opinion, but vacillates from one way of thinking to another, just as the day changes from one hour to another. And thus also thou wilt understand the words: Are there not twelve hours in the day? That is, "I," says He, "am the Day and the Light. Therefore, just as it is not possible for the light of the day to fail, without having completed its appointed time; so it is not among possibilities that the illumination which proceeds from Me should be shrouded from the Jews, without having fully reached its fitting measure of philanthropy." And He speaks of the time of His presence as "day," and of that before it as "night;" as also when the Lord says: We must work the works of Him that sent us, while it is day. This therefore is what He here says: "It is not now a time for Me to separate Myself from the Jews, even though they be unholy, but I must do all things that pertain to their healing. For they must not now be punished, by having the Divine grace (like the light of the sun) withdrawn from them. But just as the light of the day does not fail until the twelve hours have been completed, so the illumination that proceeds from Me is not shrouded before the proper time; but until I am crucified I remain among the Jews, sending forth unto them like light the understanding of the knowledge of God. For since the Jews are in the darkness of unbelief, and so stumble at Me as at a stone, I must go back to them and enlighten them, that they may desist from their madness in fighting against God."

Perhaps he compares to the ever-moving course of the day, the easily-swayed and novelty-loving mind of people, which is not established in one opinion but vacillates from one way of thinking to another, just as the day changes from one hour to another. This is also how the words "are there twelve hours in the day" can be understood. In other words, "I," he says, "am the Day and the Light. Therefore, just as it is not possible for the light of the day to fail without having completed its appointed time, so it is not among possibilities that the illumination that proceeds from me should be shrouded from the Jews without having fully reached its fitting measure of love for humankind." And he speaks of the time of his presence as "day," and of that before it as "night," as the Lord also does when he says, "We must work the works of him that sent us while it is day." This therefore is what he says here: "This is not the time for me to separate myself from the Jews, even though they are unholy. Instead, I must do everything that I can for their healing. For they must not now be punished by having the divine grace (like the light of the sun) withdrawn from them. But just as the light of the day does not fail until the twelve hours have been completed, so the illumination that proceeds from me is not shrouded before the proper time. However, until I am crucified I remain among the Jews, sending forth unto them like light the understanding of the knowledge of God. For since the Jews are in the darkness of unbelief, and so stumble on me as on a stone, I must go back to them and enlighten them so that they may desist from their madness in fighting against God."

"Are there not twelve hours of the day?" He either saith this, that "he who is conscious to himself of no evil, shall suffer nothing dreadful; only he that doeth evil shall suffer, so that we need not fear, because we have done nothing worthy of death"; or else that, "he who seeth the light of this world is in safety; and if he that seeth the light of this world is in safety, much more he that is with Me, if he separate not himself from Me." Having encouraged them by these words, He addeth, that the cause of their going thither was pressing, and showeth them that they were about to go not unto Jerusalem, but unto Bethany.

As the day is divided into twelve hours, accordingly the twelve patriarchs and the choir of the apostles are equal in number with the hours of the day, having as their Sun Christ our God, who is also the spiritual Day, from whom there is learning and the enlightenment of its knowledge.

The Lord encourages them and says: "Just as one who sees the light does not stumble, but the one who walks at night stumbles, so too the one who does good and walks in deeds of light will not suffer any misfortune, while the one who does evil will suffer misfortune; therefore you have no need to fear, for we have done nothing deserving of death."

Or yet another way: "If he who sees this light does not stumble, how much more will he not stumble who abides with Me, provided he himself does not fall away from Me. Therefore you also, abiding with Me, the true Light, are afraid in vain."

Others understand "day" as the time before the suffering, and "night" as the time of the suffering. So, He says, as long as the "day" goes on, that is, while the time of suffering has not yet come, you will not stumble, for you will encounter neither persecution from the Jews nor any other unpleasantness. But when the "night" comes, that is, My suffering, then you, thrown into confusion, will gather in one small house out of fear of the Jews. From that time you will experience sorrows and afflictions, and much hostility and trouble. When I, the Light, am no longer living with you bodily, the night of sorrows will envelop you.

Some understand the day to be the time preceding the Passion, the night to be the Passion. In this sense, while it is day, would mean, before My Passion; Ye will not stumble before My Passion, because the Jews will not persecute you; but when the night, i. e. My Passion, cometh, then shall ye be beset with darkness and difficulties.

1485 Our Lord dispels this fear by strengthening them. The Evangelist says, Jesus answered, his disciples, Are there not twelve hours in the day? First, we see something about the time; secondly, what time is suited for walking; thirdly, what time is not.

1486 To understand this passage we should note that it has been explained in three ways. The first way is that of Chrysostom, and is this. Are there not twelve hours in the day? is like saying: You hesitate to go up to Judea because the Jews recently wanted to stone me; but the day has twelve hours, and what happens at one hour does not happen in another. So, although they would have stoned me before, they would not want to do this at another hour: "For everything there is a season" (Eccl 3:1); "Every matter has its time and way" (Eccl 8:6).

1487 A literal question arises because he is speaking here either of the natural or of the artificial day. If he is speaking of the natural day, then what he says is false: because the natural day does not have twelve but twenty-four hours. Again, if he is speaking of the artificial day, his statement is false: because it is true only at the equinox, for not all artificial days have twelve hours. I answer that we should understand this to refer to the artificial day, because all artificial days have twelve hours. For the hours of such days are distinguished in two ways. Some are equal in length and some are not. Those equal in length are distinguished according to the circle of the equator: and according to this not all days have twelve hours, but some have more and some less, except at the equator. The hour not equal in length are more distinguished according to the ascensions of the zodiac on account of its obliquity: because the zodiac does not ascend equally in all its parts, but at the equator equally. Now each artificial day has twelve of these unequal hours, because every day has six signs which ascend during the day, and six at night; but those which ascend in summer have a slower motion than those which ascend in winter, and of course the ascent of each sign makes up two hours.

1488 If any one walks in the day, that is, honorably, and without consciousness of any evil - "Let us conduct ourselves becomingly as in that day" (Rom 13:13) - he does not stumble, that is, he does not come upon anything that might harm him. And this is because he sees the light of this world, i.e., the light of righteousness is in him: "Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart" (Ps 97:11). It is like our Lord were saying: We can go securely because we are walking during the day.

But if he walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him; Matthew 15: "If the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit"; on account of which it is said below in chapter 12: "Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you."

1489 But if any one walks in the night, that is, in the night of iniquities, he will easily find dangers. Concerning this night we read: "Those who sleep at night" (1 Thess 5:7). But such a one, he stumbles, that is, strikes against something, because the light, of righteousness, is not in him.

1490 A certain Greek, Theophylactus, explains this another way. Beginning at If any one walks in the day, he says that the "day" is the presence of Christ in the world, and the "night" is the time after Christ's passion. So the meaning is this: The Jews are not to be feared because as long as I am in the world it is not you, but I, who am in danger. Thus, when the Jews wanted to arrest Christ, he said to the crowd: "If you seek me, let these men go. This was to fulfill the word which he had spoken, 'Of those whom you gavest me I lost not one'" (18:8). But if any one walks in the night, that is, in the time after the passion, you should be afraid to go into Judea, because you will suffer persecution from the Jews: "Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered."

1491 Augustine explains it another way, so that the "day" indicates Christ: "We must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day" (9:4), and "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world" (9:5). The twelve hours of this day are the twelve apostles: "Did I not choose you, the twelve?" (6:71). But what should we say of what follows: "And one of you is a devil?" Judas, therefore, was not an hour of this day because he gave no light. We should say that our Lord spoke these words [about the twelve] not in reference to Judas, but to his successor, who was Matthias. Thus, the sense of Are there not twelve hours in the day? is as though he were saying: You are the hours, I am the day. Just as the hours follow the day, so you must follow me. So, if I wish to go to Judea you ought not to precede me or change my will, but you should follow me. He said something similar to Peter: "Get behind me, Satan!" (Matt 16:23), i.e., do not go ahead of me, but follow me by imitating my will. If any one walks in the day is the same as saying: You should not fear any danger, because you are going with me who am the day. So just as one who walks in the day does not run into anything, that is, does not stumble, so also you who walk with me: "If God is for us, who is against us?" (Rom 8:31). And this is because he sees the light of this world in me. But if any one walks in the night, in the darkness of ignorance and sin, then he stumbles; and this is because the spiritual light is not in him, not because of a defect in the light, but because of his own rebellion: "There are those who rebel against the light" (Job 24:13).

(Tr. xlix. c. 9) It was really true that He was sleeping. To our Lord, he was sleeping; to men who could not raise him again, he was dead. Our Lord awoke him with as much ease from his grave, as thou awakest a sleeper from his bed. He calls him then asleep, with reference to His own power, as the Apostle saith, But I would not have you to be ignorant, concerning them which are asleep. (1 Thess. 4:13) Asleep, He says, because He is speaking of their resurrection which was to be. But as it matters to those who sleep and wake again daily, what they see in their sleep, some having pleasant dreams, others painful ones, so it is in death; every one sleeps and rises again with his own account.a

These things he said, and after this he said to them. Here the second point is touched upon, namely the necessity of coming on account of Lazarus, who, being dead, could not be raised except by him. Therefore he says: Lazarus our friend sleeps: but I go, that I may awaken him from sleep: he speaks most properly, because for God to die is to sleep; whence Augustine says: "To men he was dead, who could not raise him: but to the Lord he was sleeping, who awakened him from the tomb with such ease as you do not use to awaken one sleeping from a bed"; therefore the Lord said in Matthew 9: "The girl is not dead, but sleeps." But the disciples did not understand this.

"A worthy cause draws Me towards Jerusalem;" for so much is signified by the words: Our friend is fallen asleep; "and if we should let it pass neglected, we should incur the reputation of being devoid of compassion. Wherefore we must avoid the disgrace of such conduct, and run to the help of our friend, despising the plots of the Jews." And showing His own God-befitting power, He calls the departure of the human soul from the body by the name of sleep, and very rightly: for He does not think it proper to call it death, Who created man for immortality, according as it is written, and made the generations of the world to be healthful. Moreover, the language is also true, because the temporary death of our body is in the sight of God really a sleep and nothing different, brought to an end by a mere and single sign from that which is by nature Life, namely, Christ. And notice that He did not say: "Lazarus is dead and I go to raise him to life," but says: "He is fallen asleep," avoiding boastfulness, for our instruction and profit; for [without some such good reason] He would not have uttered a sentence so obscure in its hidden meaning that not even the disciples themselves understood what was said. For He did not say: "I go to quicken him into life" or "to raise him up from the dead," but "that I may awake him out of sleep;" which was at the time insufficient to suggest His real meaning.

For truly the death of human beings is counted with the Lord as sleep. Why does he say "I go"? Are you unable to enliven the dead while remaining here? But, [Jesus says], the Jews in my absence do not receive the grace. For perhaps on his arising they will think Lazarus has come to life by some chance. I therefore am coming so that, if I am there, they will be eyewitnesses of the miracles done by me. And when they receive this grace from me, they can then be brought to a sure and certain faith.

Having encouraged them by these words, He addeth, that the cause of their going thither was pressing, and showeth them that they were about to go not unto Jerusalem, but unto Bethany.

"Our friend Lazarus," He saith, "sleepeth, but I go that I may awake him out of sleep." That is, "I go not for the same purpose as before, again to reason and contend with the Jews, but to awaken our friend."

"Then said His disciples, Lord, if he sleep he shall do well."

This they said not without a cause, but desiring to hinder the going thither. "Sayest Thou," asks one of them, "that he sleepeth? Then there is no urgent reason for going." Yet on this account He had said, "Our friend," to show that the going there was necessary.

Since the Lord's disciples were afraid to go to Judea, He says to them: "The Jews sought to stone Me because I refuted and reproved them. But now I am going not to reprove them, but to visit My friend. Therefore there is no need to be afraid. I am going not for the same reason I went before, so as to expect danger from the Jews, but I am going to awaken a friend."

1492 Above, our Lord mentioned his intention of going to the place where Lazarus had died; now he reveals his intention to raise him. The Evangelist first mentions this intention; secondly, the attitude of the disciples (v 16). First, we see our Lord stating his intention implicitly and rather obscurely; secondly, the Evangelist mentions how slow the disciples were to understand this (v 12); and thirdly, we see our Lord stating his intention plainly (v 14).

1493 The Evangelist says, Thus he spoke, and then he said to them, that is, having said those things already mentioned, Jesus now says to his disciples, Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. According to Chrysostom, this seems to be a second reason for the disciples not to fear: the first was based on their innocence, because he who walks in the day does not stumble; but this reason is based on current necessity, it being necessary to go there.

1494 We see three things about this. First, he recalls his previous friendship with the dead man, saying, Our friend Lazarus. This was to say: He was a friend because of the many things and favors he did for us; so we should not neglect him in his needs: "He who overlooks his own advantage for the sake of a friend is just" (Prv 12:26).

1495 Secondly, he mentions that help is needed now, saying, has fallen asleep, and so should be helped: "A brother is born for adversity" (Prv 17:17). Lazarus has fallen asleep, with respect to the Lord, as Augustine says; but with respect to men he was dead, as they were unable to revive him. We should note that the word "sleep" can be understood in several ways. Sometimes it refers to a natural sleep: "So Samuel went and lay down [slept] in his place" (1 Sam 3:9); and "You shall sleep securely" (Job 11:18). Sometimes it indicates the sleep of death: "We would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope" (1 Thess 4:13). Sometimes it is understood as some kind of negligence: "Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep" (Ps 121:4). And sometimes it means the sleep of sin: "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead" (Eph 5:14). Again, it can mean the repose of contemplation: "I slept, but my heart was awake" (Song 5:2). It can also signify the rest of future glory: "In peace I will both lie down and sleep" (Ps 4:8).

Death is called a sleep because of the hope we have of a resurrection; so death has come to be called a sleep from the time that Christ died and arose: "I lie down and sleep" (Ps 3:6).

1496 Thirdly, he shows his power to raise one from death when he says, but I go to awake him out of sleep. By this he tells us that he woke him from the grave with as little effort as you wake a person who is sleeping in bed. This is not surprising because he is the one who raises the dead and gives life; so it was said above (5:28): "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God."

(Tr. xlix. 11) He then declares His meaning openly: Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

(Tr. xlix. 11) He had been sent for to restore Lazarus from sickness, not from death. But how could the death be hid from Him, into whose hands the soul of the dead had flown?

Then Jesus said to them. Here the third point is touched upon, namely the benefit to the disciples: therefore he repeats the death of Lazarus openly, because they did not grasp it when spoken obscurely. Therefore then Jesus said to them plainly: Lazarus is dead: therefore plainly, because, as is said in Matthew 13, "to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven."

All physicians wear themselves out for their patient lest he die. But Lazarus's physician was waiting for his death in order to show his victory over death.

When therefore their disposition was somewhat reluctant, He said, "He is dead."

The former word He spake, desiring to prove that He loved not boasting; but since they understood not, He added, "He is dead."

"And I am glad for your sakes."

Why "for your sakes"? "Because I have forewarned you of his death, not being there, and because when I shall raise him again, there will be no suspicion of deceit." Seest thou how the disciples were yet imperfect in their disposition, and knew not His power as they ought? and this was caused by interposing terrors, which troubled and disturbed their souls. When He said, "He sleepeth," He added, "I go to awake him"; but when He said, "He is dead," He added not, "I go to raise him"; for He would not foretell in words what He was about to establish certainly by works, everywhere teaching us not to be vainglorious, and that we must not make promises without a cause.

Lazarus, this intimate friend of God, died, as is known through the testimony of the Gospel. According to John, for forty years he had compensated for the losses of the flesh by the actions of his will. And so after a quick death which was due to his earthly frame, that is, to earth itself more than humanity—according to the book of Genesis the rich fluidity of clay is responsible for us as well—while Christ the judge was far away, imparting the gifts of salvation on the borders of Judea, Lazarus was buried and placed in the tomb in order that he might begin to be what he had been—clay.

The Lord, seeing that His disciples still did not understand Him, says directly that Lazarus "has died." Why then did He previously express Himself not directly, but in a veiled manner, calling death "sleep"? For many reasons.

Firstly, out of humility, for He did not wish to appear boastful, but in a veiled manner called the resurrection an awakening from sleep. How would He have used this expression if He had not called death a sleep? And that this is true, that is, that He expressed Himself in a veiled manner out of humility, is evident from what follows. For having said that Lazarus "died," the Lord did not add "I will go and raise him." Do you see how He did not wish to boast in words about what He intended to confirm by the deed itself? At the same time, the Lord also teaches us not to be hasty in our promises. For if at the request of the centurion (for the healing of his servant) the Lord did give a promise, saying "I will come and heal him" (Matt. 8:5–7), He said this in order to reveal his faith. So then, this is the first reason why the Lord called death a sleep.

Another is to show us that every death is a sleep and a rest.

The third is that although the death of Lazarus was indeed death for everyone else, for Jesus Himself, inasmuch as He intended to raise him, it was nothing more than sleep. Just as it is easy for us to wake one who is sleeping, so, and a thousand times more so, it is easy for Him to raise the dead.

1500 Then our Lord explicitly states his intention to raise him (v 14). First, he tells them that Lazarus has died, which shows his knowledge; secondly, he mentions his attitude towards his death, which shows his providence; and thirdly, he makes known his intention to go to the place where he died, which shows his compassion or mercy.

1501 He states that Lazarus has died when he says plainly, Lazarus is dead, i.e., he has submitted to the common law of death which no one can escape: "What man can live and never see death?" (Ps 89:48).

And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that ye might believe; i. e. seeing My marvellous power of knowing a thing I have neither seen nor heard. The disciples already believed in Him in consequence of His miracles; so that their faith had not now to begin, but only to increase. That ye might believe, means, believe more deeply, more firmly.

But I am glad for your sakes, that is, for your benefit, that you may believe, because I was not there; this does not refer to faith, but to the joy, I am glad, namely, because I was not there, so that afterwards from our coming your faith may be strengthened. Therefore he says: But let us go to him, on account of safety and the need of Lazarus and your benefit. The reason why he was coming was because he was a friend: below in chapter 14: "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and will make our abode with him."

The disciples therefore not understanding that He had called death by the name of sleep, He made His meaning clearer, saying: He is dead. And He says that He is glad, not out of a love of glory, because He was going to do the marvellous deed, but because this was going to become for the disciples a ground of faith. And the words: I was not there, signify as follows: "If I had been there, he would not have died, because I should have had pity on him when he was suffering only a little; but now in My absence his death has taken place, so that, by raising him life, I shall bestow upon you much advantage through your faith in Me." And Christ says this, not as being able to do God-befitting deeds only when He was present; but because if He had been present, He could not have neglected His friend until the occurrence of death. And He says: Let us go unto him, as unto a living person; for the dead, inasmuch as they are destined to live, are alive unto Him as God.

Here it is as though Jesus says, If I had been there, he would not have died, because I would have had pity on him when he was suffering only a little. But now in my absence his death has taken place, so that, by raising him to life I shall bestow upon you a great advantage through your faith in me. And Christ says this, not to indicate that he is only able to do his divine work when present, but rather to show that if he had been present he would not have been able to neglect helping his friend who was dying.

Is he who does not desire the death of a sinner, now glad of the death of a friend? I rejoice, [Jesus says], not for my own sake, nor for the sake of the dead, but for your sake. For I need this death as the foundation for your faith.

"And I am glad for your sakes." Why "for your sakes"? "Because I have forewarned you of his death, not being there, and because when I shall raise him again, there will be no suspicion of deceit." Seest thou how the disciples were yet imperfect in their disposition, and knew not His power as they ought? and this was caused by interposing terrors, which troubled and disturbed their souls. When He said, "He sleepeth," He added, "I go to awake him"; but when He said, "He is dead," He added not, "I go to raise him"; for He would not foretell in words what He was about to establish certainly by works, everywhere teaching us not to be vainglorious, and that we must not make promises without a cause.

If any one ask, "How did the disciples imagine sleep? How did they not understand that death was meant from His saying, 'I go to awake him?' for it was folly if they expected that He would go fifteen stadia to awake him"; we would reply, that they deemed this to be a dark saying, such as He often spake to them.

"I rejoice," He says, "for your sakes," that you can henceforth be more assured of My Divine dignity from the fact that I was not there and am far away from that place, yet I tell you in advance that death has occurred in Bethany, and I say this not based on hearsay, but, as God, Myself perceiving what has happened at a great distance.

Some understood the Lord's words "I am glad for your sakes" in this way: "That I was not there will serve to strengthen you in faith. For if I had been there, I would have healed the sick man. This too would have been a miracle, but it would have shown little of My power. But now, since I was not there and the death of Lazarus followed, and I will go and raise him, you should be more firmly established in faith in Me. For you will see that I am able to do even what I have not yet manifested, namely: to restore and raise a dead man who has already decomposed and is emitting a foul odor."

And I ask you to notice that although Lazarus had died, the Lord nevertheless said "let us go to him," as if to a living person. For to Christ, as God, even Lazarus himself was alive.

Some have understood this place thus. I rejoice, He says, for your sakes; for if I had been there, I should have only cured a sick man; which is but an inferior sign of power. But since in My absence he has died, ye will now see that I can raise even the dead putrefying body; and your faith will be strengthened.

1502 He shows his own attitude towards this death, saying, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. This can be explained in two ways.

The first way is this. We have heard that Lazarus was sick. And although I was not there I have told you that he has died and for your sake I am glad, i.e., because it is for your benefit, so that you may experience my divinity, because even though I was not there I saw all this: "All are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have do to" (Heb 4:13). This is not surprising, because the divinity is present to all things: "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" (Jer 23:24). So that you may believe not as though they were to believe for the first time, but in order that they might believe more firmly and more strongly, in the sense of "I believe; help my unbelief" (Mk 9:23).

The other explanation is this: I am glad that he is dead and this is for your sake, for our benefit, so that you may believe. Accordingly, I am glad that I was not there, for if I had been there, he would not have died. But because he is now dead, it will be a greater miracle when I raise one already decomposing. As a result, your faith will be get stronger, for it is greater to raise one who is dead than to keep him from dying.

We can learn from this that evils are sometimes a reason for joy, insofar as they are directed to some good: "We know that everything works for good with those who love him" (Rom 8:28).

1503 He mentions his plan to go when he says, but let us go to him. Here we see God's mercy, for in his mercy he takes the initiative and draws to himself those living in sin, who are dead and unable of themselves to come to him: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore have I drawn you, taking pity on you" (Jer 31:3).

"Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again." This was ambiguous. For He said not, Even now I will raise thy brother; but, "Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection, at the last day." Of that resurrection I am sure, but uncertain about this. "Jesus saith unto her, I am the resurrection." Thou sayest, My brother shall rise again at the last day: true; but by Him, through whom he shall rise then, can he rise even now, for "I," He says, "am the resurrection and the life." Give ear, brethren, give ear to what He says.

(Tr. xlix. 14) Shall rise again, is ambiguous: for He does not say, now.

Jesus says to her. Here the third point is touched upon, namely the amplification of the faithful confession. For Martha had confessed that the Lord could obtain her brother's resurrection; but the Lord wishes to lead her to this, that she confess that Christ can raise the dead; on account of which he says with authority: Your brother shall rise again.

His being seen in the flesh causing her to think that whatsoever He should ask as a saint, He would receive from God; not indeed knowing that, being in His Nature God and the Power of the Father, He possesses irresistible might over all things. For if she had known that He was God, she would not have said: If Thou hadst been here; for God is everywhere. Through His aversity to arrogance, however, the Lord did not say: "I will raise up thy brother," but: "He shall rise again;" all but softly rebuking her and saying: "He indeed rises again as thou wishest, but not as thou thinkest. For if thou supposest that it will be accomplished by prayer and supplication, take upon thyself the part of prayer, but do not bid Me do it, Who am a Wonder-worker, able by My own Might to raise the dead."

(Hom. lxii. 3) But our Lord taught her the truths which she did not know: Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Observe, He does not say, I will ask God, that he may rise again, nor on the other hand does He say, I want no help, I do all things of Myself; a declaration which would have been too much for the woman; but something between the two, He shall rise again.

Martha, again you know but you do not know. Martha, again do you really know, when you do not know that your brother can rise here and now? Or is it perhaps that God who at that future time is able to raise up all is now unable to raise up even one from the dead? He is able, yes, God is able to raise up one from the dead as a sign for this time, God who will later raise up all the dead to eternal life.… Martha, right in front of you is the Resurrection that you are putting so far into the future.

From this it appears that they, even though they believed somehow in the power of the Lord, were still in doubt because of the greatness of the task.… On the one hand, she has no doubts about his promise. On the other hand, however, she considers the task superior to human power. Indeed, we said above that they still thought they were speaking to a man who does everything through his own strength. This is why she said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection of the last day."

The Lord, refuting such an understanding of hers, says: "Your brother will rise again." He did not say to her "yes, I will ask God, and He will give Me," nor did He agree with her words, but used a moderate expression.

1512 We see how she advanced when the Evangelist adds, Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. Because she was still imperfect in her understanding, our Lord raised her to higher things by his teaching. First, he foretells the resurrection of her brother; secondly, he shows that he has the power to resurrect (v 25). Concerning the first, he does two things. First, he foretells the coming miracle; secondly, we see Martha's understanding of the resurrection (v 24).

1513 The miracle our Lord foretold is the raising of Lazarus; thus he says, Your brother will rise again: "Thy dead shall live, their bodies shall rise" (Is 26:19). We should note here that Christ raised three persons from death: the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue (Matt 9:25); the widow's son, who was being carried outside the gate of the city (Lk 7:12); and Lazarus, who had been four days in the tomb. The girl was still in her home, the youth was outside the gate, and Lazarus was in the tomb. He raised the girl in the presence of only a few witnesses: the girl's father and mother, and the three disciples, Peter, James, and John. He raised the young man in the presence of a large group. And Lazarus was raised with a number of people standing by, and when Christ was deeply affected. These three persons represent three kinds or genera of sins. Some sin by consenting in their hearts to mortal sin; and these are signified by the girl who was dead in her own home. Others sin by outside signs and acts, and these are signified by the dead youth who was being carried outside the city gate. Finally, those who are firmly habituated to sin are buried in the tomb. Yet, our Lord raises all of them. But those who sin only by consent, and die by sinning mortally, are more easily raised. And because their sin is private, it is healed with a private corrective. When sin advances without, it needs public remedy.

I am the resurrection, because I am the life; as through Me he will rise at the general resurrection, through Me he may rise now.

For the almighty God himself will raise us up through our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his infallible promise, and grant us a resurrection with all those that have slept from the beginning of the world. And we shall then be such as we now are in our present form, without any defect or corruption. For we shall rise incorruptible: whether we die at sea, or are scattered on the earth or are torn to pieces by wild beasts and birds, he will raise us by his own power. For the whole world is held together by the hand of God.…This resurrection was not believed by the Jews, when of old they said, "Our bones are withered, and we are gone." To whom God answered and said, "Behold, I open your graves and will bring you out of them. And I will put my Spirit into you, and you shall live: and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken it and will do it." And he says by Isaiah: "The dead shall rise, and those that are in the graves shall be raised up. And those that rest in the earth shall rejoice, for the dew which is from you shall be healing to them." There are indeed many and various things said concerning the resurrection, and concerning the continuance of the righteous in glory and concerning the punishment of the ungodly, their fall, rejection, condemnation, shame, "eternal fire and endless worm." Now in order to show that it was in his power, if it had pleased him, that all men and women should be immortal, he provided the examples of Enoch and Elijah, who he did not allow to have any experience of death. Or if it had pleased him in every generation to raise those that died, that this also he was able to do he has made evident by himself and by others as when he raised the widow's son by Elijah and the Shunammite's son by Elisha. But we are persuaded that death is not a retribution of punishment, because even the saints have undergone it. In fact, even the Lord of the saints, Jesus Christ, the life of those who believe and the resurrection of the dead, [experienced it].… For it is he who raised Lazarus when he had been in the grave four days, and Jairus's daughter and the widow's son. It is he who raised himself by the command of the Father in the space of three days who is the pledge of our resurrection. For he says, "I am the resurrection and the life."

I am the voice of life that wakens the dead. I am the good odor that takes away the foul odor. I am the voice of joy that takes away sorrow and grief.… I am the comfort of those who are in grief. Those who belong to me are given joy by me. I am the joy of the whole world. I gladden all my friends and rejoice with them. I am the bread of life.

"He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." What meaneth this? "He that believeth in me, though he were dead," just as Lazarus is dead, "yet shall he live;" for He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Believe then, and though thou wert dead, yet shalt thou live: but if thou believest not, even while thou livest thou art dead.

(Tr. xlix. 15) He that believeth in Me, though he were dead: i. e. though his flesh die, his soul shall live till the flesh rise again, never to die more. For faith is the life of the soul.

Jesus says to her: I am the resurrection and the life: the predication is causal, that is, I cause to rise again and to live; 1 Corinthians 15: "Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of those who sleep, for since by a man came death, by a man also comes the resurrection of the dead." And he makes this manifest: He who believes in me, even if he be dead, shall live: and thus I cause to rise again; above in chapter 5: "The hour comes and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live."

Finally, the Apostle Paul reproaches, and rebukes, and blames any who are in sorrow at the departure of their friends. "I would not," says he, have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them which are asleep in Jesus Will God bring with Him." He says that those have sorrow in the departure of their friends who have no hope. But we who live in hope, and believe in God, and trust that Christ suffered for us and rose again, abiding in Christ, and through Him and in Him rising again, why either are we ourselves unwilling to depart hence from this life, or do we bewail and grieve for our friends when they depart as if they were lost, when Christ Himself, our Lord and God, encourages us and says, "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he die, yet shall live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall not die eternally? " If we believe in Christ, let us have faith in His words and promises; and since we shall not die eternally, let us come with a glad security unto Christ, with whom we are both to conquer and to reign for ever.

Assuredly a fruit and reward of faith in Christ is eternal life, and in no other way does this come to the soul of man. For although we are all raised to life through Christ, yet this [eternal life given to the faithful] is the true life, namely, to live unendingly in bliss; for to be restored to life only for punishment differs nothing from death. If therefore any one notices that even the saints, who have received promises of life, die; this is nothing, for it is only what naturally comes to pass. And until the proper time has been reserved the display of the grace [of resurrection], which is powerful, not partially, but effectually, in the case of all men, even of those saints who have died in time past and are tasting death for a short time, until the general resurrection. For then, together, all will enjoy the good things. And in saying: Though he die, yet shall he live, the Saviour did not take away the death in this present world: but admits that it has such might against the faithful that it naturally happens to them, and no more; because He has reserved the grace of resurrection until the proper time. He certainly says: "He that helieveth on Me shall not be without a participation in the death of the flesh in the ordinary course of human nature, but nevertheless he will suffer nothing worthy of fear in this, as God is able easily to make alive whomsoever He will." For he that believeth on Him, hath in the world to come an endless life in bliss and perfect immortality. Wherefore let not any of the unbelieving mock: for Christ did not say: "From this present moment he shall in no wise see death," but when He said absolutely: "He shall never see death in any wise," He spake concerning the world to come, reserving the end of the promise until then. And saying unto Martha: Believest thou? He demands the confession of faith as the parent and patron of the [eternal] life; and she readily assented and accurately confesses: not simply believing that He is a Christ and a Son of God; for a prophet also can be a christ, by reason of being anointed, and the same person can be understood to be a son [of God]: but using the definite article and saying: "The Christ, the Son of God," she confessed the Only and Preeminent and True Son. Therefore her faith was on the Son, not on a creature.

He was crucified in reality, and not in appearance, not in imagination, not in deceit. He really died, and was buried, and rose from the dead, even as He prayed in a certain place, saying, "But do Thou, O Lord, raise me up again, and I shall recompense them." And the Father, who always hears Him, answered and said, "Arise, O God, and judge the earth; for Thou shall receive all the heathen for Thine inheritance." The Father, therefore, who raised Him up, will also raise us up through Him, apart from whom no one will attain to true life. For says He, "I am the life; he that believeth in me, even though he die, shall live: and every one that liveth and believeth in me, even though he die, shall live for ever." Do ye therefore flee from these ungodly heresies; for they are the inventions of the devil, that serpent who was the author of evil, and who by means of the woman deceived Adam, the father of our race.

He, then, who was adored by the prophets as the living God, He is the God of the living; and His Word is He who also spake to Moses, who also put the Sadducees to silence, who also bestowed the gift of resurrection, thus revealing [both] truths to those who are blind, that is, the resurrection and God [in His true character]. For if He be not the God of the dead, but of the living, yet was called the God of the fathers who were sleeping, they do indubitably live to God, and have not passed out of existence, since they are children of the resurrection. But our Lord is Himself the resurrection, as He does Himself declare, "I am the resurrection and the life." But the fathers are His children; for it is said by the prophet: "Instead of thy fathers, thy children have been made to thee." Christ Himself, therefore, together with the Father, is the God of the living, who spake to Moses, and who was also manifested to the fathers.

(Hom. lxii) She had often heard Christ speak of the resurrection. Jesus now declares His power more plainly: Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life. He needed therefore none to help Him; for if He did, how could He be the resurrection. And if He is the life, He is not confined by place, but is every where, and can heal every where.

(Hom. lxii) To Martha's, Whatsoever Thou shall ask, He replies, He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: showing her that He is the Giver of all good, and that we must ask of Him. Thus He leads her to the knowledge of high truths; and whereas she had been enquiring only about the resurrection of Lazarus, tells her of a resurrection in which both she and all present would share.

Now the mystery of this "sign" was in various ways predicted; (a "sign") in which the foundation of life was forelaid for mankind; (a "sign") in which the Jews were not to believe: just as Moses beforetime kept on announcing in Exodus, saying, "Ye shall be ejected from the land into which ye shall enter; and in those nations ye shall not be able to rest: and there shall be instabilityof the print of thy foot: and God shall give thee a wearying heart, and a pining soul, and failing eyes, that they see not: and thy life shall hang on the tree before thine eyes; and thou shalt not trust thy life.

And further He sets forth His power and authority much more clearly: "I," He says, "am the resurrection and the life."

So, since the woman still remained a woman, the Lord raises her up and rouses her faith, as though it had died, speaking more clearly: "You say to Me that God will give Me whatever I ask of Him. But I say to you plainly that I am the resurrection and the life, so that My power is not limited by place, but I am equally able to heal, whether present on the spot or from afar. For I bestow blessings not on behalf of anyone else, but I Myself am the resurrection and the life, I Myself have the power to raise and give life."

1515 When the Evangelist says, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life, our Lord raises Martha to higher things. First, Jesus shows his own might and power; secondly, he mentions the effect of his power, he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live; and thirdly, he demands faith, Do you believe this?

1516 His power is life-giving; thus he says, I am the resurrection and the life. It is as though he were saying to Martha: Do you believe that your brother will rise on the last day? But this general event, that all will rise, will be caused by my power. Consequently, I, by whose power all will rise at that time, am also able to raise your brother now.

He is saying two things, namely, that he is the resurrection and the life. We should note that some need to share in the effect of life: some, indeed, because they have lost life; and others, not because they have lost it, but in order that the life they have may be preserved. In regard to the first he says, I am the resurrection, because those who have lost their life by death are restored. In regard to the second he says, and the life, by which the living are preserved.

We should note further that the statement, I am the resurrection, is a causal one. It is the same as saying: I am the cause of the resurrection, for this manner of speaking is usually applied only to those who are the cause of something. Now Christ is the total cause of our resurrection, both of bodies and souls; and so the statement, I am the resurrection, indicates the cause. He is saying: The entire fact that everyone will rise in their souls and in their bodies will be due to me: "For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead" (1 Cor 15:21).

Furthermore, the fact that I am the resurrection is due to the fact that I am the life: for it is because of life that they are restored to life, just as it is because of fire that something aflame which has been extinguished is rekindled: "In him was life, and the life was the light of men" (1:4).

1517 However, the effect corresponds to the power; thus he says, he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. First, he treats of the effect which corresponds to the first power [the power to resurrect]; secondly, the effect which corresponds to the second power [the power to give life].

The first thing he said about his power is that he is the resurrection. The effect which corresponds to this is that the dead are brought to life by him. Referring to this he says, he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. The reason for this is that I am the cause of the resurrection, and the effect of this cause is obtained by believing in me. He says, he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, because by believing he has me within himself - "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (Eph 3:17). And one who has me, has the cause of the resurrection. Therefore, he who believes in me shall live. We saw before (5:25) that some will rise through faith: "the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live," with a spiritual life, by rising from the death of sin, and they will also live with a natural life by rising from the penalty of [physical] death.

Because He hath attained to the life of the Spirit, and to an immortal resurrection. Our Lord, from Whom nothing was hid, knew that she believed, but sought from her a confession unto salvation: Believest thou this? She saith unto Him, Yea, Lord, I believe that Thou art the Christ the Son of God, which should come into the world.

And whosoever liveth, in the flesh, and believeth in Me, though he die for a time in the flesh, shall not die eternally.

Not only do I make the dead rise, but I also make the living live: whence: And everyone who lives and believes in me shall not die forever; above in the sixth chapter: "Everyone who sees the Son and believes in him has eternal life." And because "with the heart one believes unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation," therefore he says: Do you believe this?

If anyone notices that even the saints who have received promises of life die, this is no reason for concern, since it is what naturally happens. The display of the grace [of resurrection] has been reserved until the appointed time. This grace is powerful, not partially but effectually, in the case of all, even of those saints who have died in time past and are tasting death for a short time until the general resurrection. For then, together, all will enjoy the good things.

Having previously explained the force of the mystery in himself and shown plainly that he is by nature life and true God, he demands assent to the faith, furnishing in this matter a model to the churches. For we should not vainly cast our words into the air when we confess the venerable mystery but rather fix the roots of the faith in heart and mind and then allow it to bear fruit in our confession. And we ought to believe without any hesitation or double-mindedness.… Nevertheless, it is necessary to know that we make the confession of our faith to God, although we are questioned by others, I mean those whose responsibility it is to minister in sacred things, when we say the "I believe" at the reception of holy baptism. Certainly therefore to speak falsely and to slip aside toward unbelief is a most awful thing.… In a certain way, as Lazarus was lying dead, the assent to the faith is demanded of the woman on his behalf. The same can be seen in the churches when a newborn child is brought either to receive the anointing of the catechumenate or to be fully initiated into the Christian faith at holy baptism. In these instances, the person who brings the child repeats aloud the "Amen" on the child's behalf … something we also see in the case of Lazarus and his sister. Martha wisely and prudently sows the confession of faith first so that afterward she may reap the fruit of it.

Here he says believers live; they never die. Their bodies die but are brought back to life again.

The Savior does not inquire "Do you believe this?" in ignorance as to whether Martha did or did not believe what was said. Rather, he did so in order that we, or indeed those who were then present, might learn from her answer what her disposition was. But another will say that it is not a question but a statement: "You believe this." In this case, Martha then completes the Savior's statement saying, Yes, Lord, and not only do I believe what you now say, but I believe now that you are the Christ, something I also believed before. And I believe that you are the Son of God who comes into the world and lives with all who believe in you.

"He who believes in Me, even if he dies this bodily death, shall live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall not die a spiritual death. Therefore do not be troubled. For although your brother has died, he shall live. And why do I speak of your brother? Even you, if you believe in Me, shall not die, but shall be above spiritual death, which is far more terrible. And He who delivers from the most terrible death shall all the more easily deliver your dead brother from the less terrible death."

"Do you believe this?" the Lord asks Martha. And she, although she had heard such lofty words, nevertheless did not understand what the Lord said to her. I think that from grief she was also suffering from a lack of comprehension. For the Lord asks one thing, and she answers another. The Lord asks whether she believes that He is the resurrection and the life, and that he who believes in Him will never die, whether you understand this as spiritual death or bodily death. For of the faithful, on account of their hope in the resurrection, it is rightly said that they do not die.

The second thing he says of his power is that he is life. The effect which corresponds to this is the preservation of life. Thus he says, and whoever lives and believes in me, whoever lives a life of righteousness, "the righteous shall live by his faith" (Hab 2:4), shall never die, that is, with an eternal death. But they will have eternal life: "For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life" (6:40). This should not be understood to mean that one will not physically die; he will die, but he will be raised up in a soul to a never-ending life, and his flesh will rise and he will never die again. Thus John continued, "and I will raise him up at the last day" (6:40).

1518 Jesus requires faith so he can bring her to perfection: thus he says, Do you believe this? First, our Lord's question is given. Our Lord does not ask this out of ignorance, because he knew her faith. Indeed, it was he who had infused the faith into her: for the act of faith is from God. But he asks this question in order that she might profess outwardly the faith she had in her heart: as we read, "For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved" (Rom 10:10).

(de Ver. Dom. s. lii) And said, Where have ye laid him? He knew where, but He asked to try the faith of the people.

(lib. 83. Quaest. qu. lxv.) The question has an allusion too to our hidden calling. That predestination by which we are called, is hidden; and the sign of its being so is our Lord asking the question: He being as it were in ignorance, so long as we are ignorant ourselves. Or because our Lord elsewhere shows that He knows not sinners, saying, I know you not, (Matt. 7:23) because in keeping His commandments there is no sin. They said unto Him, Lord, come and see.

(Tr. xlix. 20.) The Lord sees when He pities, as we read, Look upon my adversity and misery, and forgive me all my sin. (Ps. 24:18.)

He said: Where have you laid him? They say to him: Lord, come and see: and there follows the manifestation of compassion.

When therefore the Lord comes to Mary and Martha the sisters of Lazarus, seeing the crowd of the Jews, he says, "Where have they laid him?" But could the Lord truly be ignorant of where the body of Lazarus was placed, who while being absent at the death of Lazarus had already announced his death and who in his divine majesty was everywhere? But this the Lord did out of ancient custom. For to Adam he had similarly said, "Where are you, Adam?" This was not because he was ignorant of where Adam was but that he might therefore question him so that Adam would openly confess his sin … It is the same here. He does not ask because he is ignorant of Lazarus's whereabouts but so that the crowd of the Jews would follow him to Lazarus's tomb so that, seeing the divine power of Christ exhibited in the resurrection of Lazarus, they might be exposed as his enemies if they did not believe this display of his power. For the superior Lord said to them, "If you do not believe me, believe the works and know that the Father is in me and I in him."

"Where have ye laid him?" So that the question might not be attended with lamentation. But why doth He ask? Because He desired not to cast Himself on the miracle, but to learn all from them, to do all at their invitation, so as to free the miracle from any suspicion.

"Where have you laid him?" the Lord asks not because He does not know (for, being in another place and far away, He still knew that Lazarus had died), but so that they would not think that He Himself volunteers to perform the miracle of His own accord. He wishes to learn everything from them and to perform the miracle at their request, so as to free it from all suspicion.

And since there was as yet no hint of the resurrection of Lazarus and it occurred to no one that He was going to resurrect him, and not merely to weep, they say to Him: "Lord, come and see."

1536 Then our Lord shows the emotion in his own heart by words; he says, Where have you laid him? Was our Lord really ignorant of the place where he had been buried? It seems not, for just as in his absence he knew, because of his divinity, of Lazarus' death, so in the same way he knew where his tomb was. Why did he ask about something he already knew? I answer that he did not ask as though he did not know, but upon being shown the tomb by the people, he wanted them to admit that Lazarus had died and was buried. In this way he could prevent the miracle from being doubted.

There are also two mystical reasons for this. One is that a person who asks a question does not seem to know the things he asks about. Now, Lazarus in his tomb signifies those who are dead in their sins. And so our Lord presents himself as ignorant of where Lazarus is to have us understand that he does not, in a way, know sinners, according to: "I never knew you" (Matt 7:23); and in Genesis God said to Adam, "Where are you?" (3:9). The other reason is that if anyone rises from sin to the state of divine righteousness, it is due to the depths of divine predestination, the depths of which we are ignorant: "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" (Rom 11:34); "For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord to perceive and hear his word" (Jer 23:18). And so our Lord, implying this, acts as one who does not know, since we also do not know this. Thus our Lord's question is given, and the answer of the people, when the Evangelist says, They said to him, Lord, come and see. Come, by showing mercy; and see, by giving your attention: "Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins" (Ps 25:18).

Although according to the gospel history, we hold that Lazarus was really raised to life, yet I do not doubt that his resurrection is an allegory as well. We do not, because we allegorize facts, however, lose our belief in them as facts.

"Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto Him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Have I not said unto thee, that, if thou believest, thou shalt see the glory of God?" What does He mean by this, "thou shall see the glory of God"? That He can raise to life even one who is putrid and hath been four days dead. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; and, Where sin abounded, grace also did superabound."

(Tr. xlix. c. 22) Take ye away the stone; mystically, Take away the burden of the law, proclaim grace.

(lib. 83. Quaest. qu. 61) Perhaps those are signified who wished to impose the rite of circumcision on the Gentile converts; or men in the Church of corrupt life, who offend believers.

(de Ver. Dom. serm. lii) Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, though they had often seen Christ raise the dead, did not fully believe that He could raise their brother; Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto Him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days.

(in Joan. Tr. xlix) And yet our Lord loved Lazarus. For had He not loved sinners, He would never have come down from heaven to save them. Well is it said of one of sinful habits, that He stinketh. He hath a bad report already, as it were the foulest odour.

(lib. lxxxiii. Quæst. q. 65) Well may she say, He hath been dead four days. For the earth is the last of the elements. It signifies the pit of earthly sins, i. e. carnal lusts.

Jesus said: Take away the stone. And because Martha was concerned about the Lord with respect to sensible and corporeal things: therefore: Martha, the sister of him who had died, said to him: Lord, he already stinks: therefore it should not be opened: for he has been dead four days. And because Martha believed that the Lord wished to see him out of compassion, not to raise him by his power.

It is usual to refuse to believe in the possibility of great deeds, and to be somewhat reluctant to admire is a feeling which naturally is consequent upon things beyond our experience. It seems to me that even the good Martha suffered this; for the excessive greatness of the event took from her the sure confidence of faith, and the strangeness of the hope bewilders her proper reason. And it is nothing astonishing if she who had confessed her faith is again overtaken by littleness of faith through the excessive greatness of the marvellous deed. And either solely out of honour to Christ she said: By this time he stinketh; that He might not be disgusted by the bad smell of the corpse: or she says this as if from shame. For the relatives of the dead hasten, before the body becomes ill-smelling, to bury it down in the earth, out of consideration for the living, and deeming it a dishonour to the dead that it should become an object of loathing to any.

Are you—as someone who has bestowed the kind of power on your apostles that can remove mountains—are you not able to roll away a small stone from the entrance of the cave? But he chose not to roll the stone away because the spectators did not believe. Otherwise, they might have been able to say that what he did relied on trickery and deceiving the eyes. They would say there had been an apparently dead man laid in the grave, and that [Jesus] wanted to make it look like he called and the other heard. And so now he leads them to the grave, so that after they have rolled away the stone, the foul smell might reach them and furnish them with testimony that the man was actually dead. And then, once they believe Lazarus has died, they will no longer doubt his resurrection. The Lord had already planned for this when he came. Notice what immediately follows. Martha approaches the stone and says, "Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead for four days." But the ever-living one, who is fully conscious of his power, says, "I chose to learn this from you, [Martha]. In fact, repeat what you said about him, 'By this time he stinks.' Repeat it, proclaiming that his resurrection is real." His death was established several times in order that the fact of his resurrection might be established.… He commanded the Jews to roll away the stone with their own hands, reserving for himself the greatest sign so that they might be witnesses of the sign done by him.

"He saith, Take ye away the stone." Why did not He when at a distance summon Lazarus, and place him before their eyes? Or rather, why did He not cause him to arise while the stone yet lay on the grave? For He who was able by His voice to move a corpse, and to show it again endowed with life, would much more by that same voice have been able to move a stone; He who empowered by His voice one bound and entangled in the grave-clothes to walk, would much more have been able to move a stone; why then did He not so? In order to make them witnesses of the miracle; that they might not say as they did in the case of the blind man, "It is he," "It is not he." For their hands and their coming to the tomb testified that it was indeed he.

If they had not come, they might have deemed that they saw a vision, or one man in place of another. But now the coming to the place, the raising the stone, the charge given them to loose the dead man bound in grave-clothes from his bands; the fact that the friends who bore him from the tomb, knew from the grave-clothes that it was he; that his sisters were not left behind; that one of them said, "He now stinketh, for he hath been dead four days"; all these things, I say, were sufficient to silence the ill-disposed, as they were made witnesses of the miracle. On this account He biddeth them take away the stone from the tomb, to show that He raiseth the man. On this account also He asketh, "Where have ye laid him?" that they who said, "Come and see," and who conducted Him, might not be able to say that He had raised another person; that their voice and their hands might bear witness, (their voice by saying, "Come and see," their hands by lifting the stone, and loosing the grave-clothes,) as well as their eyes and ears, (the one by hearing His voice, the other by seeing Lazarus come forth,) and their smell also by perceiving the ill-odor, for Martha said, "He now stinketh, for he hath been dead four days."

(tom. in Joan. xxviii.) The delay in taking away the stone was caused by the sister of the dead, who said, By this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days. If she had not said this, it would not be said, Jesus said, Take away the stone. Some delay had arisen; it is best to let nothing come between the commands of Jesus and doing them.

In the case of Lazarus, which we may take as the most outstanding instance of a resurrection, the flesh lay prostrate in weakness, almost putrid in the dishonor of its decay. The flesh smelled of corruption, and yet it was as flesh that Lazarus rose again—with his soul, no doubt. But that soul was incorrupt. Nobody had wrapped it in its linen swathes. Nobody had deposited it in a grave. Nobody had yet perceived its "smell," nobody for four days had seen it "sown." Well, now, this entire condition, this whole end of Lazarus, is indeed what the flesh of all humanity is still experiencing, but no one's soul is experiencing it. That substance, therefore, to which the apostle's whole description clearly refers, of which he clearly speaks, must be both the natural (or animate) body when it is sown and the spiritual body when it is raised again.

"Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." These words were spoken by the woman who doubted, but they also referred to the greatness of the miracle to be performed. Indeed, the more they knew that his body was putrefying and was in a state of mutation according to nature, the more the miracle to be performed for Lazarus appeared to be extraordinary. So the Lord by reproving her said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" From this it is evident that she was not free from doubts even when she had said the words mentioned above and seemed to assent to and believe them.

"Take away the stone," the Lord says in order to make them witnesses of the miracle, so that they could not, as before concerning the man born blind, say: "It is he; it is not he" (John 9:9). For being present at the very spot and removing the stone with their own hands was meant to shut the mouths of ill-intentioned witnesses of the miracle.

"He already stinks; for he has been in the grave four days," Martha said out of unbelief, because she considered the resurrection of her brother to be already impossible after so many days had passed since his death. So she was still not advanced in faith!

Martha said this from weakness of faith, thinking it impossible that Christ could raise her brother, so long after death.

1544 Then when he says, Jesus said, Take away the stone, he gives Christ's order to remove the stone. One might ask: Since it is a greater thing to raise the dead than to remove a stone, why did not Christ also use his power to remove the stone? Chrysostom says that this was done in order to secure greater certitude about this miracle, that is, to make them such witnesses to the miracle that they could not, like they did in the case of the blind man, say and maintain that this was not the same person.

As for the mystical sense, according to Augustine, the removing of the stone signifies the removal of the weight of the legal observances from Christ's faithful who came into the Church from the Gentiles, for some wanted to impose these observances on them. Thus St. James says: "For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things" (Acts 15:28); and Peter says in the same work: "Why do you make trial of God by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear" (Acts 15:10). Concerning this our Lord says, Take away the stone, i.e., the burden of the Law, and preach peace.

Or, the stone signifies those in the Church who live wickedly, and so are a scandal to those who would believe, because they hinder their conversion. We read about this stone in Psalm 91 (v 12): "Lest you dash your foot against a stone." This is the stone that our Lord orders removed: "Remove every obstruction from my people's way" (Is 57:14).

1545 Next, we see Martha's objection. First, we see what she said; secondly, the words of Christ's answer.

1546 The Evangelist mentions Martha's words when he says, Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days. As for the literal sense, this happened in order to show the truth of the miracle, as his members were already beginning to corrupt and dissolve. As for the mystical sense, one who habitually sins is said to smell, that is, the foul odor of his reputation is spread abroad by his sins. For just as good works spread a good odor, as the Apostle says - "We are the aroma of Christ to God" (2 Cor 2:15) - so from evil works there arises an evil odor and a stench. Such a person is aptly described in terms of "four days," for he is pressed by the weight of earthly sins and sensual desires, and earth is the last of the four elements: "The stench and foul smell of him will rise" (Joel 2:20).

(Tr. xlix) Herein is the glory of God, that he that stinketh and hath been dead four days, is brought to life again. Then they took away the stone.

Jesus said to her: Did I not say to you that if you believe, you shall see the glory of God? that is, the greatness of the divine power: Acts 7: "When Stephen, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazing into heaven, saw the glory of God." And in this they knew that he had not caused it to be opened in order to see the dead man, but in order to raise him.

A most excellent thing is faith, when it is produced from an ardent mind; and it has such great power that not only is the believer healed, but in fact others also have been healed besides them that believed; as the paralytic let down [through the tiles] at Capernaum, by the faith of those who carried him; and as Lazarus, by that of his sister, to whom the Lord said: If thou believest, thou shall see the glory of God; all but saying: "Since Lazarus, being dead, is not able to believe, do thou fill up that which is lacking of the faith of him that is dead." And the form of faith is twofold: first, dogmatic, consisting of an assent of the soul to something, as: He that believeth on the Son is not judged; and secondly, a gift by the participation of grace from Christ: For to one, He says, is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another faith, which is not merely dogmatic, but also capable of effecting things beyond human power, so as even to remove mountains. The faith of Martha however, by the feebleness of her reason, fell away into unbelief. But the Lord does not permit it to remain so: He effects a speedy remedy for the suffering. For He says she must believe, that she may behold what was beyond hope. For double-mindedness is a great infirmity and deprives us of the gracious gifts of God. Wherefore, by rebuking her, [Christ] warned the whole human race not to be detected in the evil ways of double-mindedness. And shunning vainglory, the Christ did not say: Thou shalt see My glory, but: the glory of God. And the glory of God was the raising the dead. Surely therefore He Himself Who said: I am the Resurrection, is by Nature the God Whose glory He says not long afterwards the woman should see, since Thou wilt suppose that the Truth----and the Christ is the Truth----does not lie. And it was promised to her that her dead brother should rise again. And Mary, being more intelligent, utters no word of doubt; but Martha was affected by the disease of double-mindedness.

Faith is a truly excellent thing when it is produced from an ardent mind. It has such great power that not only is the believer healed but in fact others also can be healed besides those who believe. For instance … Lazarus is saved by the faith of his sister to whom the Lord said, "If you believe you shall see the glory of God," which is like saying, "Since Lazarus, being dead, is not able to believe, you then are to fill up the faith that is lacking in him that is dead."

(Hom. lxiii) She did not remember what He said above, He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. To the disciples He had said, That the Son of God might be glorified thereby; here it is the glory of the Father He speaks of. The difference is made to suit the different hearers. Our Lord could not rebuke her before such a number, but only says, Thou shalt see the glory of God.

But now, between the words "Take away the stone" and "therefore, they took away the stone," the words of the dead man's sister hindered the removal of the stone. And it would not have been taken away at all even later had not Jesus answered and said to her unbelief, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" It is good, then, that nothing intervenes between Jesus' command and the action enjoined by his bidding.

Christ, reminding her of His conversation with her and as if reproaching her for her forgetfulness, says: "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?"

To His disciples the Lord says that Lazarus died so that "the Son of God" might be glorified through this (John 11:4), but to Martha He says "you will see the glory of God," meaning the Father. He uses different expressions about one and the same thing — on account of the weakness of the listeners. Here the Jews were present. To tell Martha that she would see the glory of "the Son of God," the Lord found inappropriate, because they would have considered Him vainglorious. But now, having spoken of the glory of the Father, He made His speech moderate and easy to accept.

Christ reminds Martha of what He had told her before, which she had forgotten: Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

1547 Christ answers her, saying, Did not I tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God? Here our Lord seems to reprove Martha for not remembering what Christ had said to her: "He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live." For Martha was not certain that Christ could raise a person who had been dead four days. Although Christ had recently raised certain dead persons, this seemed impossible to believe of her brother because of the long time he had been dead. And so our Lord said, Did not I tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God? that is, the raising of your brother, by which God will be glorified.

Although our Lord had said to his apostles before that this miracle would be for his glory, saying, "so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it" (11:4), that is, by means of this death, he now says to Martha that this miracle will be for the glory of God. The reason for this is that the glory of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is the same. However, he did not mention the glory of the Son here so as not to excite the Jews who were present and ready to dispute him.

1548 These words of our Lord suggest two fruits of our faith. The first is the performing of miracles, which is due to faith: "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move hence to yonder place,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you" (Matt 17:19). The Apostle also says: "If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains..." (1 Cor 13:2); and in Mark (16:20) we read: "And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it." Now this working of miracles is for the glory of God; thus he says, if you would believe you would see the glory of God.

The second fruit is the vision of eternal glory, which is due as a reward to faith; thus he says, you would see the glory of God: "If you do not believe, you will not understand," as we read in Isaiah (7:9), in an alternate version; and in 1 Corinthians it is said: "For now we see in a mirror dimly," by faith, "but then face to face."

Christ, as man, being inferior to the Father, prays to Him for Lazarus's resurrection; and declares that He is heard: And Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me.

They took, then, the stone there from the mouth of the tomb. The whole crowd marveled, witnessing the smell of pus of Lazarus, who was decayed. He had rotted so that they were not able to approach within the tomb because of the smell of his body and its decay. But into the midst came Jesus, the storehouse that is full of life, the mouth that is full of sweet odor, the tongue that frightens death, the Mighty One in his commands, the joy of those who are sorrowful, the rising of those who have fallen, the resurrection of the dead, the assembly of the strong, the hope of the hopeless.He came and stood openly by the mouth of the tomb, with the preparations of salvation in his divine mouth. Now all of the crowd were standing and beholding and wondering what he would do in starting to raise him from the dead. Now the body was lying dead, but God himself was standing over it, looking down on him and grieving for him.

"Then they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, Father, I thank Thee, that Thou hast heard me. And I knew that Thou hearest me always: but because of the people that stand by I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent me. And when He had thus spoken, He cried with a loud voice." He groaned, He wept, He cried with a loud voice. With what difficulty does one rise who lies crushed under the heavy burden of a habit of sinning! And yet he does rise: he is quickened by hidden grace within; and after that loud voice he riseth. For what followed? "He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And immediately he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with bandages; and his face was bound about with a napkin." Dost thou wonder how he came forth with his feet bound, and wonderest not at this, that after four days' interment he rose from the dead? In both events it was the power of the Lord that operated, and not the strength of the dead.

They therefore took away the stone, in which act a manifestation was already made that the Lord wished to raise him: therefore then they believed and merited to obtain: whence it is said to Mary in Luke 1: "Blessed are you who believed, because the things that were spoken to you by the Lord shall be fulfilled in you." But Jesus, lifting up his eyes, etc. Here the third point is touched upon, namely the power of being heard in Christ, which is intimated from his words, in which he shows that he was heard and is always heard and does not ask the Father out of powerlessness: on account of which he says: But Jesus, lifting up his eyes to heaven, said: Father, I give you thanks, because you have heard me: he gives thanks for the hearing, not because the Father heard him then and not at other times.

When He was about to restore Lazarus, He prayed to the Father: but what need had He of prayer, Who said, Father, "I thank Thee, that Thou hast heard Me; and I know that Thou hearest Me always, but because of the multitude I said it, that they may believe that Thou didst send Me"? He prayed then for us, that we may know Him to be the Son; the words of prayer availed Him nothing, but He said them for the advancement of our faith. He was not in want of help, but we of teaching.

"Then they took up the stone where the dead man lay. And Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me. And I knew that Thou hearest Me always, but because of the people that stand by I said it, that they might believe that Thou hast sent Me." Let us then ask the heretic, Did He receive an impulse from the prayer, and so raise the dead man? How then did He work other miracles without prayer? saying, "Thou evil spirit, I charge thee, come out of him"; and, "I will, be thou clean"; and, "Arise, take up thy bed"; and, "Thy sins be forgiven thee"; and to the sea, "Peace, be still." In short, what hath He more than the Apostles, if so be that He also worketh by prayer? Or rather I should say, that neither did they work all with prayer, but often they wrought without prayer, calling upon the Name of Jesus. Now, if His Name had such great power, how could He have needed prayer? Had He needed prayer, His Name would not have availed.

"I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me." Who now ever prayed in this manner? Before uttering any prayer, He saith, "I thank Thee," showing that He needed not prayer. "And I knew that Thou hearest Me always." This He said not as though He Himself were powerless, but to show that His will and the Father's is one. But why did He assume the form of prayer? Hear, not me, but Himself, saying, "For the sake of the people which stand by, that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me." He said not, "That they may believe that I am inferior, that I have need of an impulse from above, that without prayer I cannot do anything; but, "That Thou hast sent Me." For all these things the prayer declareth, if we take it simply. He said not, "Thou hast sent me weak, acknowledging servitude, and doing nothing of Myself"; but dismissing all these things, that thou mayest have no such suspicions, He putteth the real cause of the prayer, "That they may not deem Me an enemy of God; that they may not say, He is not of God, that I may show them that the work hath been done according to Thy will." All but saying, "Had I been an enemy of God, what is done would not have succeeded," but the, "Thou heardest Me," is said in the case of friends and equals. "And I knew that Thou hearest Me always," that is, "in order that My will be done I need no prayer, except to persuade men that to Thee and Me belongeth one will." "Why then prayest Thou?" For the sake of the weak and grosser sort.

We must carefully observe and examine what has been written concerning the position of Jesus' eyes.… He had changed his thought from his conversation with those below and lifted it up and exalted it, bringing it in prayer to the Father who is over all.… The one who imitates Christ's prayer, lifting up the eyes of his soul and bringing them up in this way from everyday concerns, memories, thoughts and intention must in this way address to God the great and heavenly words of prayer concerning great and heavenly matters.… If indeed God makes such a promise for those who pray in a worthy manner … that "while you are still speaking, I will say, 'Here I am,' " what answer do we think our Savior and Lord would receive?

(tom. xxviii.) He lifted up His eyes; mystically, He lifted up the human mind by prayer to the Father above. We should pray after Christ's pattern, Lift up the eyes of our heart, and raise them above present things in memory, in thought, in intention. If to them who pray worthily after this fashion is given the promise in Isaiah, Thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am; (Isa. 58:9) what answer, think we, our Lord and Saviour would receive? He was about to pray for the resurrection of Lazarus. He was heard by the Father before He prayed; His request was granted before mad. And therefore He begins with giving thanks; I thank Thee, Father, that Thou hast heard Me.

And in this respect also they are to be compared to Christ God, who in some cases wrought things like a Being of power, and in others He [first] entreated and afterwards worked. He did not raise Lazarus until He had prayed; He did not bless the bread and distribute it to the multitudes until He had looked up to heaven; and He did not give the command for the ears of the deaf man to be opened until He had spit, and laid His fingers upon his ears, and looked up to heaven. For in this manner Jesus also wrought marvellous things, so that He might also bring Himself down to those whom, by His grace, He called, His "brethren"; and that it might not be grievous unto them that they were not answered until they had prayed He humbled Himself and prayed, and was afterwards answered. For the Lord took upon Himself equality with His servants in order that that which is written might be fulfilled, "In everything it was meet that He should be like unto His brethren."

Again, when Martha in a later passage acknowledged Him to be the Son of God, she no more made a mistake than Peter and Nathanµl had; and yet, even if she had made a mistake, she would at once have learnt the truth: for, behold, when about to raise her brother from the dead, the Lord looked up to heaven, and, addressing the Father, said-as the Son, of course: "Father, I thank Thee that Thou always hearest me; it is because of these crowds that are standing by that I have spoken to Thee, that they may believe that Thou hast sent me." But in the trouble of His soul, (on a later occasion, ) He said: "What shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause is it that I am come to this hour; only, O Father, do Thou glorify Thy name" -in which He spake as the Son.

His "Father" He Himself adores. When acknowledged by Peter as the "Christ (the Son) of God," He does not deny the relation.

In like manner, when they shed tears over you, it is Christ who suffers, Christ who prays the Father for mercy. What a son asks is ever easily obtained.

Why does the Lord pray, or rather, assume the appearance of prayer? Listen to what He Himself says: "For the sake of the people standing here I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me, that is, so that they would not consider Me an opponent of God, so that they would not say that I am not from God, to prove to them that this deed was accomplished by Me according to Your will."

And that He appears to be praying for this reason specifically, and not for any other — that is, for the sake of those standing by — pay attention to the prayer itself. "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me." It is clear that this is not a prayer, but only the posture and appearance of prayer. And that He has no need of prayer is evident from the fact that He accomplished many other things without prayer. For example: "I say to you, demon, come out of him" (Luke 4:35); again, "I will, be cleansed" (Matt. 8:3); again, "your sins are forgiven" (Matt. 9:2), and this is the most important of all; and to the sea: "Peace, be still" (Mark 4:39). Therefore, so that those present would believe that He is from heaven and not an adversary of God, the Lord prays. For if, despite such works of His, despite every kind of proof of His unity of mind with the Father, they said that He was not from God, what would they not have said if He had done nothing of the sort?

1549 Next, the Evangelist mentions that the command was carried out, saying, So they took away the stone. We may consider here, according to Origen, that the delay in removing the stone was caused by the sister of the deceased. Consequently, the raising of her brother was delayed as long as she detained Christ with her talk; but as soon as the command of Christ was obediently carried out, her brother was raised. And we can learn from this not to interpose anything between the commands of Christ and their execution if we desire the effect of salvation to follow at once: "As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me" (Ps 18:44).

1550 Then he considers the prayer of Christ, in which he gives thanks. The Evangelist mentions four things in this regard. First, he mentions his way of praying; secondly, the efficacy of his prayer; thirdly, he excludes Christ's need to pray; and fourthly he mentions the usefulness of his prayer.

1551 Christ's way of praying is appropriate, because Jesus lifted up his eyes, that is, he lifted up his understanding, directing it in prayer to the Father above. As for us, if we wish to pray according to the example of Christ's prayer, we have to raise the eyes of our mind to him by turning them from the memories, thoughts and desires of present things. We also lift our eyes to God when we do not rely on our own merits, but hope in his mercy alone: "To thee I lift up my eyes, O thou who art enthroned in the heavens! Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he have mercy upon us" (Ps 123:1); and "Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven" (Lam 3:41).

1552 He mentions the efficacy of this prayer when he says, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. Here we have a sign that God is quick to give, as we read: "Lord, thou wilt hear the desire of the meek" (Ps 10:17), so that he hears our desires even before they are put into words: "He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you" (Is 30:19); and again in the same book: "While they are yet speaking I will hear" (65:24). Therefore, with much more reason we can think that God the Father, anticipating the prayer of our Lord, the Savior, would have heard him: for the tears which Christ shed at the death of Lazarus acted as a prayer.

By giving thanks at the beginning of his prayer, Christ gives us the example that when we pray, we should thank God for the benefits we have already received before asking for new ones: "Give thanks in all circumstances" (1 Thess 5:18).

1553 If the phrase, that thou hast heard me, is interpreted as applying to Christ insofar as he is human, there is no difficulty: for as having a human nature Christ is less than the Father and, accordingly, it is appropriate for him to pray to the Father and be heard by him. But if, as Chrysostom wants, it is applied to Christ as God, then there is a problem: for as God, it is not fitting that he pray or be heard, but rather that he hear the prayers of others. Consequently, it should be said that one is heard when his will is fulfilled. Now the will of the Father is always fulfilled, because "He does whatever he pleases" (Ps 115:3). Therefore, since the will of the Father is the same as the will of the Son, whenever the Father fulfills his own will, he fulfills the will of the Son. Thus, the Son says, as Word, that thou hast heard me, i.e., that you have done those things which were in your Word to be done. For he spoke and they were done.

But I knew that you always hear me: Hebrews 5: "Offering prayers and supplications to God with tears and a loud cry, he was heard because of his reverence." Therefore I did not ask or give thanks as one in need; but on account of the people standing around, I said it, that they may believe that you sent me: and I in my works am not contrary to you, but in all things concordant: above in chapter eight: "As the Father has taught me, so I speak; and he who sent me is with me and has not left me alone, because I always do the things that are pleasing to him." And thus he gave thanks and prayed, not on account of powerlessness, but to intimate his concord with God, concerning which above in chapter five: "The Son can do nothing of himself, except what he has seen the Father doing; for whatever things he does, these the Son likewise does."

Question. Likewise it is asked concerning this, that he prayed: because he prayed insofar as he was man; and insofar as he prayed, he raised: therefore insofar as he was man he raised: therefore his manner of raising does not differ from the manner of Peter. I respond: As is clear in the text, he neither prayed nor gave thanks in order to receive the power of raising, as others did, nor in order to make himself believed to be less than the Father; because, as Chrysostom says, this was not necessary; but in order to show himself in conformity with God and his power not discordant from the Father. Therefore what he objects—that he raised insofar as he prayed—is false: because he raised insofar as he was God, and prayed insofar as he was man.

Of course it is agreeably to His self-humiliation as a Man that the Christ thus speaks in a lowly manner, not according to the excellency of the Godhead: and He offers His thanks to the Father not on account of Lazarus only, but for the life of all men. For being good, He is of one mind with the Father in bringing back to life the nature of man which had fallen into liability to corruption through its disobedience; and there is no distinction between His goodness and that of the Father. And just as we ourselves even are persuaded by our own reasonings to leave undone what we had intended to do, so also the Lord, being the Word and Counsel of the Father, has made the Father friendly to us. And of course we do not say that what is Divine indulges in anger, but that [God], being just and good, knows when it is the proper time to rebuke, and when it is the proper time to relax. However, the Lord gives thanks, and this He does as a Pattern for us, honouring the Father. But when an equal gives thanks to an equal, he by no means does this as a mark of inferiority of essence. And on this account [Jesus] notifies that because of the multitude He spake thus, all but saying: "I have simulated the outward appearance of prayer, and I gave thanks, in conformity with My assumed condition." For I knew that Thou hearest Me always. For the one Nature of the Godhead is not disobedient to itself, since the Mind of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit, is One. Knowing therefore, He says, that Our purpose is one and Our will one, because of the multitude I spake thus. And the Christ thus speaks because of the Jews, giving thanks to the Father as if effecting by Him His God-befitting deeds, that they might no more say it was by Beelzebub He did signs. And He also explains His conduct with regard to the outward appearance of prayer, that we may not be caused to stumble, saying: because of the multitude I did this. Moreover, He says: Thou didst send Me, because of the suspicions of the Jews: for I came not of Myself, as do the false prophets; but with Thy approbation and good will I emptied Myself, taking the form of a servant, that I might restore the life to all. The manner of the prayer therefore was in agreement with His assumed condition and suitable to His outward appearance in the flesh, not to the excellency and incomparable splendour of the Godhead. For to ask and to receive would be actions altogether befitting a servant rather than a lord, and are usual with such as are under dominion. Nevertheless, Christ does even these things without blame; for having accepted for Himself the condition of a Man, how could He any longer decline the characteristics of humanity?

For the Son is in every respect perfect in Himself, and in no way does He lack any single excellence. For He is begotten of the Essence of God the Father, and is full of power and of God-befitting glory. Everything is under His feet and there is nothing which His power cannot effect. For, according to the voice of the saint, He can do everything. Yet, although it is true that everything is in His possession, He asks, it is said, from the Father, and receives the heathen and the uttermost parts of the earth as a glorious inheritance. But it is necessary that we should ask how He receives or when: for this is in truth fitting and necessary, I mean, that we should in such matters ask about the times, and investigate the occasions, and make a diligent inquiry as to their significations. When, therefore, He became Man; when He emptied Himself, as it is written; when He humbled Himself to the form of those to whom it is befitting that they should ask; then it was that He both did and spake those things that are befitting to men, and we are told that they were made perfect concerning Him from the Father. For where did He exhibit the outward appearance of humility, or how did that self-emptying show itself victoriously, except that contrary to His Majesty He endured something willingly, when for our sake He emptied Himself? For in the same way that He was weary from the fatigue of the journey, although He is the Lord of Powers; and as He was in need of food, although He is the Bread which came down from heaven, and giveth life to the world; and as He endured death in the flesh, although it is He in Whom we move and have our being; so it is said that He asked, although He is the Lord of all. That when the Only-Begotten became Man, He was not then at first called to His kingdom, we might easily show. But to dispute much about this would be not far removed from folly. Therefore we maintain that what thou hast spoken of was done rather for the same reason. Thinkest thou that the Lord prayed for Lazarus, and thus obtained for him life? But thou wilt not continue to think this at all, when thou art reminded of the words that remain. For He not only said: Father, I thank Thee that Thou heardest Me; but He added further: Because of the multitude which standeth around I said it, that they may believe that Thou didst send Me. And thou seest here the occasion of the prayer clearly. For because the Jews were wicked and bold, so that they made an accusation when the Lord was working miracles, and said that by Beelzebub He performed those God-befitting deeds; therefore He justly refuted the thought that was in them, and showed that He performed everything together with the Father as God, and did not (like those men the false prophets) come of His own will. Moreover, as regards His choosing to speak words which seemed not right for God, He said: Because of the multitude which standeth around I said it, that they may believe that Thou didst send Me. Had it not therefore been meet to correct the notion of those standing around, in order that it might be understood that the miracle, which He received for Lazarus' sake, was from above, and from the Father, He would not have said at all these words: Father, I thank Thee that Thou heardest Me. For He was both the Will and the Word, and the Counsel of the Father as regards all excellencies. What counsel did He ask, or what will, or what word, of Him Who begat Him, that He might receive some works,----when He had the Father in Him by Nature, and He was in the Father, because He was of His Essence? How as one far removed did He ask of the Father, or how was He not able to expel from a corpse sad death, Who even at the beginning formed man out of inanimate matter, and exhibited him animated and rational? We will accept therefore the explanation which does not err in the faith, not of those men who speak foolishly, but of the Scripture |130 spoken by the Spirit, in which there is nothing crooked or perverse.

When he was about to restore Lazarus, he prayed to the Father. But he did not need to pray.… "But for the benefit of the people standing nearby I said it, that they may believe that you have sent me." He prayed then for us so that we might know that he is the Son. His prayer did not benefit himself but benefited our faith. He did not need any help, but we needed instruction.

(lib. x. de Trin.) He did not therefore need to pray: He prayed for our sakes, that we might know Him to be the Son: But because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me. His prayer did not benefit Himself, but benefited our faith. He did not want help, but we want instruction.

Because they considered it a blasphemy that he called God his Father, he used the tomb as a court of justice and set the truth as judge, while the surrounding unthankful multitude formed the witnesses, so that those who had said "You blaspheme by naming yourself in your own sense Son of God and him as your Father" were to see with their own eyes and hear with their own ears, while he as good as said to them, "I appeal to him here before you. If he is displeased because I call him Father, and it is a blasphemy as you think, he will not hear me. But if he hears me, it is certainly clear that he is actually my Father.… If I call the dead and he obeys my command and arises, it is not the work of a blasphemer but the command of God and of the Son of God." That this is the meaning of the prayer and that it did not spring from any deficiency on his part is shown by his words.

He was crucified in reality, and not in appearance, not in imagination, not in deceit. He really died, and was buried, and rose from the dead, even as He prayed in a certain place, saying, "But do Thou, O Lord, raise me up again, and I shall recompense them." And the Father, who always hears Him, answered and said, "Arise, O God, and judge the earth; for Thou shall receive all the heathen for Thine inheritance." The Father, therefore, who raised Him up, will also raise us up through Him, apart from whom no one will attain to true life. For says He, "I am the life; he that believeth in me, even though he die, shall live: and every one that liveth and believeth in me, even though he die, shall live for ever." Do ye therefore flee from these ungodly heresies; for they are the inventions of the devil, that serpent who was the author of evil, and who by means of the woman deceived Adam, the father of our race.

He was about to pray for the resurrection of Lazarus when the only good God and Father anticipated his prayer and heard the words about to be spoken in his prayer. So the Savior begins by giving thanks in place of prayer in the hearing of the crowd.

"I knew that you hear me always," which is reported by John as said by the Lord, makes clear that those who pray are always heard.

When Christ began to strike the doors of the underworld, to break through the gates of Tartarus, to open the entrance of death, to dissolve the old law of Gehenna, to do away with the age-old right to punish and to demand the return of Lazarus's soul, the power of Tartarus with all its fury confronted him, brandishing the edict of the Ruler of heaven, bearing the decree of the King most high, presenting the sentence rendered by the mouth of God and in effect for so many years. And on seeing the man, [Tartarus] asked who [Christ] was, what his intentions were, what his purpose was and why all by himself he was fearlessly challenging and attacking the fearsome entrance to death.As he asked who he was, the angels serving as ministers of the resurrection answered him in the words of the prophet: "He is the King of glory," he is "the One who is strong and mighty in battle." But Tartarus responded, "I know that the King of glory is in charge in heaven of all the celestial powers, and the whole of creation is unable to bear his will. However, this one that I see is one of the earthlings, made out of mud, enclosed in a mortal body, and in his human condition viler than human beings, and, in short, soon to be handed over to the grave and very shortly destined to come under my jurisdiction." But the angels persisted and kept repeating, "He is 'the Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory,' he is the Ruler of heaven, the Creator of the earth, the Savior of the world, the Redeemer of all, he is the one who rendered the death sentence that has you in a fury, he is about to tread on your head, crush your authority and issue his own judgment of condemnation on you, who, although ordered to seize the guilty, drag away the innocent, abduct the saints and now threaten the Son of God himself. So give back one before you are forced to release all."

But Tartarus, still not believing the report he received from the customary messengers, and deploring the situation, with a complaint full of envy makes this appeal to heaven: "O Lord, even though I am the lowest of your creatures, even though I am subjected to grim servitude, I am unfailing in keeping your precepts. I am ever vigilant so that no rash innovator alter the age-old authority of your sentence. But a man has appeared, who is called Christ, bragging that he is your Son, and he reprimands your priests, he rebukes your scribes, he violates your sabbath, he abolishes your law, and he compels souls, released from the flesh and assigned now to my custody for punishment, to return to the bodies in which they had lived wickedly."And his audacity, which is growing stronger day by day, has reached the point that he has broken the barriers of the underworld and is attempting to rescue Lazarus, already locked in our prison, already bound by our law and already subject to our authority. Either quickly come to the aid, or, once he opens the doors, you are now going to lose all those whom we have kept in custody for so long a time." To this the Son from the bosom of his Father responds, "Father, it is just that a prison holds not the innocent but the guilty. That punishment torments the unrighteous, not the righteous. For how long for the offense of one man, on account of Adam's guilt alone, will this executioner continue to drag down to himself with his cruel violence patriarchs, prophets, martyrs, confessors, virgins, widows, those abiding in the chastity of marriage, people of all ages and of both sexes, even little children who do not know good or evil? Father, I shall die so that all may not die. Father, I shall pay Adam's debt so that through me those who die through Adam for the underworld may live for you. Father, because of your sentence I shall shed my blood. That is how important it is to me that your creation should return to you. May the price of my blood so dear to you be the redemption of all the dead." To this the whole Trinity agreed and ordered Lazarus to leave, and Tartarus was commanded to obey Christ in giving back all the dead. This is why the Son proclaims, "Father, I thank you for having heard me." The apostle bears witness that Christ is our advocate in the presence of the Father. And so, when he is seated he judges together with the Father. When he stands, he functions in the capacity of advocate.

1554 Christ's need to pray is excluded when he says, I knew that thou hearest me always. Here our Lord vaguely shows his own divinity. As if to say: In order that my will be done I do not need prayer, because from eternity my will has been fulfilled: "In all things he was heard for his reverence" (Heb 5:7). I knew with certitude that thou hearest me, the Word, always: because whatever you do, these things are in me to be done.

1555 Again, thou hearest me in my human nature always, because my will is always conformed to your will. But I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that thou didst send me. We understand from this that our Lord did and said many things for the benefit of others: "For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you" (13:15). For every action of Christ is a lesson for us. In particular, Christ wanted to show by his prayer that he was not separated from the Father, but recognized him as his principle. And so he added, that they may believe that thou didst send me: "And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent" (17:3); "God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law" (Gal 4:4). And this is the benefit coming from his prayer.

Lazarus, Come out! It is the voice of the Lord, the proclamation of the king—an authoritative command. Come out! Leave corruption behind and receive the flesh of incorruption. Lazarus, Come out! Let them know that the time has come when those in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of man. Once they have heard they will come alive. Come out! The stumbling block is taken away. Come to me—I am calling you. Come out! As a friend, I am calling you; as Lord I am commanding you.… Come out Covered with the burial cloth so that they won't think you were only pretending to be dead. Let them see your hands and feet bound and your face covered. Let them see if they still do not believe the miracle. Come out! Let the stench of your body prove the resurrection. Let the burial linen be undone so that they can recognize the one who was put in the tomb. Come out! Come alive and enliven! Come out of the tomb. Teach them how all creation will be enlivened in a moment when the trumpet's voice proclaims the resurrection of the dead. Come out! Let breath appear in your nostrils, let blood pulse through your veins, let the voice sound in your larynx, let words fill your ears, let vision enlighten your eyes, let the sense of smell fill your senses, walk as nature intended as your earthly tent is enlivened by your soul. Come out! Leave behind the burial cloth and glorify the miracle. Leave the revolting stench of death and proclaim the strength of my power. I'm calling you out! Come out. I, who said, "Let there be light, let there be firmament."

The one whom he loved and who was his friend he calls by name so that [Lazarus] serves as a sign of the resurrection of all those who are called friends by the Lord whom the apostle says have died in the Lord.

"Come forth." See, I am standing by you. I am your Lord. You are the work of my hands. Why have you not known me, because in the beginning I myself formed Adam from the earth and gave him breath? Open your mouth yourself so that I may give you breath. Stand on your feet and receive strength for yourself. For I am the strength of the whole creation. Stretch out your hands, and I shall give them strength. For I am the straight staff. I command the foul odor to depart from you. For I am the sweet odor of the trees of paradise. Behold, the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet will be fulfilled in you, namely, "I shall open your tombs, and I shall bring you forth."

(de Verb. Dom. Serm. lii) Christ went to the grave in which Lazarus slept, as if He were not dead, but alive and able to hear, for He forthwith called him out of his grave: And when He had thus spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. He calls him by name, that He may not bring out all the dead.

(lib. lxxxiii. Quæst. q. 65) Although according to the Gospel history, we hold that Lazarus was really raised to life, yet I doubt not that his resurrection is an allegory as well. We do not, because we allegorize facts, lose our belief in them as facts.

(Tr. super Joan. xlix. 3) Every one that sinneth, dies; but God, of His great mercy, raises the soul to life again, and does not suffer it to die eternally. The three miraculous resurrections in the Gospels, I understand to testify the resurrection of the soul.

(Tr. xlix. 3) Or, it is death within; when the evil thought has not come out into action. But if thou actually do the evil thing, thou hast as it were carried the dead outside the gate.

(lib. lxxxiii. Quæst. q. 65) That Lazarus came forth from the grave, signifies the soul's deliverance from carnal sins. That he came bound up in grave clothes means, that even we who are delivered from carnal things, and serve with the mind the law of God, yet cannot, so long as we are in the body, be free from the besetments of the flesh. That his face was bound about with a napkin means, that we do not attain to full knowledge in this life. And when our Lord says, Loose him, and let him go, we learn that in another world all veils will be removed, and that we shall see face to face.

(Tr. xlix) Or thus: When thou despisest, thou liest dead; when thou confessest, thou comest forth. For what is to come forth, but to go out, as it were, of thy hiding place, and show thyself? But thou canst not make this confession, except God move thee to it, by crying with a loud voice, i. e. calling thee with great grace. But even after the dead man has come forth, he remains bound for some time, i. e. is as yet only a penitent. Then our Lord says to His ministers, Loose him, and let him go, i. e. remit his sins: Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matt. 18:18)

When he had said these things, etc. The preambles to the wondrous raising of Lazarus have been set forth; here are set forth the concomitants and consequences. First is set forth the powerful calling of Lazarus himself. The authoritative calling of Lazarus is indicated in this, that he cried out with a loud voice: Lazarus, come forth: he speaks imperiously: Come, and cries out with a loud voice, because at his voice the general resurrection will take place, according to what was foretold above in the fifth chapter: "The hour comes, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life, but those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment."

I never even raised the question whether such a return, if it were possible, would be good for her. I want her back as an ingredient in the restoration of _my_ past. Could I have wished her anything worse? Having got once through death, to come back and then, at some later date, have all her dying to do over again? They call Stephen the first martyr. Hadn't Lazarus the rawer deal?

And to the dead He said, "Lazarus, go forth;" and the dead man issued from his coffin such as he was ere he died, having undergone resurrection.

O the marvel! the ill-smelling corpse, even after the fourth day from death, He brought forth out of the tomb; and him that was fettered fast and bound hand and foot, He commanded to walk! And immediately, the dead man started up, and the corpse began to run, being delivered from its corruption and losing its bad smell, and escaping through the gates of death, and without any hindrance to running being caused by the bonds. And although deprived of sight by the covering which was over his face, the dead man runs without any hindrance towards Him Who had called him, and recognises the masterful voice. For Christ's language was God-befitting and His command was kingly, having power to loose from death, and to bring back from corruption, and to exhibit energy beyond expression. The use of a piercing cry, however, was altogether strange and unwonted in the Saviour Christ. For instance, God the Father somewhere says concerning Him: He shall not strive nor cry aloud, and so on. For the works of the true Godhead are without noise or tumult of any kind; and this was the case with Christ, for He is in His Nature God of God and Very God. So then what do we say when we see that He cried aloud in an unusual manner? For surely no one will degrade himself to such a depth of folly as to say that Christ ever went beyond what was fitting or indeed ever erred from absolute perfection. How then is it to be explained? Certainly the cry has a reason and a purport, which we feel it necessary to state. It was for the good of the hearers. Christ wrought the miracle upon Lazarus as a sort of type of the general resurrection of the dead, and that which was fulfilled in the case of an individual He set forth as a beautiful image of what will be universal and common to the whole race. For it is part of our belief that the Lord will come, and we hold that there will be a cry made by the sound of a trumpet, according to the language of Paul, proclaiming the resurrection to those that lie in the earth, although it is manifest that the deed will be effected by the unspeakable power of the Almighty God.

For on this account also the Law given by Moses, when laying down directions concerning the feast of Tabernacles, says: Celebrate it as a memorial of trumpets. For when human bodies are about to be set up again, as tabernacles, and every man's soul is about to take to itself its own bodily habitation in a way as yet unknown, the masterful command will be previously proclaimed, and the signal of the resurrection will sound forth, even the trump of God, as it is said. As a type therefore of this, in the case of Lazarus Christ uttered a great and audible cry, not much heeding His usual habit, that He might exhibit the type of what is to be expected hereafter.

Here we have a man past the prime of life, a corpse, decaying, swollen, in fact, already in a state of dissolution, so that even his own relatives did not want the Lord to draw near the tomb because the decayed body enclosed there was so offensive. And yet, he is brought into life by a single call, confirming the proclamation of the resurrection, that is to say, that expectation of it as universal that we learn by a particular experience to entertain. For as in the regeneration of the universe the apostle tells us that "the Lord himself will descend with a shout, with the voice of the archangel," and by a trumpet sound raise up the dead to incorruption—so now too he who is in the tomb, at the voice of command, shakes off death as if it were only sleep. He rids himself of the corruption that had come on his condition of a corpse, leaps forth from the tomb whole and sound, not even hindered as he leaves by the bonds of the grave cloths round his feet and hands.

This is well signified by that resurrection of the man dead four days, which demonstrates that the Lord first called and gave life to the dead man, saying: "Lazarus, come forth"; and afterward he who had come forth alive was loosed by the disciples, as it is written: "And when he who had been bound with wrappings had come forth, then he said to the disciples: Loose him, and let him go." Behold, the disciples loose him now living, whom the Master had raised from the dead. For if the disciples had loosed Lazarus while dead, they would have shown forth a stench rather than power. From this consideration it must be observed that we ought to loose through pastoral authority those whom we recognize our Author vivifies through resurrecting grace. This vivification, indeed, before the work of righteousness is already recognized in the very confession of sin. Hence to this same dead Lazarus it is by no means said "Come back to life," but "Come forth." For every sinner, while he hides his fault within his conscience, lies hidden within, is concealed in his own inner chambers. But the dead man comes forth when the sinner voluntarily confesses his iniquities. Therefore it is said to Lazarus, "Come forth." As if it were openly said to anyone dead in fault: Why do you hide your guilt within your conscience? Come forth now through confession, you who lie hidden within yourself through denial. Let the dead man therefore come forth, that is, let the sinner confess his fault. And let the disciples loose him as he comes forth, so that the pastors of the Church may remove the punishment from him who deserved it, since he was not ashamed to confess what he did.

(iv. Moral. c. xxix.) The maiden is restored to life in the house, the young man outside the gate, Lazarus in his grave. She that lies dead in the house, is the sinner lying in sin: he that is carried out by the gate is the openly and notoriously wicked.

(v. Moral.) And one there is who lies dead in his grave, with a load of earth upon him; i. e. who is weighed down by habits of sin. But the Divine grace has regard even unto such, and enlightens them.

(xxii. Moral.) Lazarus is bid to come forth, i. e. to come forth and condemn himself with his own mouth, without excuse or reservation: that so he that lies buried in a guilty conscience, may come forth out of himself by confession.

The voice longed for Lazarus, its call freeing up the wings of the prisoner so that he rises up from the earth.

O power of the voice, arousing the four days' dead as from sleep and bringing forth from the grave as well loosed and swiftly running the one who was bound with grave bands. Give your attention, beloved, to the voice, and you will find him to be the Word that spoke at the creation.… "Lazarus, come forth," and the dead arose, and he who had reached the fourth day was equal to one who had not died at all. "Lazarus, come forth," and the soul was drawn up from the realms below … and joyfully recognized its own dwelling.

"And when He had thus spoken, He cried with a loud voice." Why said He not, "In the name of My Father come forth"? Or why said He not, "Father, raise him up"? Why did he omit all these expressions, and after assuming the attitude of one praying, show by His actions His independent authority? Because this also was a part of His wisdom, to show condescension by words, but by His deeds, power. For since they had nothing else to charge Him with except that He was not of God, and since in this way they deceived many, He on this account most abundantly proveth this very point by what He saith, and in the way that their infirmity required. For it was in His power by other means to show at once His agreement with the Father and His own dignity, but the multitude could not ascend so far. And He saith, "Lazarus, come forth."

This is that of which He spake, "The hour is coming, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." For, that thou mightest not think that He received the power of working from another, He taught thee this before, and gave proof by deeds, and said not, Arise, but, "Come forth," conversing with the dead man as though living. What can be equal to this authority? And if He doth it not by His own strength, what shall He have more than the Apostles, who say, "Why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?" For if, not working by His own power, He did not add what the Apostles said concerning themselves, they will in a manner be more truly wise than He, because they refused the glory. And in another place, "Why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions as you." The Apostles since they did nothing of themselves, spoke in this way to persuade men of this; but He when the like opinion was formed concerning Him, would He not have removed the suspicion, if at least He did not act by His own authority? Who would assert this?

(t. xxviii.) His cry and loud voice it was which awoke him, as Christ had said, I go to awake him. The resurrection of Lazarus is the work of the Father also, in that He heard the prayer of the Son. It is the joint work of Father and Son, one praying, the other hearing; for as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will. (5:21)

The Lord, having given thanks to the Father rather than having made a request (for, as has been said, He had no need of prayer or help from it, because He is equal in power with the Father), cried out with a loud voice, one of sovereign authority and dominion. For He did not say "in the name of My Father, Lazarus, come forth"; nor did He say "Father, raise him up"; but, as has been said, with sovereign authority, stopping the mouths of all who say that He is less than the Father. For what could be found equal to such authority, that He speaks to the dead man as to a living one: "Lazarus, come forth"?

And now the words were fulfilled in deed: "The hour is coming when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live" (John 5:25). Lest anyone think that Christ received such power from another, He foretells in advance what He was about to prove by the very deed itself.

The loud voice of the Savior, which raised Lazarus, serves as an image of the great trumpet that will sound at the general resurrection (1 Cor. 15:52; 1 Thess. 4:16). The Lord called out loudly in order to stop the mouths of the Greeks, who foolishly claim that the soul remains in the tomb (together with the body), for He calls it loudly, as though it were far away. Just as this particular resurrection was, so too the general resurrection will be "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" (1 Cor. 15:52).

The voice which roused Lazarus, is the symbol of that trumpet which will sound at the general resurrection. (He spoke loud, to contradict the Gentile fable, that the soul remained in the tomb. The soul of Lazarus is called to as if it were absent, and a loud voice were necessary to summon it.) And as the general resurrection is to take place in the twinkling of an eye, so did this single one: And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. Now is accomplished what was said above, The hour is coming, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. (5:25)

1556 Now the Evangelist considers the raising of Lazarus; and he does three things. First, he mentions the voice of the one awakening him; secondly, the effect of his voice (v 44); and thirdly, the command to unbind the one awakened.

1557 The voice of the one awakening Lazarus is described as loud: When he had said this, that is, Jesus, he cried with a loud voice. As for the literal sense, this was done to refute the error of certain Jews and of the Gentiles that the souls of the dead lingered in the tombs with their bodies. So, he cried with a loud voice, as though summoning from afar the soul which was not present in the tomb.

Or, and this is a better explanation, it might be said that Christ's voice is described as loud because of its great power: for its power was so great that it raised Lazarus who had been dead four days, just as one asleep is roused from sleep: "He gave power to his voice" (Ps 67:34). Further, this loud voice represents that loud voice which will sound at the general resurrection and by which all will be roused from their graves: "At midnight there was a cry" (Matt 25:6).

He cried out, I say, saying, Lazarus, come out. He called him by his own name because such was the power of his voice that all the dead without distinction would have been awakened if he had not limited it to one by mentioning his name, as Augustine says when speaking of the Word of the Lord. Again, we understand from this that Christ calls sinners to come out from living in sin: "Come out of her, my people" (Rev 18:4). We are also called to let our sins come out of concealment by revealing them in confession: "If I have concealed my transgressions from men" (Job 31:33).

Christ awakes, because His power it is which quickens us inwardly: the disciples loose, because by the ministry of the priesthood, they who are quickened are absolved.

So someone says, "What's the use of the church, if you can confess, and be brought back to life by the voice of the Lord and come out immediately?" "What use is the church to you as you confess—the church to which the Lord said, 'What you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven?' " Look at Lazarus's case. He came out, all tied up. He was already alive, by confessing, but he was not yet walking around freely, being still entangled with the bandages. So what does the church do, told as it has been, "Whatever you loose shall be loosed"? The church does what the Lord went on at once to tell the disciples, of course: "Unbind him and let him go."

Lazarus appeared, resembling an impromptu trophy over death. He appeared without having left to Hades any of the burial wrappings. For, bound [in these], he came forth. His feet did not bear him, rather, grace provided him with wings. Lazarus appeared, having left Hades behind mourning. As he put an end to the grief of [his] brothers, he cast death into affliction.Seeing his kingdom destroyed and unable to prevent this, [death] lamented, crying, "What is this change in my affairs, what is this miraculous alliance of nature? The dead are returning to life, and the tombs have become wombs of the living. Alas, for these misfortunes! Even the tombs are faithless to me with regard to the dead, and the dead, although putrefying, are leaping out. They are all dancing in their swathing bands, mocking my laugh. Still mourned, they are going up toward those that mourn them. By showing themselves, they undo the tragedy, leaving me an heir to grief. Who is it who teaches the dead to challenge death? Who is it who is enlisting the deceased against death? Who is the One whose voice the prisons underground cannot support? Who is the One before whom the tombs tremble? He merely speaks, and I am not able to hold on to those whom I have in my power. Oh, in vain was I entrusted with a kingdom! Oh, in vain was I confident in an angry God!

And immediately he came forth. Here the second point is touched upon, namely the raising of Lazarus at the Lord's command: on account of which he says: And immediately he who had been dead came forth; in which is noted the obedience of the creature to the Creator; Mark 4: "Who, do you think, is this, that the wind and the sea obey him?" Origen: "While all things obey the Creator, the rational creature alone is found disobedient." Nor did the bonds hinder him; whence he says: Bound hand and foot with wrappings. Bound: this is a synecdochical construction: with wrappings, that is, with bandages in which the hands and feet were wrapped; and his face was bound with a cloth; and therefore he came forth not by his own movement, but by divine power. Christ used this power in his death; Matthew 27: "The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep arose." Jesus said to them: Unbind him. Here the third point is touched upon, namely the loosing of the one who was bound. In the literal sense, he is unbound by the ministers because the Lord, although he could do everything himself, nevertheless wills to communicate his power to others. Bede: "He who could raise the dead could have loosed the bandages; but on account of unity and undivided charity, he says to the ministers: Unbind him and let him go." Chrysostom: "He did not wish to lead the resurrected man with him, so that he might teach us to avoid the pomp of the world."

Morally, four things are to be noted in the raising of Lazarus: first, that the Lord asks where he is; second, he commands the stone to be removed; third, he causes him to come forth; fourth, he sets him before the disciples to be unbound.

First, therefore, the Lord asks where the sinner is when he shows him the vileness of his sin. Thus the Lord was asking of Adam in Genesis 3: "Adam, where are you?" And Jeremiah 3: "Lift up your eyes to the heights and see where you have not been made to lie down."

Second, he commands the stone to be removed, when he causes a person to cease from the habit of sin, which like a heavy stone drags downward. Therefore the penitent soul said in the Psalm: "My iniquities have gone over my head, and like a heavy burden they have weighed upon me." Augustine: "How difficult it is for him to rise whom the mass of evil habit weighs down!" Lamentations 3: "My life has fallen into the pit," that is, into the death of sin, "and they have placed a stone over me," that is, a burial. Whence it should be noted that the Lord raised one who was dead in the house, Matthew 9, that is, a sinner dead in sins through consent; outside the house, that is, through evil deed; in the tomb, through evil habit, as here.

Third, he commands him to come forth, when he causes him to confess his own iniquity. To come forth is to come from what is hidden into the open; whence Proverbs 28: He who "hides his crimes shall not prosper; but he who confesses and forsakes them shall obtain mercy." Augustine: "When you despise, you lie dead; if you greatly despise, you lie in the tomb; when you confess, you come forth."

Fourth, he entrusts the loosing to the disciples, because then comes the priestly power, which has no place before confession. But the Lord commands that they show themselves to the priests for loosing: in Luke 17, concerning the cleansed lepers, it was said to them: "Go, show yourselves to the priests"; and the Lord gave them this office, below in chapter 20: "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained."

And it should be noted that Lazarus, having been raised, came forth bound with a threefold bond, because a threefold difficulty remains in a person after the remission of sin. For the bound face signifies difficulty in knowing, the binding of the feet signifies difficulty in willing rightly, the binding of the hands in doing good. Concerning these, Matthew 22: "Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the outer darkness." But he is loosed from these bonds when through the enjoined satisfaction he is loosed from this threefold bond and restored to his former state. Samson sought this state, Judges 16: "Remember me, O God, for good, and restore to me now my former strength."

For their good therefore He bade them with their own hands to loose him, that they might have no opportunity of misrepresenting what had been done, but might be witnesses of the miracle. And this too is representative of the general resurrection, when, being loosed from sin and the corruption of death, every one will be set free. For, falling into sin, we have wrapped the shame of it like a veil about the face of our soul, and are fast bound by the cords of death. When therefore the Christ shall at the time of the resurrection bring us out from our tombs in the earth, then in very truth does He loosen us from our former evils, and as it were remove the veil of shame, and command that we be let go freely from that time forward; not under the dominion of sin, not subject to corruption, or indeed any of the other troubles that are wont to cause suffering; so that there will be fulfilled in us that which was said by one of the holy prophets: Ye shall both go forth and leap as calves let loose from bonds.

And consider I pray you the miracle as regards its inner meaning. For if our mind be dead like Lazarus, it behoves our material flesh and our nobler soul, like Martha and Mary [respectively,] to approach the Christ with a confession of faith, and to entreat His help. Then He will stand by us, and command the hardness that lies upon our 1 memory to be taken away, and cry with the loud voice of the Evangelic trumpet: "Come forth from the distractions of the world," and loose the cords of our sins; so that we may be able in full vigour to devote ourselves to virtue.

To every sinner the first step of enlightenment is the humility of confessing, in that he now refuses to spare himself, who does not blush to avow the evil that he has done, and he who by defending himself might have been laid open to be accused, by accusing himself defends himself most quickly. And hence to dead Lazarus, who was kept down by a great weight, it is not said, 'be thou restored to life;' but, "Come forth," by which same rising again, which was carried on in the body of that man, it is signified in what way we ourselves rise again in the heart, i.e. when it is said to the dead man, "Come forth;" that is to say, that man being dead in his sin, and through the mass of bad habit already buried, because he lies hidden from sight within his own conscience by wickedness, should go forth from himself without by confession. For to the dead man it is said, "Come forth," that from the excusing and concealing of sin he may be called forth to come out to the accusing of himself with his own lips.

Let our opponents-that is, they who speak against their own salvation-inform us [as to this point]: The deceased daughter of the high priest; the widow's dead son, who was being carded out [to burial] near the gate [of the city]; and Lazarus, who had lain four days in the tomb,-in what bodies did they rise again? In those same, no doubt, in which they had also died. For if it were not in the very same, then certainly those same individuals who had died did not rise again. For [the Scripture] says, "The Lord took the hand of the dead man, and said to him, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And the dead man sat up, and He commanded that something should be given him to eat; and He delivered him to his mother." Again, He called Lazarus "with a loud voice, saying, Lazarus, come forth; and he that was dead came forth bound with bandages, feet and hands." This was symbolical of that man who had been bound in sins. And therefore the Lord said, "Loose him, and let him depart." As, therefore, those who were healed were made whole in those members which had in times past been afflicted; and the dead rose in the identical bodies, their limbs and bodies receiving health, and that life which was granted by the Lord, who prefigures eternal things by temporal, and shows that it is He who is Himself able to extend both healing and life to His handiwork, that His words concerning its [future] resurrection may also be believed; so also at the end, when the Lord utters His voice "by the last trumpet," the dead shall be raised, as He Himself declares: "The hour shall come, in which all the dead which are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and shall come forth; those that have done good to the resurrection of life, and those that have done evil to the resurrection of judgment."

"He called, and the dead man came forth wrapped." Then that the matter might not seem to be an appearance, (for his coming forth bound did not seem to be less marvelous than his resurrection,) Jesus commanded to loose him, in order that having touched and having been near him, they might see that it was really he. And He saith, "Let him go." Seest thou His freedom from boastfulness? He doth not lead him on, nor bid him go about with Him, lest He should seem to any to be showing him; so well knew He how to observe moderation.

They saw Lazarus, who was made an exile from the region of death.

Now, we ought to be aware that there are some Lazaruses even now who, after they have become Jesus' friends, have become sick and died, and as dead persons they have remained in the tomb and the land of the dead with the dead who were later made alive by Jesus' prayer. They were summoned from the tomb to the things outside it by Jesus with his loud voice. He who trusts in Jesus comes forth wearing bonds worthy of death from his former sins and still bound around his face, so that he can neither see nor walk nor do anything because of the bonds of death until Jesus commands those who are able to loose him and let him go.

Pray, brothers, that we who have taken a sip of the resurrection with Lazarus offering the toast at Christ's return may merit drinking the whole draft of the universal resurrection.

"He came out," it says, "the dead man, bound hand and foot." For the bound man to come out seemed no less wondrous than to rise from the dead. Thus, to the miracle of the resurrection was added yet another miracle — that one completely bound was able to move.

The Lord commands to unbind him, so that those who approached and touched him would see that it is he himself.

"Let him go," He says. This is out of a lack of love for glory. For He does not lead him out (Himself), nor command him to walk with Him, so as to be seen.

1558 Then (v 44), the effect of this voice is given: first, the resurrection of the dead man; secondly, his condition. The resurrection of the dead man was immediately after our Lord's command: immediately the dead man came out. For such was the power of Christ's voice that it gave life without any delay, as will happen at the general resurrection when the dead will rise in the twinkling of an eye when they hear the sound of the trumpet: "And the dead in Christ will rise first" (1 Thess 4:16). For Christ's mission was already being anticipated, as it was stated above: "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live" (5:25). In this way what our Lord said was fulfilled: "I go to awake him" (11:11).

As to the condition of the one rising, he is described as having his hands and feet bound with bandages, with which the people of ages past wrapped their dead, and his face wrapped with a cloth, in order to hide his gruesome appearance. He was commanded to rise bound and wrapped to provide a greater proof of the miracle.

1559 When Jesus says, Unbind him and let him go, he orders that he be unbound so that those who do this may be more reliable witnesses to the miracle and have it more forcefully impressed on their memory. Furthermore, when they approach and touch him, they can see that is really he. He adds, and let him go, to show that this miracle is not an illusion: for at times certain magicians have seemed to raise the dead, but those who were raised could not live as they formerly had because their raising was not real but illusory.

1560 Augustine gives a mystical explanation to this entire verse beginning at The dead man came out. He does this in two ways, depending on two ways of coming out. The sinner comes out when by repenting he passes from the practice of sin to the state of righteousness: "Come out from them, and be separate from them" (2 Cor 6:17). However, his hands are bound with bandages, i.e., with carnal desires, because, although he is rising from his sins, he cannot escape such annoyances as long as he lives in the body. Thus the Apostle says: "I of myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin" (Rom 7:25). His face being wrapped with a cloth signifies that in this life we cannot have full knowledge of God: "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face" (1 Cor 13:12). Christ commands them to unbind him and let him go because after this life all the veils are lifted from those who rise from sin, so that they may contemplate God "face to face" (1 Cor 13:12). Then we will be unbound from the corruptibility of the flesh which is like a chain binding and weighing down the soul and keeping it from full and clear contemplation: "Loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion" (Is 52:2). This is one way to come out in a spiritual manner, and is given by Augustine in his work, The Book of Eighty-Three Questions.

Another way to come out is by confession, about which it is said: "He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy" (Prv 28:13). One comes out in this way by leaving his secret sins by disclosing them in confession. Now that one confesses is due to God calling him with a loud voice, that is, by grace. And the one who confesses, as still guilty, is the dead person still wrapped in bandages. In order for his sins to be loosed, the ministers are commanded to loose him and let him go. For the disciples loose those whom Christ by himself vivifies inwardly, because they are absolved, being vivified by the ministry of the priests: "Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt 16:19).

1561 Some who consider this mystery say that just as Christ by himself vivified Lazarus, and once he was vivified he was ordered to be loosed by the disciples, so God vivifies a soul from within by grace by remitting its guilt and absolving it from the debt of eternal punishment; but priests, by the power of the keys, absolve in regard to the temporal punishment. But this position attributes too little to the keys of the Church. For it is proper to the sacraments of the New Law that in them grace is conferred. But the sacraments exist in the administration of the ministers. Thus, in the sacrament of penance, contrition and confession behave materially on the part of the one receiving the sacrament; but the causative power of the sacrament lies in the absolution of the priest, by the power of the keys, through which he somehow applies the effect of our Lord's passion to the one he absolves so that he obtains remission. Therefore, if the priest only absolved the punishment, the sacrament of penance would not confer a grace by which guilt is remitted; and consequently it would not be a sacrament of the New Law. Therefore, one must say that just as in the sacrament of baptism, the priest, by pronouncing the words and washing outwardly, exercises the ministry of baptism, while Christ baptizes inwardly, so the priest, by the power of the keys, outwardly administers the ministry of absolution, while Christ remits the guilt by grace.

1562 Yet a difficulty arises from the fact that those who usually come for baptism are children who have not been justified before baptism, but obtain the grace of remission in baptism, whereas those who come for absolution are adults, who usually have obtained the remission of their sins beforehand by contrition; consequently, the absolution that follows seems to contribute nothing to the remission of sins.

If this matter is carefully considered as affecting adults, in both cases it will be seen that there is a perfect parallel. For it happens that certain adults having a desire to be baptized obtain the remission of their sins by the baptism of desire before they actually receive the sacrament of baptism; and yet the baptism which follows, so far as what it is of itself is concerned, effects the remission of sins, although it does not so function in a person whose sins are already remitted, but he obtains only an increase of grace. However, if an adult was not perfectly disposed before baptism to obtain the remission of his sins, still in the very act of being baptized he obtains their remission by the power of baptism, unless he places some obstacle to the Holy Spirit by his insincerity. The same must be said of penance. For if a person was fully contrite before the absolution of the priest, he obtains the remission of his sins by having the desire to subject himself to the keys of the Church, without which there would not be true contrition. But if there was not beforehand a full contrition sufficient for remission, he obtains the remission of his guilt in the absolution, unless he puts an obstacle to the Holy Spirit. And the same is true in the Eucharist and in the Anointing of the Sick, and in the other sacraments.

In the Gospel lesson which precedes this one, the Lord had said: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you." On these words you remember that we have already discoursed, as the Lord enabled us. But here, that is, in the succeeding lesson which you have heard read, He says: "These things I command you, that ye love one another." And thereby we are to understand that this is our fruit, of which He had said, "I have chosen you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and [that] your fruit should remain." And what He subjoined, "That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you," He will certainly give us if we love one another; seeing that this very thing He has also given us, in choosing us when we had no fruit, because we had chosen Him not; and appointing us that we should bring forth fruit,-that is, that we should love one another,-a fruit that we cannot have apart from Him, just as the branches can do nothing apart from the vine. Our fruit, therefore, is charity, which the apostle explains to be, "Out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned." So love we one another, and so love we God. For it would be with no true love that we loved one another, if we loved not God. For every one loves his neighbor as himself if he loves God; and if he loves not God, he loves not himself. For on these two commandments of love hang all the law and the prophets: this is our fruit. And it is in reference, therefore, to such fruit that He gives us commandment when He says, "These things I command you, that ye love one another." In the same way also the Apostle Paul, when wishing to commend the fruit of the Spirit in opposition to the deeds of the flesh, posited this as his principle, saying, "The fruit of the Spirit is love;" and then, as if springing from and bound up in this principle, he wove the others together, which are "joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." For who can truly rejoice who loves not good as the source of his joy? Who can have true peace, if he have it not with one whom he truly loves? Who can be long-enduring through persevering continuance in good, save through fervent love? Who can be kind, if he love not the person he is aiding? Who can be good, if he is not made so by loving? Who can be sound in the faith, without that faith which worketh by love? Whose meekness can be beneficial in character, if not regulated by love? And who will abstain from that which is debasing, if he love not that which dignifies? Appropriately, therefore, does the good Master so frequently commend love, as the only thing needing to be commended, without which all other good things can be of no avail, and which cannot be possessed without bringing with it those other good things that make a man truly good.

(Tract. lxxxvii. 1) Our Lord had said, I have ordained that ye should walk, and bring forth fruit. Love is this fruit. Wherefore He proceeds: These things I command you, that ye love one another. (Gal. 5:22) Hence the Apostle saith: The fruit of the Spirit is love; and enumerates all other graces as springing from this source. Well then doth our Lord commend love, as if it were the only thing commanded: seeing that without it nothing can profit, with it nothing be wanting, whereby a man is made good.

And in view of this recompense they ought to keep the commandment of Christ; therefore he repeats it: These things I command you, that you love one another. The commandment of love is called as it were given by hand, because he gave it by his own example: therefore above in chapter 13: "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another"; and 1 Thessalonians 4: "Concerning brotherly charity, we have no need to write to you: for you yourselves have learned of God to love one another."

They observed it in order to calumniate it, as we read in the Psalms, The ungodly sees the righteousness .

"These things I command you, that ye love one another."

That is, "It is not to upbraid, that I tell you that I lay down My life for you, or that I ran to meet you, but in order to lead you into friendship." Then, since the being persecuted and insulted by the many, was a grievous and intolerable thing, and enough to humble even a lofty soul, therefore, after having said ten thousand things first, Christ entered upon this matter. Having first smoothed their minds, He thus proceedeth to these points, showing that these things too were for their exceeding advantage, as He had also shown that the others were. For as He had told them that they ought not to grieve, but rather to rejoice, "because I go to the Father," (since He did this not as deserting but as greatly loving them,) so here also He showeth that they ought to rejoice, not grieve.

Lest the apostles think that the Lord speaks to reproach them by saying that He lays down His life for them and that He chose them, He therefore says: "I command you this not as a reproach to you, nor in praise of Myself as though for some merit, but to more firmly establish your souls in love for one another; for this reason I enumerate the perfections of My love toward you. These things I command you, that you love one another."

2029 These things I command you so that you will love one another. Here he is giving the reason for what he has said. Someone might ask: Why did Christ tell them all these things? So our Lord answers, These things I command you so that you will love one another. He is saying in effect: Everything I said to you was to lead you to love your neighbor: "The aim of our charge is love" (1 Tim 1:5). One could also say, with Chrysostom, that the apostles could have said: Lord, why are you reminding us so much about your love? Are you reprimanding us? But our Lord says: Not at all. I am doing this to encourage you to love your neighbor: "And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also" (1 Jn 4:21).

But behold, that which persecutes is called the world: let us test if that which suffers persecution is also called the world. Or are you deaf to the voice of Christ saying, or rather the sacred Scripture testifying: God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself? If the world hates you, he says, know that it hated me before it hated you. Behold, the world hates. Whom, if not the world? Which world? God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. The condemned world persecutes; the reconciled world suffers persecution. The condemned world is anything outside the Church; the reconciled world is the Church. For the Son of man did not come, he says, to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

But alongside of this love we ought also patiently to endure the hatred of the world. For it must of necessity hate those whom it perceives recoiling from that which is loved by itself. But the Lord supplies us with special consolation from His own case, when, after saying, "These things I command you, that ye love one another," He added, "If the world hate you, know that it hated me before [it hated] you." Why then should the member exalt itself above the head? Thou refusest to be in the body if thou art unwilling to endure the hatred of the world along with the Head. "If ye were of the world," He says, "the world would love its own." He says this, of course, of the whole Church, which, by itself, He frequently also calls by the name of the world: as when it is said, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself." And this also: "The Son of man came not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." And John says in his epistle: "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also [for those] of the whole world." The whole world then is the Church, and yet the whole world hateth the Church. The world therefore hateth the world, the hostile that which is reconciled, the condemned that which is saved, the polluted that which is cleansed.

But if we are asked about the love which is borne to itself by that world of perdition which hateth the world of redemption; we reply, it loveth itself, of course, with a false love, and not with a true. And hence, it loves itself falsely, and hates itself truly. For he that loveth wickedness, hateth his own soul. And yet it is said to love itself, inasmuch as it loves the wickedness that makes it wicked; and, on the other hand, it is said to hate itself, inasmuch as it loves that which causes it injury. It hates, therefore, the true nature that is in it, and loves the vice: it hates what it is, as made by the goodness of God, and loves what has been wrought in it by free-will. And hence also, if we rightly understand it, we are at once forbidden and commanded to love it: thus, we are forbidden, when it is said to us, "Love not the world;" and we are commanded, when it is said to us, "Love your enemies." These constitute the world that hateth us. And therefore we are forbidden to love in it that which it loves in itself; and we are enjoined to love in it what it hates in itself, namely, the workmanship of God, and the various consolations of His goodness. For we are forbidden to love the vice that is in it, and enjoined to love the nature, while it loves the vice in itself, and hates the nature: so that we may both love and hate it in a right manner, whereas it loves and hates itself perversely.

(Tract. lxxxvii. 2) For why should the members exalt themselves above the head? Thou refusest to be in the body, if thou art not willing, with the head, to endure the hatred of the world. For love's sake let us be patient: the world must hate us, whom it sees hate whatever it loves; If ye were of the world, the world would love his own.

(Tract. lxxxvii. 2) He saith this to the whole Church, which is often called the world; as, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. (2 Cor. 5:19) The whole world then is the Church, and the whole world hateth the Church. The world hateth the world, the world in enmity, the world reconciled, the defiled world, the changed world. (Tract. lxxxviii. 4.). Here it may be asked, If the wicked can be said to persecute the wicked; e. g. if impious kings, and judges, who persecute the righteous, punish murderers and adulterers also; how are we to understand our Lord's words, If ye were of the world, the world would love his own? In this way; The world is in them who punish these offences, and the world is in them who love them. The world then hates its own so far as it punishes the wicked, loves its own so far as it favours them. (Tract. lxxxvii. 4.). Again, if it be asked how the world loves itself, when it hates the means of its redemption, the answer is, that it loves itself with a false, not a true love, loves what hurts it; hates nature, loves vice. Wherefore we are forbidden to love what it loves in itself; commanded to love what it hates in itself. The vice in it we are forbidden, the nature in it we are commanded, to love. And to separate us from this lost world, we are chosen out of it, not by merit of our own, for we had no merits to begin with, not by nature which was radically corrupt, but by grace: But because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

Third, he exhorts the disciples to endurance of enemies.

If the world hates you etc. This is the third part of the chapter, in which the Lord exhorts to endurance of persecuting enemies: and he does this in the following manner. First, he foretells the enmity of the world: second, the injury proceeding from this; third, he shows the malice of the persecutors or haters: fourth, his own innocence: fifth, he arms the disciples for patience.

First, therefore, he foretells the enmity of the world, which was to be against the members after the example of the head. For there had been the hatred of the world with respect to the head, which is Christ; on account of which he says: If the world hates you, know, that is, consider, that it hated me before you. The Lord assigned the reason for this hatred above in chapter three: "Everyone who does evil hates the light"; and above in chapter seven: "The world hates me, because I bear witness concerning it, that its works are evil."

It is shown that none is free from the peril of persecution, when even these accomplished martyrdoms. But how grave is the case of a Christian man, if he, a servant, is unwilling to suffer, when his Master first suffered; and that we should be unwilling to suffer for our own sins, when He who had no sin of His own suffered for us! The Son of God suffered that He might make us sons of God, and the son of man will not suffer that he may continue to be a son of God! If we suffer from the world's hatred, Christ first endured the world's hatred. If we suffer reproaches in this world, if exile, if tortures, the Maker and Lord of the world experienced harder things than these, and He also warns us, saying, "If the world hate you, remember that it hated me before you. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you." Whatever our Lord and God taught, He also did, that the disciple might not be excused if he learns and does not.

That it was before predicted that the world would hold us in abhorrence, and that it would stir up persecutions against us, and that no new thing is happening to the Christians, since from the beginning of the world the good have suffered, and the righteous have been oppressed and slain by the unrighteous.

The Lord in the Gospel forewarns and foretells, saying: "If the world hates you, know that it first hated me. If ye were of the world, the world would love what is its own: but because ye are not of the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I spoke unto you, The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also."

That it was before predicted, concerning the hatred of the Name, in the Gospel according to Luke: "And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake."558 Also according to John: "If the world hate you, know ye that it first hated me. If ye were of the world, the world would love what would be its own: but because ye are not of the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word which I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you."

We shall find the course pursued in each case by our Saviour in no way whatever inferior, as I suppose, to the skill and fine art of physicians, as He everywhere follows a plan profitable to His hearers. For physicians check the stubborn maladies which sometimes arise in bodies by means of the resources of their art. But Christ fences off the entrance to evil, fortifying as it were each individual soul with commands ensuring prevention. Since therefore the disciples were destined to be rulers, not indeed over one nation or one district only, but rather to be the instructors of the universe, and to preach to all throughout the world the message of the Gospel and of God, and to turn their hearers to a belief in the true God alone, and to change them from sin to a willingness to do what became them, and to make the law, I mean that of the Gospel, the rule of their life; He bids them account as nothing the hatred of the world, that is of those who set their hearts on worldly things and choose to live wantonly and impiously. For could any one venture to say that, in seeing fit to give such injunctions to His disciples, showing that it was profitable to be hated, He did so without a reason, and not to profit them in any thing that is necessary? Put aside this folly; for His Word would not fall away into such a meaning as this. He counsels them not to guard against being noway hated by every one, and says excellently, in the clearest and most precise language, If the world hateth you, that is, if those who honour what is of the world and set their affections on earthly things alone should view you with hatred, know then indeed, He declares, that your Master endured this before you.

But any one might very readily perceive that the command of the Saviour will bring full profit to the expounders of the sweetest mysteries, if he would look at the nature of the circumstances. For it is always dear ----nay, rather, it is the object of their earnest endeavour----to thrust away as grievous and as monstrous the word that maketh wise, and to set upon those who are zealous to introduce the noblest of studies, and those by which they will become better than they were before; yielding up the victory to their private pleasures only. But a necessary consideration had well-nigh escaped my notice, although especially appropriate to, and connected with, the investigation of the words before us.

For the Jews, serving only the letter of the Mosaic Law, and putting their own construction on those things that were performed as types until a time of reformation, made no account whatsoever of the training of the Gospel, but thought they ought to consider its ministers as even more unendurable than their bitterest foes. And others, pursuing a different error, and attaching the unspeakable glory of God to the creature, I mean the heathen, did not very gladly receive the word that was capable of illumining them. For being as it were absorbed in their former vices, they accounted their ignorance as most precious, and were as little as possible inclined to depart from the disease akin to it. And since the nature of the case was so, who could doubt that the disciples of the Saviour would not only be hated by the Jews but also utterly despised by those diseased with the error of the Greeks? But they were very unwelcome, nay, they were intolerable, to those preferring to devote themselves to pleasure and honouring a life that spent itself in luxury. But if the disciples of the Saviour were to consider the consequence of being hated by those already mentioned as grievous, while they rather hastened to strive after and extravagantly to pursue the affection of those in this diseased condition, is it not quite clear to all that they would be manifestly not putting forth the word that is able to save to any one whatsoever, but would be rather bestowing their thoughts on vain trivialities, and restraining the rebuke that proceeds from boldness of speech according to the Will of God, speaking and expounding forsooth according to each individual taste?

The injunction therefore not too eagerly to seek to be loved and to disregard incurring the hatred of some is necessary if they gain profit from their counsels. This also we shall see St. Paul doing when he says plainly:----For am I now persuading men, or God? or am I seeking to please men? If I were still wishing to please men, I should not be a servant of Christ. And again, when he had rebuked someone in Corinth, and heard that he was excessively pained, he says: For if I make you sorry, who then is he that maketh me glad, but he that is made sorry by me? For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, a repentance which bringeth no regret. It will therefore be quite indisputable that the word which consults the pleasure of the listeners will flatter rather than benefit the world; but he who obeys the words of the Saviour will not conduct his ministry in this way. For he will prefer rather to please Him, and will regard even the being hated by those, and will consider even the hatred of those who have chosen to treat virtue with the utmost hostility, as spiritual wealth.

When then, He says, the hatred that you have stirred up against you in the world is found at times to militate against your good repute, overcome and cast aside this stumblingblock in your path, seeing that honours paid you by those who love the world cannot give you much pleasure, if they cannot endure to hear the word that profits them. For I am of a truth your Lord and Master. But that those who preferred to mind earthly things and despised the heavenly blessings hated Christ Himself also to their own destruction, I think it not difficult to show. For He said in the Gospels to some: The world cannot hate you; but Me it hateth, because I testify of it that its works are evil. Making Himself then again a pattern to His holy disciples in this, He bids them follow the track there laid down when He said again openly in another place: Blessed are ye when men shall persecute you, and shall reproach you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

The word that speaks to the pleasure of the listeners will flatter rather than benefit the world. But those who obey the words of the Savior will not conduct their ministry in this way. Such a minister will prefer rather to please the Savior, and if the minister incurs hatred from those who have chosen to treat virtue with the utmost hostility, it shall be considered spiritual wealth.

(Hom. lxxvii. 2) Or thus: I have said that I lay down My life for you, and that I first chose you. I have said this not by way of reproach, but to induce you to love one another. Then as they were about to suffer persecution and reproach, He bids them not to grieve, but rejoice on that account: If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you: as if to say, I know it is a hard trial, but ye will endure it for My sake.

Since enduring persecution and hatred is a difficult and very grievous thing, He says to comfort them: "If they hate you, this is nothing new, for they hated Me before you. Therefore you should find great consolation in the fact that you become My companions in bearing hatred."

2030 After presenting the picture of the vine and the branches and explaining the part about the branches being united to the vine, he now explains it in regard to the pruning or cleansing they will receive from their trials. So our Lord now consoles them against the tribulations they were going to endure. First, he mentions a few considerations which will console them; secondly, he explains these (v 20); thirdly, he rejects the excuses of those who will persecute them (v 22). He mentions two reasons why they should be consoled: the first uses himself as an example; the second is based on the reason for their being hated, because you are not of the world.

2031 Our Lord consoles them by using himself as an example of one who has suffered the persecution of oppressors, saying, If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. Note that just as the source of all benefits is love, so the source of all persecutions is hatred. And so our Lord foretells that they will be hated: "You will be hated by all nations" (Mt 24:9); "Blessed are you when men hate you" (Lk 6:22).

He says, If the world hates you, that is, it will come to pass that the world will hate you, and show its hatred by persecuting you, know that it has hated me before it hated you: "The world cannot hate you, but it hates me" (7:7). This thought is a great consolation for the just so that they can courageously endure persecutions: "Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted" (Heb 12:3); "Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps" (1 Pet 2:21). According to Augustine, the members should not consider themselves greater than the Head, nor refuse to be part of his body by being unwilling to endure with their Head the hatred of the world.

2032 The world can have two meanings. First a good meaning, for those who lead a good life in the world: "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself" (2 Cor 5:19). Secondly, it can have an evil sense, meaning those who love the world: "The whole world is in the power of the evil one" (1 Jn 5:19). And so the whole world hates the whole world, because those who love the world, and they are spread throughout the whole world, hate the whole world, that is, the Church of the good, which has been established throughout the whole world.

That which is promised to us is already present with you, and the object of your prayers is with you. You are of this world and yet not in this world. This age has held you but has not been able to retain you.

But that world which God is in Christ reconciling unto Himself, which is saved by Christ, and has all its sins freely pardoned by Christ, has been chosen out of the world that is hostile, condemned, and defiled. For out of that mass, which has all perished in Adam, are formed the vessels of mercy, whereof that world of reconciliation is composed, that is hated by the world which belongeth to the vessels of wrath that are formed out of the same mass and fitted to destruction. Finally, after saying, "If ye were of the world, the world would love its own," He immediately added, "But because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." And so these men were themselves also of that world, and, that they might no longer be of it, were chosen out of it, through no merit of their own, for no good works of theirs had preceded; and not by nature, which through free-will had become totally corrupted at its source: but gratuitously, that is, of actual grace. For He who chose the world out of the world, effected for Himself, instead of finding, what He should choose: for "there is a remnant saved according to the election of grace. And if by grace," he adds, "then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace."

For this same reason he shows the hatred of the members: whence he gives the reason for this hatred: because they were at variance with the world; on account of which he says: If you had been of the world, that is, if you had remained in the world through depraved custom: the world would love what was its own: whence above in chapter seven it is said to the worldly: "But your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you." But because you are not of the world, that is, of worldly conduct: but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. That hatred was signified in Genesis twenty-seven in the hatred of Esau, where it is said: "Esau hated Jacob on account of the blessing with which his father had blessed him." Esau signifies the worldly and the reprobate, but Jacob the elect.

He lightens by His art even that which was most grievous, and gives them unexpected pleasure at that which it was reasonable to suppose would greatly trouble them. For to be hated by any is truly burdensome, because sly injuries and unexpected devices are the result; yet this too is sweet when it happens for the sake of God and righteousness, and it supplies a convincing proof that the man against whom some thus act is not of the world. For as we find physical so also shall we find moral affinities, and a sameness and complete likeness of disposition is sufficient to undermine mere blood-relationship.

For every creature loveth its like, according to the Scripture, and a man will be attached to his like. Now whereas similarity of character renews the law of love towards one another, the holy will live with the holy and very readily conform to him, and be joined to him in friendly union. And so also will be the attitude of one of like disposition towards a blasphemer. For this reason the Mosaic Law made a complete distinction between what was holy and profane, keeping such things apart and separate from one another according to the law of love.

Evil company doth corrupt good manners, and differences of disposition are at war with one another, and wills that are divided look in opposite directions and almost accuse one another: each being enamoured of its own pursuit. The lover of virtue then must incur hatred for the very things which excite our admiration----his rebuking vice and unveiling the vileness of the wicked by the contrast that his own manner of life presents. For when goodness is seen by its side, what is evil must appear unseemly. For this cause then I think those who are not enamoured of the same manner of life rage against the virtuous.

He bids then His disciples not be pained, even though they see themselves hateful to the world on account of their love of virtue and righteousness towards Him, but explains that they ought on the contrary to rejoice, receiving the hatred of the world as a proof of their dignity and praise with God. For see how dangerous He has shown their not enduring to suffer (which it was likely they would prefer) to be. For to be hated by any was not absolutely without loss. But it has not the free pardon from God, and the great gain which results from preferring to suffer it. For if the man who is hated by those who mind worldly things is considered as outside the world, it is necessary then to suppose that the man who is not hated is united to the vices of the world.

What then has Christ established by these words? That they should preach His word with boldness, and should not permit their hearers to be unprofited, from their regard towards sinners or those who prefer to disobey the Divine command; but that, leaving unnoticed the affronts that will often result from being hated, they should give bold and fearless counsel, passing by nothing whatsoever or esteeming anything of more consequence than the necessity of serving God. This object St. Paul well accomplishes when he writes thus: For am I now persuading mien, or God? or am I seeking to please men? If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ. For it is not possible to please evil men and God. For how could the two coincide, the will of each presenting the widest divergence? For one looks towards virtue, and the other looks towards vice. The man therefore who wishes only to be the servant of God, and who regards nothing as superior to piety towards Him, must necessarily be in conflict with those who love the world, whenever he persuades them to a state of mind out of harmony with the vain folly of the world. For advice which calls to something else is most intolerable to lovers of pleasure, as assuredly are profitable and severe remedies to those whose bodies are diseased by these passions.

For the detraction of the perverse is the approbation of our life, because it is already shown that we have something of justice if we begin to displease those who do not please God. For no one can be pleasing in one and the same matter to the Almighty Lord and to His enemies. For he denies himself a friend to God who pleases His enemy. And he will be opposed to the enemies of truth who is subjected to that same truth in his mind. Whence holy men, inflamed in the rebuke of free speech, do not fear to arouse against themselves the hatred of those whom they know do not love God.

(Hom. in Ezech. ix.) For the dispraise of the perverse, is our praise. There is nothing wrong in not pleasing those, who do not please God. He proves himself no friend to God, who pleases His enemy; and he whose soul is in subjection to the Truth, will have to contend with the enemies of that Truth.

"If ye were of the world, the world would love its own."

So that had ye been loved it would be very clear that ye had shown forth signs of wickedness. Then, when by saying this first, He did not effect his purpose, He goeth on again with the discourse.

And observe how He effecteth this. He said not, "I know that the action is grievous, but bear for My sake, since for My sake also ye suffer," for this reason was not yet sufficient to console them; wherefore letting this pass, He putteth forward another. And what is that? It is that this thing would be a sure proof of their former virtue. "And, on the contrary, ye ought to grieve, not because ye are hated now but if ye were likely to be loved"; for this He implieth by saying, "If ye were of the world, the world would love its own."

After this, he adds another way of consolation, one that is more compelling. "You," he says, "on the contrary, ought to grieve in the event that the world, that is, evil people, loved you. For if they loved you, it would be a sign that you yourselves also have fellowship with them in the same malice and wickedness. But now, when the evil hate you, you should rejoice. For they hate you on account of your virtue; otherwise, if you were not virtuous, the world would love its own. But since I have separated you from the wickedness of the world, the world hates you because you do not participate in its works."

2033 Now he mentions a second point for their consolation, and this is based on the reason for their being hated. When a person endures another's hatred because of his own sins, there is reason for regret and sorrow; but when he is hated because of his virtue he should rejoice. First, our Lord gives the reason why some are loved by the world; secondly, why the apostles are hated by the world (v 19).

2034 The reason why some are loved by the world is that they are like the world; If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Like loves like: "Every creature loves its like" (Sir 13:15). And thus the world, that is, those who love the world, love those who love the world. Accordingly, our Lord says, If you were of the world, that is, followers of the world, the world would love its own, because you would be its own and like to it: "The world cannot hate you, but it hates me" (7:7). "They are of the world, therefore what they say is of the world, and the world listens to them" (1 Jn 4:5).

2035 One might object that our Lord meant by the world the authorities of the world, who would persecute the apostles. Yet these very same authorities persecute other worldly people, like murderers and thieves. Therefore, the world does not love its own any more than it loves the apostles.

I reply that it is possible to find something purely good, but not something purely evil, since the subject of evil is something good. Consequently, the evil of guilt is located in some good of nature. Therefore, no person can be a sinner and evil without having some good. So it is because of the evil of these authorities, the evil of their unbelief, that they belong to the world and hate the apostles and those who are not of the world. But because of the good they possess they are not of the world and hate those who are of the world, as thieves and robbers, and such. Still, there were some who were living well in the world yet loved the apostles and approved of their actions.

2036 But now there seems to be a greater difficulty. For every sin pertains to the world, and so a person is of the world by reason of any sin. Yet we observe that people who commit the same sin hate each other, for example, the proud: "Among the proud there is always strife" [Prv 13:10]. And one greedy person hates another who is also greedy. As the Philosopher says, potters quarrel with one another. Thus, the world is hating the world, and what our Lord says here does not seem to be true, that is, the world would love its own.

I reply that there are two kinds of love: the love of friendship and the love of concupiscence. These are quite different. With the love of concupiscence we draw external things or persons to ourselves, and we love these others insofar as they are useful to us or give us pleasure. But in the love of friendship we have the opposite, for we draw ourselves to what is external to us, because those we love in this way we treat the same as ourselves, sharing ourselves with them in some way. Thus, likeness is a cause of love, when we are speaking of the love of friendship, for we do not love a person in this way unless we are one with that person: and likeness is a certain way of being one. But with the love of concupiscence, whether it is for what is useful or gives pleasure, likeness is a cause of division and hatred. For since with this love I love some person or thing insofar as it is useful to me or gives me pleasure, I hate as opposed to me whatever hinders this usefulness or pleasure. So it is that the proud feud among themselves, for one takes for himself the glory that another loves and in which he takes pleasure. As for the potters, they quarrel because one takes for himself some profit which another wants for himself.

Notice that the love of concupiscence is not a love for the thing desired but a love for the person desiring: for in this kind of love, one loves another because the other is useful, as was said. Therefore, in this kind of love, one is rather loving himself than the other. For example, a person who loves wine because it gives him pleasure loves himself rather than the wine. But the love of friendship is concerned rather with the thing loved than with the one loving, because here one loves another for the sake of the one loved, and not for the sake of the one loving. And so because in the love of friendship likeness is a cause of love, and unlikeness a cause of hatred, the world hates what is not its own and is unlike it; but it loves, with the love of friendship, what is its own. It is the reverse with the love of concupiscence. Thus he says, If you were of the world, the world would love its own, with the love of friendship.

2037 Now he gives the reason why the world hates the apostles, which is because they are unlike the world. He says, but because you are not of the world, because your spirit has been lifted above it - although you are of the world by your origin: "You are from below, I am from above" (8:23) - lifted above it not by yourselves but by my grace, because I chose you out of the world, therefore, because you are not of the world, the world hates you, that is, those who love the world and who are unlike you, hate you: "An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, but he whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked" (Prv 29:27); and in the same chapter "Bloodthirsty men hate one who is blameless" (v 10).

2038 Three reasons can be given why the world hates those who are holy. First, there is a difference of condition: the world is in a state of death, but those who are holy are in a state of life: "Do not wonder, brethren, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren" (1 Jn 3:13). And so we read: "The very sight of him is a burden to us" (Wis 2:15). The second reason is that the world does not like to be corrected: for those who are holy are, by their words and actions, a rebuke to the conduct of the world. Consequently the world hates them: "They hate him who reproves in the gate" (Amos 5:10); "But it," the world, "hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil" (7:7). The third reason is because of evil envy, for those who are evil envy the good when they see them grow and increase in goodness and holiness, just like the Egyptians hated and persecuted the children of Israel when they saw them increasing (Ex 1:9). And we also see that Joseph's brothers hated him when they saw that he was loved more than they (Gen 37:4).

Receive also those that are persecuted on account of the faith, and who "fly from city to city" on account of the Lord's commandment; and assist them as martyrs, rejoicing that ye are made partakers of their persecution, as knowing that they are esteemed blessed by the Lord; for Himself says: "Blessed are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad, because your reward is great in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before us." And again: "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you." And afterwards: "If they persecute you in this city, flee ye to another..." And, "He that endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved." For he that is persecuted for the sake of the faith, and bears witness in regard to Him, Christ, and endures, is truly a man of God.

The Lord, in exhorting His servants to endure with patience the hatred of the world, proposes to them no greater and better example than His own; seeing that, as the Apostle Peter says, "Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow His steps." And if we really do so, we do it by His assistance, who said, "Without me ye can do nothing." But further, to those to whom He had already said, "If the world hate you, know that it hated me before it hated you," He now also says in the word you have just been hearing, when the Gospel was read, "Remember my word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord: if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." Now in saying, "The servant is not greater than his lord," does He not clearly indicate how He would have us understand what He had said above, "Henceforth I call you not servants"? For, you see, He calleth them servants. For what else can the words imply, "The servant is not greater than his lord: if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you"? It is clear, therefore, that when it is said, "Henceforth I call you not servants," He is to be understood as speaking of that servant who abideth not in the house for ever, but is characterized by the fear which love casteth out; whereas, when it is here said, "The servant is not greater than his lord: if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you," that servant is meant who is distinguished by the clean fear which endureth for ever. For this is the servant who is yet to hear, "Well done, thou good servant: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

(Tract. lxxxviii. 1) Our Lord, in exhorting His servants to bear patiently the hatred of the world, proposes to them an example than which there can be no better and higher one, viz. Himself: Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you: if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also.

(Tract. lxxxviii. 1) The servant is not greater than his Lord. Here the servant is the one who has the purified fear, which abideth for ever.

Remember the word. Here the second point is touched upon, namely injury, in the same manner as enmity, namely of the head first and of the members on account of the head and after the example of the head. On account of which he says: Remember the word that I said to you: The servant is not greater than his lord; above in the thirteenth chapter: "Amen, amen I say to you: The disciple is not above the master, nor is the apostle greater than his lord." And therefore he argues: If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. And it follows that if they hate and persecute the head, they also hate and persecute the members. Whence Augustine: "He refuses to be in the body who does not wish to endure the hatred of the world with the head." Concerning the persecution of the head, it is found in the Psalm: "They persecuted the man who was poor and a beggar and stricken in heart." Not only will they persecute in deed, but they will despise in heart: If they have kept my word, they will keep yours also, that is, just as they despised my word, so also yours; Luke tenth chapter: "He who hears you hears me, and he who despises you despises me."

Or they have kept, that is, they watched in order to find fault: Matthew twenty-second chapter: "The Pharisees went away and took counsel to trap Jesus in his speech"; and in the Psalm: "The sinner will watch the just man."

Our Lord in Gethsemane made a petitionary prayer (and did not get what He asked for). You'll remind me that He asked with a reservation—"nevertheless, not my will but thine." This makes an enormous difference. But the difference which it precisely does not make is that of removing the prayer's petitionary character...

The servant is not greater, and must not be more high-minded than the master. Whatever the theoretical difficulties are, we must continue to make requests of God. And on this point we can get no help from those who keep on reminding us that this is the lowest and least essential kind of prayer. They may be right; but so what? Diamonds are more precious than cairngorms, but the cairngorms still exist and must be taken into account like anything else.

After having first then shown that the hatred His followers would incur was honourable to them if justified by the occasion----for it can well be borne, nay, it is even thrice-longed for, when it happens on account of God, Who is able to set men above hindrances----He removes that which, as God, He was aware would induce them to be slow to be willing to devote all their energies to the duty of preaching the heavenly doctrine. For whereas disgrace and danger follow for the most part those that are bent on teaching, whenever their words are not found agreeable to those whom they admonish, and besides persecution is incurred, their message sometimes not being received, He vigorously and earnestly exhorts them to be prepared for these things and very ready to meet them. This too He has set forth in other words, saying: Woe unto the world because of occasions of stumbling! for it must needs be that the occasions come. But He exercises an entire control over them, representing His own condition in this respect in order that they may not aim at what is greater nor be found behaving unseemly after a different manner, but necessarily as it were following in the wake of the glory of the Lord may be anxious not to be above Him. He signifies to them that they will meet every kind of opprobrium, saying, "the slave is not above his lord." For Me, He says, wicked men assailed with unbridled tongue; and, leaving no kind of insult untried, they called Me a man possessed of a devil, and a drunkard, and the fruit of fornication. Yet I did not immediately seek their punishment, but not being cut to the heart by their insults, I vouchsafed unto My hearers the word of salvation. Do not, then, seek out of reason your own aggrandisement, nor scorn the limits within which your Lord was bound, Who lowered Himself to such humiliation for us to benefit all. Therefore it makes men superior to the bitterness of speech and the impiety of those who are accustomed to find fault, as indeed also the blessed prophet Jeremiah when harassed said with respect to this very thing: My strength hath failed me by reason of those who curse me; while the inspired Paul, showing still more nobility of character under the like treatment, and gaining a great victory over the impiety of those who insulted him, says: Being reviled, we bless; being defamed, we entreat. For to love to contend against such things as these is the work of a mind humble of spirit according to the Scripture, and adorned with a truly modest temper. For long-suffering and forbearance spring up and arise as though from a good root, especially at such a time. But the inability to endure words of provocation or any kind of ill repute whatever among men, would give a clear proof of an understanding that loves boasting, and of a disposition but little estranged from the love of worldly glory. For what injury can insolence inflict on him who is free from pride? And how shall the reviling of any one be grievous to him who aims not at worldly reputation?

He well exhorts us to have a mind that goes beyond this most worthless reputation----I mean that which is the object of worldly honour----and that mounts far beyond such things as these. But He forearms them as it were with a necessary safeguard, so that they may be willing to manifest such a spirit, and sets before them an argument which thrusts aside the contumely that results from weakness, namely that which we mentioned at first, the following in the wake of the glory of the Lord, and with joy confronting everything that comes in its season, until they attain to glory through God; not being bowed down by dishonour like a feeble laggard, nor checking the boldness of their teaching and neglecting the Divine commands when they are bitterly reviled, but rather to lay hold of love towards their brethren, and to hasten in every way to help those that are astray.

Persuading them therefore to shun the temporary honour of the world that lies immediately before them, He makes another earnest contention, useful and necessary. For if, He says, they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. And the drift of this is allied to His previous words. He still therefore persuades them to endure suffering, and removes by anticipation the weakness caused by the reflections that naturally arise in us. For there was no doubt that the disciples of the Saviour, incurring the anger of the persecutors of the truth, would fall into the terrors of persecution. But it was very right for them to reflect that when they preached the message of the glory of Christ, they would at all events partake of the riches of His mercy, so that they should think nothing at all a hindrance in the way of so desirable a zeal, but should appear superior to all panic and danger, having nothing painful to undergo, but rather exulting in the honours that all men would bestow on them as ministering unto them the word of salvation. And it was a perfectly right object that those who were anxious to call men into eternal life and were found to be messengers to their hearers of blessings from God should expect this, and seek to be included among men so blessed. But as every man inclines his own purpose in the direction of his wishes, and directs it to suit his will and pleasure, it was the more necessary that it should be pointed out that those who are hostile to the truth and are subjugated by the pleasures of vice must fight through conviction with those who call them away from the objects of their pursuit. For lessons which have this object are not pleasant to those who love pleasure. It remained then of necessity to show what they would have to expect from those who, being ranked among their foes, would persecute them, and insult them, and try every kind of assault.

Christ therefore exhorts them to confront this boldly, not denying that it will happen. And because His followers ought to show a manful spirit, He instructs them and foretells the dangers they will encounter. For if, He says, they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. This is just as if He had said: "I, the Creator of the Universe, Who have all things under My hand, both in heaven and on earth, did not put a bridle on their rage, nor restrained as it were by bonds the inclination of each of my hearers. But I rather left to the choice of each his own course, and permitted all to do as they liked. And therefore I, when persecuted, endured it, though I had the power of preventing it. When therefore ye also are persecuted, enduring for a time the aversion of those who hate you, and not being too much troubled by the ingratitude of those whom you benefit, following in the wake of My dispensation pursue the same course as I did, that you may attain the like glory. For those who surfer with Me shall also reign with Me."

And by the third addition, If they kept My word, they will keep yours also, He bids them not to be disheartened when their teaching is sometimes not received; and He does this also excellently and well. For he who has been appointed to this work thinks that he has lost his labour if any refuse to obey his words. But the case is not so. Let no one think that it is: for how is that possible? For the adviser who has once spoken and set forth the knowledge of what is good, has done that which was in his power. The rest will depend upon the disposition of his hearers. For it is easy for them to turn, each to what he wishes, either to obedience or the opposite. Those then who are our guides to the best life must not shrink back, so that they may sow in the reprobates the Word that is able to profit by Divine power, and may be able to order aright what we cannot attain unto by their faithful ministration, a thing which we find well practised and brought to perfection in the distribution of the talents. For one is found taking ten, and another five, and another two, and besides these yet another taking one, who, disdaining to use it for commercial purposes, buried the talent in the earth. And for this reason it was said to him: Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou oughtest to have put my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back mine own with interest. For just as those who have been trained to agricultural industry, and who have this object in view, cutting up the land with the plough and then burying the seed in the furrow, leave the rest no longer to their own skill but rather entrust it to the power and favour of God, I mean the taking root of that which is cast into the earth and nourishing it up to perfect fruit, so I think the expounder of the noblest truths ought only to distribute the Word and leave the rest to God.

The Saviour therefore gives His advice in this matter to His disciples as a medicine for want of spirit and a cure of listlessness. For do not ever choose to shrink, He says, from continuing to teach, even if some of those who have once been admonished should make of no account the teaching that has been given them. But finding that even My words are often not received by many, do not strive to surpass My reputation, and, following in My steps in this also, lay aside despondency. And this instruction was very necessary to the holy Apostles, since they were about to preach to all men the message of God and salvation. And therefore the inspired Paul, as having been nominated to his Apostleship by Christ, has shown himself to us a man of this kind, and is often seen to attain manliness herein. For it is easy to show that he thought he ought to despise the love of honour, and to treat persecution as utterly of no account, while he considered it of great importance not to be too fainthearted, even if some entirely refused to receive the Word that was once scattered among them. For he writes to some: Ye are wise in Christ, but we are fools for Christ's sake; we are weak, but ye are strong; we have dishonour, but ye have glory. Even unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst; and yet again, besides, these words: We are made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things even until now. So you see then that he was above worldly repute, on account of the commandment of the Saviour. But, showing his nobleness in persecutions, he said: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? He writes also to others, that to speak the same things, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is safe. And yet again to the Galatians: My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you. You hear with how little hesitation he repeats the same message, though the first that he had originally given had not gained acceptance, and well says that he travailed in birth for some until the forming of Christ in them should appear. And his preaching effected this, moulding his hearers into the love of God and into the likeness of Christ by faith.

Jesus indicates to his disciples that they will encounter every kind of disgrace, saying, "The slave is not above his lord." "For," he says, "wicked people attacked me with their unbridled tongues. And leaving no kind of insult untried, they called me a man possessed of a devil and a drunkard and the fruit of fornication. Yet I did not immediately seek their punishment, but not being cut to the heart by their insults, I granted to my hearers the word of salvation." Do not, then, seek out of reason your own aggrandizement or scorn the limits within which your Lord was bound, who lowered himself to such humiliation for us to benefit all.

It is just as if Jesus said, "I, the creator of the universe, who have everything under my hand, both in heaven and on earth, did not bridle their rage or restrain … their inclinations. Rather, I let each one choose their own course and permitted all to do what they wanted. Therefore, when I was persecuted, I endured it even though I had the power of preventing it. When you too follow in my wake and pursue the same course I did, you also will be persecuted. You're going to have to momentarily endure the aversion of those who hate you without being overly troubled by the ingratitude of those whom you benefit. This is how you attain my glory, for those who suffer with me shall also reign with me."

Just as those who have been trained in agriculture … cut up the land with the plough, and then bury the seed in the furrow and do not rely any further on their own skill but rather leave the rest to the power and favor of God—I mean the germination of the seed that is buried in the earth and nourishing it up to perfect fruit—so too I think the interpreter of the noblest truths ought only to sow the Word and leave the rest to God. The Savior therefore gives his advice in this matter to his disciples as a medicine for lack of spirit and a cure for listlessness. For, he says, do not ever choose to shy away from continuing to teach, even if some of those who have once been admonished should nullify the teaching that has been given to them. Rather, finding that even my words are often not received by many, do not strive to surpass my reputation. Instead, follow in my footsteps and do not become discouraged.

They observed it in order to calumniate it, as we read in the Psalms, The ungodly seeth the righteous.

"The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you."

He showed that in this point they would be most His imitators. For while Christ was in the flesh, men had war with Him, but when He was translated, the battle came in the next place upon them. Then because owing to their fewness they were terrified at being about to encounter the attack of so great a multitude, He raiseth their souls by telling them that it was an especial subject of joy that they were hated by them; "For so ye shall share My sufferings. Ye should not therefore be troubled, for ye are not better than I," as I before told you, "The servant is not greater than his lord." Then there is also a third source of consolation, that the Father also is insulted together with them.

What He said above, namely, that they hated Me before they hated you, He now sets forth more extensively, offering them greater consolation. "Remember," He says, "My word that a servant is not greater than his master. And you are not greater than Me. See then how they treated Me. If they persecuted Me—the Master, all the more will they persecute you—the servants. If they did not persecute Me but kept My word, then they will keep yours as well."

Or thus: If, Me says, they have persecuted your Lord, much more will they persecute you; if they had persecuted Him, but kept His commandments, they would keep yours also.

2039 Now he amplifies on the reasons just given for their consolation: first, the one using himself as an example; secondly, the one relating to the reason why they are hated (v 21). He does two things with the first: first, he reminds them that he and they are different in condition; secondly, he shows they are alike in what will be done to them, If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.

2040 Their different conditions were that Christ was the Lord and the apostles were servants: "A servant is not greater than his master" (13:16). He reminds them of this difference when he says, Remember the word that I said to you, A servant is not greater than his master. Therefore, it is not unfitting for you to undergo the same sufferings as your Lord; rather, you should regard this as a great glory. Thus Christ said to the disciples who were asking to sit on his right and left, "Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?" (Mt 20:22). "It is a great honor to follow God" (Sir 23:28); "It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher" (Mt 10:25).

2041 On the contrary. He said above, "No longer do I call you servants" (15:15), while he says here, A servant is not greater than his master. I answer that there are two kinds of servitude. One comes from a slave-like fear, that is, from a fear of punishment; and the Apostles were not servants in this way. The other comes from a "chaste fear," [the respect of a spouse], and such servitude was in the apostles: "Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes" (Lk 12:37).

2042 If then you are my servants and I am your Lord, you should be content to have happen to you what happens to me. Now some have despised me, while others have accepted me: "He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God" (1:11). You will be treated the same way: if some despise you, yet others will honor you.

For this reason he says, If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. Here we see how the saints are like Christ: for the disciples were persecuted for the same reason that Christ was, because Christ was being persecuted in the disciples. In fact in Acts (9:4) Christ said that he was being persecuted in the persecution of his disciples: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"

And so because their reason for acting is the same in the two cases, the consequence follows: If they persecuted me, they will persecute you: "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household" (Mt 10:25). Matthew (23:34) says of this persecution: "Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from town to town." Similarly, they will be honored for the same reason that Christ was: if they kept my word, they will keep yours also, because your words are my words: "You desire proof that Christ is speaking in me" (2 Cor 13:3); "For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you" (Mt 10:20). And so Christ says, "He who hears you hears me" (Lk 10:16). The apostles were in truth accepted and honored by some of the people, as is clear from "When you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God" (1 Thess 2:13).

"But all these things," He says, "will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not Him that sent me." And what are "all these things" that "they will do," but what He has just said, namely, that they will hate and persecute you, and despise your word? For if they kept not their word, and yet neither hated nor persecuted them; or if they even hated, but did not persecute them: it would not be all these things that they did. But "all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake,"-what else is that but to say, they will hate me in you, they will persecute me in you; and your word, just because it is mine, they will not keep? For "all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake:" not for yours, but mine. So much the more miserable, therefore, are those who do such things on account of that name, as those are blessed who suffer such things in its behalf: as He Himself elsewhere saith, "Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousness' sake." For that is on my account, or "for my name's sake:" because, as we are taught by the apostle, "He is made of God unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and santification, and redemption; that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." For the wicked do such things to the wicked, but not for righteousness' sake; and therefore both are alike miserable, those who do, and those who suffer them. The good also do such things to the wicked: where, although the former do so for righteousness' sake, yet the latter suffer them not on the same behalf.

And He added, "Because they know not Him that sent me." This is to be understood as spoken of that knowledge of which it is also elsewhere recorded, "But to know Thee is perfect intelligence." For those who with such a knowledge know the Father, by whom Christ was sent, can in no wise persecute those whom Christ is gathering; for they also themselves are being gathered by Christ along with the others.

(Tract. lxxxviii. 2) All these things, viz. what He had mentioned, that the world would hate them, persecute them, despise their word. For My Name's sake, i. e. in you they will hate Me, in you persecute Me, your word they will not keep, because it is mine. They who do these things for His name's sake are as miserable, as they who suffer them are blessed: except when they do them to the wicked as well; for then both they who do, and they who suffer, are miserable. But how do they do all these things for His name's sake, when they do nothing for Christ's name's sake, i. e. for justice sake? We shall do away with this difficulty, if we take the words as applying to the righteous; as if it were, All these things will ye suffer from them, for My name's sake. If, for My name's sake, mean this, i. e. My name which they hate in you, justice which they hate in you; of the good, when they persecute the wicked, it may be said in the same way, that they do so both for righteousness' sake, which they love, which love is their motive in persecuting, and for unrighteousness' sake, the unrighteousness of the wicked, which they hate. Because they know not Him that sent Me, i. e. know not according to that knowledge of which it is said, To know Thee is perfect righteousness. (Wisd. 15:3)

And worldly men also persecute the head and the members; they do not persecute the head on account of the members, but conversely; whence he says: But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake, namely to destroy it, for which you are blessed: whence Matthew fifth chapter: "Blessed are you when men shall persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you, lying, for my sake." The reason for this is the blindness of unbelief; whence: because they know not him who sent me: above in the eighth chapter: "You know neither me nor my Father"; and below in the seventeenth chapter: "Just Father, the world has not known you."

He declares that those who choose to act impiously against His holy disciples will do it on no other plea than "My Name" only. For this is a reproach against those who honour God, and an excuse for setting themselves against them on the part of those who do not know Him. But since it is clear to all that no one would suffer anything for the sake of God without reward, for a glorious crown will await them, He incites them again to courage, and makes their spirit steadfast, thrusting aside the misery of that which they expect by the hope of the return. He points out then that the very perils they endure are gain and an object of prayer, and rids of all its terrors that, the very prospect of the occurrence of which might stupefy some, and exhorts His disciples to welcome it with the greatest eagerness. And indeed when they were once summoned before the impious Council of the Jews, and had been severely buffeted with stripes for the sake of Christ, they went forth from the presence of the council, rejoicing, according to the Scripture, that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonour for the Name of the Lord. And of a truth they earnestly exhort us to endure suffering in this cause, and in no way to be dismayed by it, even if we have to encounter any pain for Christ's sake. For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil-doer: but if a man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this Name. Most pleasant then is suffering for Christ's sake, and sweet is peril when its presence is occasioned by love towards God.

But consider how here again, showing Himself as One with His Father, He says that neither the Jews nor those who were about to persecute the preachers of the Name of Christ, knew either the Father or the Son. For he who deems it his duty to dishonour the Son is avowedly a hater of the Father; not indeed as transgressing against another nature, but as insulting the true dignity of His natural Divinity. For none could be convicted of insolence against the Son, if he respected the nature of the Father. And if he were at all acquainted with the actual nature of the Father, how came he to be ignorant that He was begotten by Him? And will not he who spoils the fruit produced from it injure the parent tree? Sin against the Son therefore is a convincing proof of ignorance of God the Father.

But whereas He did not say, Because they know not My Father, but Him that sent Me, I think He wished to hint at something of this kind. His aim, as it seems, was to show that those who practised persecution against His devoted servants, plainly tied their heads as it were in a noose of a double transgression. For not merely, He says, will they be convicted of ignorance of My origin, or be justly condemned on he charge of atheism, but will actually be found rebuking the true wisdom of God the Father. For if He sent His own Son to raise that which had fallen away, to renew that which was worn out, to set forth life to all in the world, while those in the world set themselves against and impiously oppose such as choose to preach Him the Saviour of the world, they will be very clearly convicted of ignorance and of fighting against Him that sent Me. For by the expression "being sent," He introduces a clear proof of His Incarnation. But he that is ignorant of Him that sent Me, shows by this very fact his ignorance of God, and dishonours the mystery of My mission.

"But all these things will they do unto you for My Name's sake, because they know not Him that sent Me."

That is, "they insult Him also." Besides this, depriving those others of excuse, and putting also another source of comfort, He saith, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin."

Showing that they shall do unjustly both what they do against Him and against them.

But this is not so. They will keep neither My word nor yours. But all that they will do to you on account of Me. Therefore, if you love Me, endure what you suffer for My sake, Whom, by your own words, you love. Here is yet another reason for consolation. They, by wronging you, insult at the same time also Him Who sent Me. Therefore, if nothing else, then this very fact—that the same people are enemies to you and to Me and to My Father—should serve as your consolation.

2043 Now he amplifies on the second consideration that would console them, which is based on the reason for their being hated. The apostles were chosen and raised above the world insofar as they had been made sharers of divinity and joined to God. This is why the world hated them. From this it follows that the world rather hated God in them than hated them. The reason for this hatred was that the world lacked the true knowledge of God which comes from the true faith and devoted love. If they did have this knowledge and recognized that the apostles were friends of God, they would not have persecuted them. Thus he says, all this they will do to you, that is, hate and persecute you, on my account. And so this should be your glory: "Let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or a wrongdoer, or a mischief-maker; yet if one suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but under that name let him glorify God" (1 Pet 4:14). On my account, not because they love me, but because they hate me; just as, on the contrary, you will suffer on my account because you love me.

They will do these things to you because they do not know him who sent me: "If you knew me, you would perhaps know my Father also" [8:19]. For they did not know that God would be pleased by their accepting Christ. Note that he is speaking here of a perfect knowledge, which consists in a faith which perfects the intellect and joins the affections to God. We read of this kind of knowledge: "Let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me" (Jer 9:24); "To know you is complete righteousness" (Wis 15:3).

The mystery of Christ is so great that even angels stood amazed and bewildered before it. This is why, then, it is your duty to worship him and, as a servant, this is why you should not detract from your Lord. You cannot plead ignorance because establishing your faith is why he came down in the first place. If you do not believe, he has not come down for you or suffered for you. "If I had not come," says the Scripture, "and spoken to them, they would not have sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also." Who, then, hates Christ, if not the one who speaks to his dishonor? For just as it is love's part to render honor, so it is hate's part to withdraw honor. The one who hates calls into question Christ's honor; the one who loves, pays reverence.

The Lord had said above to His disciples, "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not Him that sent me." And if we inquire of whom He so spake, we find that He was led on to these words from what He had said before, "If the world hate you, know ye that it hated me before it hated you;" and now in adding, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin," He more expressly pointed to the Jews. Of them, therefore, He also uttered the words that precede, for so does the context itself imply. For it is of the same parties that He said, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin;" of whom He also said, "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also; but all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not Him that sent me;" for it is to these words that He also subjoins the following: "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin." The Jews, therefore, persecuted Christ, as the Gospel very clearly indicates, and Christ spake to the Jews, not to other nations; and it is they, therefore, that He meant to be understood by the world, that hateth Christ and His disciples; and, indeed, not those alone, but even these latter were shown by Him to belong to the same world. What, then, does He mean by the words, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin"? Was it that the Jews were without sin before Christ came to them in the flesh? Who, though he were the greatest fool, would say so? But it is some great sin, and not every sin, that He would have to be understood, as it were, under the general designation. For this is the sin wherein all sins are included; and whosoever is free from it, has all his sins forgiven him: and this it is, that they believed not on Christ, who came for the very purpose of enlisting their faith. From this sin, had He not come, they would certainly have been free. His advent has become as much fraught with destruction to unbelievers, as it is with salvation to those that believe; for He, the Head and Prince of the apostles, has Himself, as it were, become what they declared of themselves, "to some, indeed, the savour of life unto life; and to some the savor of death unto death."

But when He went on to say, "But now they have no excuse for their sin," some may be moved to inquire whether those to whom Christ neither came nor spake, have an excuse for their sin. For if they have not, why is it said here that these had none, on the very ground that He did come and speak to them? And if they have, have they it to the extent of thereby being barred from punishment, or of receiving it in a milder degree? To these inquiries, with the Lord's help and to the best of my capacity, I reply, that such have an excuse, not for every one of their sins, but for this sin of not believing on Christ, inasmuch as He came not and spake not to them. But it is not in the number of such that those are to be included, to whom He came in the persons of His disciples, and to whom He spake by them, as He also does at present; for by His Church He has come, and by His Church He speaks to the Gentiles. For to this are to be referred the words that He spake, "He that receiveth you, receiveth me;" and, "He that despiseth you, despiseth me." "Or would ye," says the Apostle Paul, "have a proof of Him that speaketh in me, namely Christ."

It remains for us to inquire, whether those who, prior to the coming of Christ in His Church to the Gentiles and to their hearing of His Gospel, have been, or are now being, overtaken by the close of this life, can have such an excuse? Evidently they can, but not on that account can they escape damnation. "For as many as have sinned without the law, shall also perish without the law; and as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law." And these words of the apostle, inasmuch as his saying, "they shall perish," has a more terrible sound than when he says, "they shall be judged," seem to show that such an excuse can not only avail them nothing, but even becomes an additional aggravation. For those that excuse themselves because they did not hear, "shall perish without the law."

But it is also a worthy subject of inquiry, whether those who met the words they heard with contempt, and even with opposition, and that not merely by contradicting them, but also by persecuting in their hatred those from whom they heard them, are to be reckoned among those in regard to whom the words, "they shall be judged by the law," convey somewhat of a milder sound. But if it is one thing to perish without the law, and another to be judged by the law; and the former is the heavier, the latter the lighter punishment: such, without a doubt, are not to have their place assigned in that lighter measure of punishment; for, so far from sinning in the law, they utterly refused to accept the law of Christ, and, as far as in them lay, would have had it altogether annihilated. But those that sin in the law, are such as are in the law, that is, who accept it, and confess that it is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good; but fail through infirmity in fulfilling what they cannot doubt is most righteously enjoined therein. These are they in regard to whose fate there may perhaps be some distinction made from the perdition of those who are without the law: and yet if the apostle's words, "they shall be judged by the law," are to be understood as meaning, they shall not perish, what a wonder if it were so. For his discourse was not about infidels and believers to lead him to say so, but about Gentiles and Jews, both of whom, certainly, if they find not salvation in that Saviour who came to seek that which was lost, shall doubtless become the prey of perdition; although it may be said that some shall perish in a more terrible, others in a more mitigated sense; in other words, that some shall suffer a heavier, and others a lighter penalty in their perdition. For he is rightly said to perish as regards God, whoever is separated by punishment from that blessedness which He bestows on His saints, and the diversity of punishments is as great as the diversity of sins; but the mode thereof is accounted too deep by divine wisdom for human guessing to scrutinize or express. At all events, those to whom Christ came, and to whom He spake, have not, for their great sin of unbelief, any such excuse as may enable them to say, We saw not, we heard not: whether it be that such an excuse would not be sustained by Him whose judgments are unsearchable, or whether it would, and that, if not for their entire deliverance from damnation, at least for its partial alleviation.

(Tract. lxxxix. 1) Christ spoke to the Jews only, not to any other nation. In them then was that world which hated Christ and His disciples; and not only in them, but in us also. Were the Jews then without sin before Christ came in the flesh, because Christ had not spoken to them? By sin here He means not every sin, but a certain great sin, which includes all, and which alone hinders the remission of other sins, viz. unbelief. They did not believe in Christ, who came that they might believe on Him. This sin then they would not have had, had not Christ come; for Christ's advent, as it was the salvation of the believing, so was the perdition of the unbelieving. But now they have no cloke for their sin. If those to whom Christ had not come or spoken, had not an excuse (προφασιν, excusationem Vulg. cloke E. T.) for their sin, why is it said here that these had no excuse, because Christ had come and spoken to them? If the first had excuse, did it do away with their punishment altogether, or only mitigate it? I answer, that this excuse covered, not all their sin, but only this one, viz. that they did not believe in Christ. But they are not of this number to whom Christ came by His disciples: they are not to be let off with a lighter punishment, who altogether refused to receive Christ's love, and, as far as concerned them, wished its destruction. This excuse they may have who died before they heard of Christ's Gospel; but this will not shield them from damnation. For whoever are not saved in the Saviour, who came to seek what was lost, shall without doubt go to perdition: though some will have lighter, others severer punishments. He perishes to God, who is punished with an exclusion from that happiness which is given to the saints. But there is as great a diversity of punishments, as there is of sins: though how this is settled is a matter known to the Divine Wisdom indeed, but too deep for human conjecture to examine or pronounce upon.

If I had not come. Here now in the third place the malice of those who hate and persecute is shown. He shows therefore their malice to be inexcusable both through what they heard and through what they saw: through what they heard: whence he says: If I had not come and had not spoken to them, namely the words of faith and instruction, they would not have sin, supply: so grave and inexcusable, because, Luke twelfth chapter, "the servant who knew the will of his lord and did not do it shall be beaten with many stripes; but he who did not know shall be beaten with few"; and therefore, if they had not heard, they would be excusable in some way through ignorance. But now they have no excuse for their sin; because they do not believe not from ignorance but from hatred, which hatred redounds upon the Father.

There is a question about what he says: If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they would not have sin.

1. Therefore, according to this reasoning, those who do not hear and do not believe are not condemned for unbelief; which is manifestly false, because no one is saved without faith.

2. Likewise, according to this, the Tyrians and Sidonians, who did not believe, will not be condemned: which is manifestly false by the testimony of the Gospel.

I respond: It must be said that by way of eminence, different kinds of sins are given to be understood under the general name of sin, but chiefly among others the sin against the Holy Spirit, which is purely sin, admitting no excuse. By the name of sin, therefore, is understood here the sin against the Holy Spirit, which was added to the sin of unbelief: and this the Jews would not have had, but would only have remained in unbelief, if the Lord had not manifested himself to them through open signs.

We may take in two ways the meaning of the words before us. For if any one should suppose that this passage was directed against Greeks and Jews alike, we say that unless the Divine and heavenly message, I mean the Gospel, had come to all that are on the earth, pointing out to each individual the way of salvation and making plain the works of righteousness, their complete ignorance of what is pleasing to God would perhaps have been a strong reason in each case for the pardon of those who are not eager in pursuing virtue. This ignorance of theirs makes them seem worthy of pardon. But whereas the word of the Gospel has been directed to all men, what reason for pardon is there, or with what words should any one address Him that judgeth, when accused after knowledge of the worst crimes? But if the Lord is saying this concerning the Jews only, as having very often listened to His teaching, and as being in no way ignorant of what He commanded them to think and do, let Him illustrate it thus: They will not endure your teaching, He says, but will bring upon you trials and persecutions, and will devise against you every kind of terror, and from their bitterness will be consumed with an unjust hatred against you, not able indeed to charge you with any wickedness, but blaming only your love towards Me. But searching as it were for an excuse for the cruelty of their madness, and diminishing the baseness of their love of self-gratification, they will actually cite Moses and the books of Moses, and will pretend that I was an opponent of their ancestral laws. But if I had not come and set forth commands superior to the Law given by Moses; if I had not fulfilled it by many words, showing that it was now high time to pass beyond mere types, and that there had been enough of patterns and shadows, but that the hour had come in which the truth itself should shine forth; if I had not shown this from the Law itself, saying in the clearest language, If ye believed Moses, ye would believe Me; for he wrote of Me; if I had not made it clear that My word harmonized with the testimonies of the prophets, and that the power of My Presence had already been predicted and proclaimed, they would have had reasonable grounds for their madness against Me and you. Since nothing has been left out, but everything that was essential has been said, the reason which they have devised to cover the nakedness of their sin is vain.

This consideration then I think should harmonize with the words of the Saviour; but in showing the terrible charges that will be brought against those who injure them, and in saying that those who dare to do such things will one day be chastised, He removes the greater part of their grief and wisely withdraws that which was likely to cause them no small pain. For the conviction that the workers of wickedness will pay the penalty of their crimes sometimes makes it possible to those who are injured to endure their wickedness. And, knowing this, the Master of all things says: Vengeance belongeth unto Me; I will recompense, saith the Lord. Nay, even the blessed Paul himself, when struck by one of the high priests, had no other consolation for the bitterness of suffering than this that we have mentioned. For what did he say?----God shall smite thee, thou whited wall. This then is a medicine for human weakness----I mean the expectation of the punishment of those who have chosen to act unjustly. Our Lord, however, is superior to and above human littleness. When He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not, according to the Scripture. But when struck on the face, He made no angry remark, nor threatened the man who dared to strike Him, but answered indeed with the greatest mildness and forbearance, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou Me? The word then of the prophet is true: Who shall be made equal to the Lord in the clouds, or who shall be likened to the Lord among the sons of God?

Besides this, depriving those others of excuse, and putting also another source of comfort, He saith, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin." Showing that they shall do unjustly both what they do against Him and against them. "Why then didst Thou bring us into such calamities? Didst Thou not foreknow the wars, the hatred?" Therefore again He saith,...

That declaration in the Gospel, "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have had sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin," makes it clear to all who are rational just how long a time a person is without sin and just when he is liable to sin. By participating in the word or reason, people are said to have sinned, that is, from the time they are capable of understanding, from the time that the reason implanted within them suggests to them the difference between good and evil. After they have begun to know what evil is, they are liable for any sin they commit.This is the meaning of the expression that "people have no excuse for their sin," namely, that from the time the divine word or reason has begun to show them internally the difference between good and evil, they ought to avoid and guard against evil: "For to the one who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin."

Is it really just that they do this? They hate both Me and My Father and you? Did they really find in My words or deeds a reason for such behavior? No, their sin is unforgivable. For did I not come and teach? If I had not come, if I had not spoken, they could have said "we did not hear." But now their malice is inexcusable.

2044 Before, when our Lord said that the Jews would persecute his disciples, he gave as the reason that the Jews did not know the one who sent him. Now, since ignorance usually excuses one, he here shows that they are inexcusable. He does this in two ways: first, because of the things he personally did and taught them; secondly, because of what will occur when he is no longer present (v 26). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he shows that they were without excuse because of the truth he taught; secondly, because of the witness of the works he performed (v 24). He does three things about the first: first, he shows what could have excused them; secondly, that they did not have this excuse (v 22); thirdly, he shows the real source of their persecution (v 23).

2045 He had said: "But all this they will do to you on my account." Yet they might have had an excuse. If I had not come and spoken to them, that is, if I had not shown myself personally and taught them personally, they would not have sin.

2046 How does this reconcile with Romans (3:23) which states that "All have sinned"? We should say that our Lord is not speaking here of just any sin, but of the sin of disbelief, that is, they do not believe in Christ. This is called here simply "sin" because it is a prime example of sin, because as long as this sin lasts, no other sin can be remitted; for no sin is remitted except by faith in Jesus Christ through whom we are justified, as we read in Romans (5:1). Consequently, they would not have sin means that they would not be charged with not believing in him. This is primarily because "faith comes from what is heard" (Rom 10:17). So, if Christ had not come and had not spoken to them, they could not have believed. And no one is charged with a sin for not doing what he can't do at all.

2047 Yet some could say that they were bound to believe and could have believed even if Christ had not come, since he had been foretold to them by the prophets: "which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son" (Rom 1:2). I answer that of themselves the Jews could not believe and understand the words of the prophets unless they were shown by divine help: "The words are shut up and sealed until the appointed time" [Dan 12:9]. Thus the eunuch said: "How can I understand, unless some one guides me?" (Acts 8:31).

Therefore, if Christ had not come, they would not have this sin, the sin of disbelief, although they would have had other actual sins for which they would have been punished. And a similar reasoning holds for all those whom the preaching of God's word could not reach. For this reason they cannot be charged with the sin of disbelief for their condemnation; but they will be condemned, because deprived of God's favors because of their other actual sins and original sin.

2048 Note that Christ's coming and teaching resulted in good for many, that is, for those who accepted him and kept his word. And for many it turned out bad, that is, for those who decided neither to listen to him nor believe him. "He will become... a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem" (Is 8:14); "This child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel" (Lk 2:34).

2049 He has just stated what could have excused them from unbelief. But they don't have this excuse because Christ showed himself to them in person and taught them. Thus he says, but now, since I have come and spoken to them, they have no excuse, that of ignorance, for their sin. "So they are without excuse; for although they knew God they did not honor him as God" (Rom 1:20). But they did know Christ, as is clear from Matthew (21:38): "This is the heir; come, let us kill him." However, they knew that he was the Christ promised in the law, but they did not know that he was God, because "If they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor 2:8). And so their ignorance is no excuse, because they did not do this from ignorance but from another root, that is, from hatred and a certain malice.

For as he who loves the Son, loves the Father also, the love of the Father being one with that of the Son, even as their nature is one: so he who hateth the Son, hateth the Father also.

The Lord says, as you have just been hearing, "He that hateth me, hateth my Father also:" and yet He had said a little before, "These things will they do unto you, because they know not Him that sent me." A question therefore arises that cannot be overlooked, how they can hate one whom they know not? For if it is not God as He really is, but something else, I know not what, that they suspect or believe Him to be, and hate this; then assuredly it is not God Himself that they hate, but the thing they conceive in their own erroneous suspicion or baseless credulity; and if they think of Him as He really is, how can they be said to know Him not? It may be the case, indeed, with regard to men, that we frequently love those whom we have never seen; and in this way it can, on the other hand, be none the less impossible that we should hate those whom we have never seen. The report, for instance, whether good or bad, about some preacher, leads us not improperly to love or to hate the unknown. But if the report is truthful, how can one, of whom we have got such true accounts, be spoken of as unknown? Is it because we have not seen his face? And yet, though he himself does not see it, he can be known to no one better than to himself. The knowledge of any one, therefore, is not conveyed to us in his bodily countenance, but only lies open to our apprehension when his life and character are revealed. Otherwise no one would be able to know himself, because unable to see his own face. But surely he knows himself more certainly than he is known to others, inasmuch as by inward inspection he can the more certainly see what he is conscious of, what he desires, what he is living for; and it is when these are likewise laid open to us, that he becomes truly known to ourselves. And as these, accordingly, are commonly brought to us regarding the absent, or even the dead, either by hearsay or correspondence, it thus comes about that people whom we have never seen by face (and yet of whom we are not entirely ignorant), we frequently either hate or love.

But in such cases our credulity is frequently at fault; for sometimes even history, and still more ordinary report, turns out to be false. Yet, it ought to be our concern, in order not to be misled by an injurious opinion, seeing we cannot search into the consciences of men, to have a true and certain sentiment about things themselves. I mean, that in regard to this or that man, if we know not whether he is immodest or modest, we should at all events hate immodesty and love modesty: and if in regard to some one or other we know not whether he is unjust or just, we should at any rate love justice and abhor injustice; not such things as we erroneously fancy to ourselves, but such as we believingly perceive according to God's truth, the one to be desired, the other to be shunned; so that, when in regard to things themselves we do desire what ought to be desired, and utterly avoid what ought to be avoided, we may find pardon for the mistaken feelings which we at times, yea, at all times, entertain regarding the actual state of others which is hidden from our eyes. For this, I think, has to do with human temptation, without which we cannot pass through this life, so that the apostle said, "No temptation should befall you but such as is common to man." For what is so common to man as inability to inspect the heart of man; and therefore, instead of scrutinizing its inmost recesses, to suspect for the most, part something very different from what is going on therein? And although in these dark regions of human realities, that is, of other people's inward thoughts, we cannot clear up our suspicions, because we are only men, yet we ought to restrain our judgments, that is, all definite and fixed opinions, and not judge anything before the time, until the Lord come, and bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall every man have praise of God. When, therefore, we are falling into no error in regard to the thing itself, so that there is an accordance with right in our reprobation of vice and approbation of virtue; surely, if a mistake is committed in connection with individuals, a temptation so characteristic of man is within the scope of forgiveness.

But amid all these darknesses of human hearts, it happens as a thing much to be wondered at and mourned over, that one, whom we account unjust, and who nevertheless is just, and in whom, without knowing it, we love justice, we sometimes avoid, and turn away from, and hinder from approaching us, and refuse to have life and living in common with him; and, if necessity compel the infliction of discipline, whether to save others from harm or bring the person himself back to rectitude, we even pursue him with a salutary harshness; and so afflict a good man as if he were wicked, and one whom unknowingly we love. This takes place if one, for example's sake, who is modest is believed by us to be the opposite. For, beyond doubt, if I love a modest person, he is himself the very object that I love; and therefore I love the man himself, and know it not. And if I hate an immodest person, it is on that account, not him that I hate: for he is not the thing that I hate; and yet to that object of my love, with whom my heart makes continual abode in the love of modesty, I am ignorantly doing an injury, erring as I do, not in the distinction I make between virtue and vice, but in the thick darkness of the human heart. Accordingly, as it may so happen that a good man may unknowingly hate a good man, or rather loves him without knowing it (for the man himself he loves in loving that which is good; for what the other is, is the very thing that he loves); and without knowing it, hates not the man himself, but that which he supposes him to be: so may it also be the case that an unjust man hates a just man, and, while he opines that he loves one who is unjust like himself, unknowingly loves the just man; and yet so long as he believes him to be unjust, he loves not the man himself, but that which he imagines him to be. And as it is with another man, so is it also with God. For, to conclude, had the Jews been asked if they loved God, what other answer would they have given but that they did love Him, and that not with any intentional falsehood, but because erroneously fancying that they did so? For how could they love the Father of the truth, who were filled with hatred to the truth itself? For they do not wish their own conduct to be condemned, and it is the truth's task to condemn such conduct; and thus they hated the truth as much as they hated their own punishment, which the truth awards to such. But they know not that to be the truth which lays its condemnation on such as they: therefore they hate that which they know not; and hating it, they certainly cannot but also hate Him of whom it is born. And in this way, because they know not the truth, by whose judgment they are condemned, as that which is born of God the Father; of a surety also they both know not, and hate the Father Himself. Miserable men! who, because wishing to be wicked, deny that to be the truth whereby the wicked are condemned. For they refuse to own that to be what it is, when they ought themselves to refuse to be what they are; in order that, while it remains the same, they may be changed, lest by its judgment they fall into condemnation.

"He that hateth me," He says, "hateth my Father also." Here it may be said to us, Who can hate one whom he knows not? And certainly before saying, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin," He had said to His disciples, "These things will they do unto you, because they know not Him that sent me." How, then, do they both know not, and hate? For if the notion they have formed of Him is not that which He is in Himself, but some unknown conjecture of their own, then certainly it is not Himself they are found to hate, but that figment which they devise or rather suspect in their error. And yet, were it not that men could hate that which they know not, the Truth would not have asserted both, namely, that they both know not, and hate His Father. But such a possibility, if by the Lord's help we are able to show it, cannot be demonstrated at present, as this discourse must now be brought to a close.

(Tr. xc. 1) But He has just said, Because they know not Him that sent Me. How could they hate one whom they did not know? For if they hated God, believing Him to be something else, and not God, this was not hatred of God. In the case of men, it often happens that we hate or love persons whom we have never seen, simply in consequence of what we have heard of them. But if a man's character is known to us, he cannot properly be said to be unknown. And a man's character is not shown by his face, but by his habits and way of life: else we should not be able to know ourselves, for we cannot see our own face. But history and fame sometimes lie; and our faith is imposed upon. We cannot penetrate into men's hearts; we only know that such things are right, and others wrong; and if we escape error here, to be mistaken in men is a venial matter. A good man may hate a good man ignorantly, or rather love him ignorantly, for he loves the good man, though he hates the man whom he supposes him to be. A bad man may love a good man, supposing him to be a bad man like himself, and therefore not, properly speaking, loving him, but the person whom he takes him to be. And in the same way with respect to God. If the Jews were asked whether they loved God, they would reply that they did love Him, not intending to lie, but only being mistaken in so saying. For how could they who hated the Truth, love the Father of the Truth? They did not wish their actions to be judged, and this the Truth did. They hated the Truth then, because they hated the punishment which He would inflict upon such as they. But at the same time they did not know that He was the Truth, who came to condemn them. They did not know that the Truth was born of God the Father, and therefore they did not know God the Father Himself. Thus they both hated, and also knew not, the Father.

Whoever hates me hates my Father also; raised up by their own pride, according to that of the Psalm: "The pride of those who hate you ascends continually." Because therefore they refused to hear out of malice, they were inexcusable; Matthew twelve: "The Queen of the South will rise up in judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon"; Romans two: "You are inexcusable, O every man who judges: for in that you judge another, you condemn yourself."

He makes a definite charge of atheism against those who choose, in the impiety of their minds and the estrangement of their hearts, to hate Him. And the charge is a true one. For those who dishonour the Son will not be guiltless of transgression against the Father, convinced of the justice of their hatred. For just as those who depreciate the shining of the sun, because it appears and exists for no necessary purpose, bring charges of uselessness, and direct their censure also against its Author; and just as whoever sees fit to despise the scent of flowers will cast reproach on this account against that from whence it was derived----the case will be the same, I suppose, with respect to the Only-begotten and His Father. For it is impossible for those who censure what proceeds from anything else to praise its author. For this reason Christ said to the Jews: A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit: neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit; when He further told them to make this accurate and unexceptionable distinction in this matter: Either make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt. For whatever one could truly predicate of one of such things as these, that I suppose he must necessarily make applicable to both. For when there is one nature, surely the attributes are entirely common even though they are capable of separate manifestation; and whatever a man might do against what proceeds from any fountain, that he would plainly do against the fountain itself. Wherefore Christ says that he that hateth Me, hateth My Father also. And He appropriately attributes a reference to the Person of the Father to any charges that men may make against Himself. And He will none the less satisfy us by this discourse that He is not distinct from Him by reason of the complete identity of Their Natures. And besides He terrifies His hearers by showing how very perilous it is to choose to transgress by hating Him, and He assures them that the man who rejects His worship will be defenceless and an easy prey to his enemies, inasmuch as he insults the Person of the Father Himself. For since insolence against His Son affects Him too, He will also be offended.

Is it not quite clear that the reception of this belief raised the confidence of His holy disciples? At the same time, Christ illustrated another essential and profound truth----I mean this of which I will speak. Some thought in their unparalleled madness and excessive folly, that when they were transgressing against the Son, and opposing the words of the Saviour, they were giving pleasure to God, Who was the Giver of the Law; and while they continued to confer the meed of victory on the prophetic dispensation of Moses, they showed themselves true guardians of the love of God. It was necessary therefore to show the falsity of their boast, and to teach the world that those who act counter to the laws of the Saviour set themselves as it were against the entire Divine Nature, insulted in the Person of the Son by their contumacy, and by their persistent and inexcusable disobedience, which He clearly declares is not merely aimed against His own Person, but also affects all who preach the Word for Him and through Him. He then that enters upon opposition against the holy Apostles themselves is an enemy of God, and shows insolence towards Him, and is altogether hostile to the ineffable and unspeakable Nature of the Divine Being, for the Apostles do not preach themselves, but the God and Lord of all, that is. Christ.

"Hates my Father also." This my is the assertion of a relation to the Father that is shared by no one else.… He condemns the man who claims God as his Father and does not love the Son as using a wrongful liberty with the Father's name, since he who hates him, that is, the Son, must hate the Father also. And none can be devoted to the Father except those who love the Son. For the one and only reason that he gives for loving the Son is his origin from the Father. The Son, therefore, is from the Father, not by his advent but by his birth. And love for the Father is only possible to those who believe that the Son is from him.

"He that hateth Me, hateth My Father also."

From this also proclaiming beforehand no small punishment against them. For, since they continually pretended that they persecuted Him on account of the Father, to deprive them of this excuse He spake these words. "They have no excuse. I gave them the teaching which is by words, that by works I added, according to the Law of Moses, who bade all men obey one speaking and doing such things, when he should both lead to piety, and exhibit the greatest miracles." And He spake not simply of "signs," but...

Ye think, indeed, under a pretence of piety, to avenge the glory of God, not understanding that he that despiseth Me despiseth My Father also.

Then, since they everywhere appealed to nothing other than the claim that they were defending the Father (for they say: "This man is not from God," and the like (John 9:16)), He therefore adds: "He who hates Me hates My Father also." Thus, even this serves in no way to justify them.

2050 This is why he adds, He who hates me hates my Father also. This is like saying: Their sin is not ignorance of me, but hatred for me, and this involves hatred for the Father. Since the Son and the Father are one in essence, truth and goodness, and since all knowledge of anyone is through the truth which is in him, whoever loves the Son loves the Father also; and whoever knows the one knows the other also; and whoever hates the Son hates the Father also.

2051 Two problems arise here. First, whether anyone can hate God? We should say that no one can hate God as God. Since God is the pure essence of goodness, and since this is lovable in itself, it is impossible that God be hated in himself. This is the reason why it is impossible for an evil person to see God. For it is impossible for God to be seen without being loved; and one who loves God is good. So these two things are incompatible, namely, to see God and be evil.

Yet one can hate God from a particular point of view. For example, one who loves lustful pleasures hates God as forbidding the enjoyment of lust, and one who wants to be free from all punishment hates the justice of God when it punishes.

2052 The second problem arises because no one can hate what he does not know. But the Jews did not know the Father: "They do not know him who sent me" (15:21). Therefore, what he says here does not seem to be true, that they hate my Father also. We can say, according to Augustine, that a person can love or hate something that was never seen nor truly known. This can happen in two ways. In one way, I can hate or love a person according as I know him; or, according to what I am told about him. For example, if I hear that someone is a thief I hate him, not because I know or hate this very person, but because in general I hate all thieves. So, if he were a thief and I did not know it, I would hate him without knowing that I hated him. Now the Jews hated Christ and the truth that he preached. Since the very truth that Christ preached and the works he performed were in the will of God the Father, then just as they hated Christ, so also they hated the Father, even though they did not know that these things were in the will of the Father.

The Lord had said, "He that hateth me, hateth my Father also." For of a certainty he that hateth the truth must also hate Him of whom the truth is born; on which subject we have already spoken, as we were granted ability. And then He added the words on which we have now to discourse: "If I had not done among [in] them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin." To wit, that great sin whereof He also says before, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin." Their sin was that of not believing on Him who thus spake and wrought. For they were not without sin before He so spake to them and did such works among them; but this sin of theirs, in not believing on Him, is thus specially mentioned because really inclusive in itself of all sins besides. For had they been clear of this one, and believed on Him, all else would also have been forgiven.

But what is meant when, after saying, "If I had not done among them works," He immediately added, "which none other man did"? Of a certainty, among all the works of Christ, none seem to be greater than the raising of the dead; and yet we know that the same was done by the prophets of olden time. For Elias did so; and Elisha also, both when alive in the flesh, and when he lay buried in his sepulchre. For when certain men, who were carrying a dead person, had fled thither for refuge from an onset of their enemies, and had laid him down therein, he instantly came again to life. And yet there were some works that Christ did which none other man did: as, when He fed the five thousand men with five loaves, and the four thousand with seven; when He walked on the waters, and gave Peter power to do the same; when He changed the water into wine; when He opened the eyes of a man that was born blind, and many besides, which it would take long to mention. But we are answered, that others also have done works which even He did not, and which no other man has done. For who else save Moses smote the Egyptians with so many and mighty plagues, as when He led the people through the parted waters of the sea, when he obtained manna for them from heaven in their hunger, and water from the rock in their thirst? Who else save Joshua the son of Nun divided the stream of the Jordan for the people to pass over, and by the utterance of a prayer to God bridled and stopped the revolving sun? Who save Samson ever quenched his thirst with water flowing forth from the jawbone of a dead ass? Who save Elias was carried aloft in a chariot of fire? Who save Elisha, as I have just mentioned, after his own body was buried, restored the dead body of another to life? Who else besides Daniel lived unhurt amid the jaws of famishing lions, that were shut up with him? And who else save the three men Ananias, Azariah, and Mishael, ever walked about unharmed in flames that blazed and did not burn?

I pass by other examples, as these I consider to be sufficient to show that some of the saints have done wonderful works, which none other man did. But we read of no one whatever of the ancients who cured with such power so many bodily defects, and bad states of the health, and troubles of mortals. For, to say nothing of those individual cases which He healed, as they occurred, by the word of command, the Evangelist Mark says in a certain place: "And at even, when the sun had set, they brought unto Him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. And all the city was gathered together at the door. And He healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils." And Matthew, in giving us the same account, has also added the prophetic testimony, when he says: "That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sickness." In another passage also it is said by Mark: "And whithersoever He entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they might touch if it were but the border of His garment: and as many as touched Him were made whole." None other man did such things in them. For so are we to understand the words in them, not among them, or in their presence; but directly in them, because He healed them. For He wished them to understand the works as those which not only occasioned admiration, but conferred also manifest healing, and were benefits which they ought surely to have requited with love, and not with hatred. He transcends, indeed, the miracles of all besides, in being born of a virgin, and in possessing alone the power, both in His conception and birth, to preserve inviolate the integrity of His mother: but that was done neither before their eyes nor in them. For the knowledge of the truth of such a miracle was reached by the apostles, not through any onlooking that they had in common with others, but in the course of their separate discipleship. Moreover, the fact that on the third day He restored Himself to life from the very tomb, in the flesh wherein He had been slain, and, never thereafter to die, with it ascended into heaven, even surpasses all else that He did: but just as little was this done either in the Jews or before their eyes; nor had it yet been done, when He said, "If I had not done among them the works which none other man did."

(Tr. xci. 1) The sin of not believing Him, notwithstanding His doctrine and His miracles. But why does He add, Which none other man did? Christ did no work greater than the raising of the dead, which we know the ancient Prophets did before Him. Is it that He did some things which no one else did? But others also did what neither He nor any one else did. True: yet none of the ancient prophets, that we read of, healed so many bodily defects, sicknesses, infirmities. For to say nothing of single cases, Mark says, that whithersoever He entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought Him that they might touch if it were but the border of His garment: and as many as touched Him were made whole. (Mark 6:56) Such works as these no one else had done in them. In them, meaning, not amongst them, or before them, but within them. But even where particular works, like some of these, had been done before, whoever worked such did not really do them; for He did them through them; whereas He performs these miracles by His own power. For even if the Father or the Holy Spirit did them, yet it was none other than He; for the Three Persons are of one substance. For these benefits then they ought to have returned Him not hatred, but love. And this He reproaches them with; But now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father.

The Jews are also inexcusable on account of what they saw: therefore he says: If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin, namely so great a sin of not believing; because, as above in chapter five, "the works that I do bear witness concerning me." But now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father: and therefore they knowingly and out of malice refuse to believe and persecute: for this reason they are inexcusable: Matthew eleven: "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless I say to you: it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you."

There is a question about what he says: If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, etc.

1. This seems false, because we read of greater and more wondrous signs in the Old Testament. For we read that the Red Sea was divided, and the Jordan, that men were fed from heaven for forty years, that the dead were raised, and many such things.

2. Likewise, the Lord himself says: He who believes in me will do greater things than these: therefore the sign of works was not a certain sign nor a singular one that he was the Christ.

To this the Gloss responds that it is not understood of miraculous works, but of wondrous works, such as that a woman encompassed a man, and that he was born of a Virgin, and similar things.

But that does not solve it, because these things were not known to them.

Therefore it must be said otherwise: either that this is said with respect to the multitude and diversity of works, because no one had ever performed so many miracles, and so varied and diverse, as Christ did.

Or emphasis must be placed on what he says: I had done, which no one else did, because no other was God, but miracles were done at his invocation: Christ, however, did them as one who was omnipotent.

There is a question about what he says: They have now both seen and hated me and my Father.

Against this: 1. Because, as Augustine says, "no one's conscience can hate God" — how then did they hate the Father?

2. Likewise, no one hates except what he knows; but He Himself says that they have not known the Father, both now and in many places; therefore they did not hold God in hatred.

To this the response is twofold: first, hatred must be distinguished: for there is true hatred, which consists in the opposition of the affections against someone, and in this way no one can hate God. And there is interpretive hatred, when someone conducts himself in the manner of one who hates. Thus someone is said to hate his own soul when he acts against his own salvation; thus also one is said to hate God when he opposes His will.

Otherwise it is said that God can be considered as the highest good, from whom every good comes; and He can be considered as just in His works. No one can hate God nor does anyone hate Him in Himself; yet one hates Him insofar as He is just.

1. As to what is objected from Augustine, it must be said that Augustine retracts that statement; nevertheless that statement is true if hatred is taken as it has been explained above.

2. As to the objection that they did not know Him: it must be said that there is knowledge of certitude and clarity through the species, and by this no one knows God unless he is a comprehensor. And there is knowledge of certitude but through an enigma; and by this no one knows God unless he is faithful. And there is knowledge of estimation, and by this the unfaithful and many wicked people know Him. And thus they knew the Father and consequently can hate Him.

Christ none the less shows by these words that no excuse was left to the Jews why they should not encounter the doom of punishment and meet irretrievable damnation For clearly nothing that could profit them is left undone, as both a long discourse is vouchsafed them which might easily have put them on the way of salvation, and miracles were shown to them which no one in the world had ever seen before. For what saint ever vied with the Saviour in working miracles? As then the desire of honouring Him was so far repugnant to the Jews that they even preferred to hate Him in the impiety of their minds, will not the burden of the charge weigh most grievously upon them? For it would be better for them that they should never have heard His wise words or witnessed His unspeakable wonder-working power; for perhaps then they might have devised some such specious plea as this for pardon: "We never heard any of the truths essential to salvation, nor did we see anything to induce faith in us," But since it was not from one of the holy prophets, but from Christ Himself Who came from above and was sent to us, that they got their information; and since they also saw strange miracles with their own eyes, for Christ opened the eyes of the blind although no other man had ever before been able to do this; what can excuse the madness of the Jews, or what plea can extricate them from punishment? For though they had heard and seen, they hated both the Son and the Father; they both dishonoured the Word sent from the Father through the Son, and also, rejecting the honour due to the works of the Divine Nature, stood convicted of glaring impiety against the entire Nature of God, which was the agent. For the Father Himself certainly co-operated with the Son when He worked His wonders, not as doing marvellous works by an external instrument, but as being in the Son through the identity of Their Nature and the immutability of Their Substance. The wretched Jews then showed ingratitude, and lie under the grievous charge of gross contumacy, since they held as of no account the incomparable teaching of the Saviour, and besides dishonoured through the Son and in the Son the Nature of the Father, although that Nature was shown to be the worker of exceeding great miracles to them, which ought to have drawn and attracted the most stubborn and unteachable into ability to think what was right and what conduced to the glory of God.

(xxv. Moral.) It is one thing not to do good, another to hate the teacher of goodness; as there is a difference between sudden and deliberate sins. Our state generally is that we love what is good, but from infirmity cannot perform it. But to sin of set purpose, is neither to do nor to love what is good. As then it is sometimes a heavier offence to love than to do, so is it more wicked to hate justice than not to do it. There are some in the Church, who not only do not do what is good, but even persecute it, and hate in others what they neglect to do themselves. The sin of these men is not that of infirmity or ignorance, but deliberate wilful sin.

For, since they continually pretended that they persecuted Him on account of the Father, to deprive them of this excuse He spake these words. "They have no excuse. I gave them the teaching which is by words, that by works I added, according to the Law of Moses, who bade all men obey one speaking and doing such things, when he should both lead to piety, and exhibit the greatest miracles." And He spake not simply of "signs," but, "Which none other man did." And of this they themselves are witnesses, speaking in this way; "It was never so seen in Israel"; and, "Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind"; and the matter of Lazarus was of the same kind, and all the other acts the same, and the mode of wonder-working new, and all beyond thought.

"Why then," saith one, "do they persecute both Thee and us?" "Because ye are not of the world. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own." He first remindeth them of the words which He spake also to His own brethren; but there he spake more by way of a reflection, lest He should offend them, while here, on the contrary, He revealed all. "And how is it clear that it is on this account that we are hated?" "From what was done to Me. For, tell Me, which of My words or deeds could they lay hold on, that they would not receive Me?" Then since the thing would be astounding to us, He telleth the cause; that is, their wickedness. And He stayeth not here either, but introduceth the Prophet, showing him proclaiming before of old time, and saying, that, "They hated Me without a cause."

I did not merely deliver teaching, but also performed works such as no one else had done—for example, the miracle with the blind man, with Lazarus, and other similar ones. What justification, then, do they have? For My part, I delivered teaching in words and added the proof of works. And Moses (Deut. 18:18–22) commands to heed the one who performs miracles and teaches piety. But they have now both seen such works and yet hated both Me and My Father.

2053 Now he shows they are without excuse because of the witness of his signs. They could say that they were not convinced by the words he spoke in opposition to them. So he corroborates his words with marvelous actions, saying, If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin. First, he shows that they could be somewhat excused; secondly, he reveals the root of their sin (v 24b); thirdly, he cites an authority (v 25).

2054 There are two questions about the first point. One is about the truth of the antecedent statement, If I had not done among them the works which no one else did. Did Christ perform certain good works among them that no one else had done? It seems not. If we say that Christ raised the dead, Elijah and Elisha also did this. If Christ walked on the water, Moses parted the waters. Again, Joshua did something greater [than Christ] for he made the sun stand still. So it seems that Christ should not use this as an argument, and thus the conclusion is not true.

I answer that we can say, according to Augustine, that our Lord is not speaking of the miracles he worked among them, that is, merely in their sight, but of those he worked "among" them, that is, on their very persons. In curing the sick, although others did it, no one did it so much as Christ, because no other was made God and no one was born of a virgin but Christ. So in healing the sick he performed among them works which no one else performed; and this in three ways. First, because his works were so great: for he raised a person who had been dead for four days; he gave sight to a man who was born blind, which had never been heard of before, as we read above (9:32). Secondly, because of the great number of his works, for he healed all who were sick (Mt 14:35), and no one else did this. Thirdly, because of the way he did these works: others did these things by praying for help, which showed that they were not doing this by their own power; but Christ did it by command, for he did it by his own power: "What is this? A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him" (Mk 1:27).

Therefore, although others have raised the dead and have accomplished other miracles which Christ did, they did not do it in the same manner as Christ, nor by their own power, as Christ did. Further, making the sun stand still is less than what the dying Christ did, when he made the moon move backwards and changed the whole course of the heavens, as Dionysius says.

2055 The second question is about the truth of the conditional statement, that if Christ had not done among them works which no one else did, the Jews would not have the sin of disbelief. My reply is that if we speak of any of the miracles indiscriminately, the Jews would have been excusable if they had not been done among them by Christ. For no one can come to Christ by faith unless he is drawn: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him" (6:44). So the spouse says in the Song (1:4): "Draw me after you." Therefore, if there were no one who had drawn them to the faith, they would have an excuse for their disbelief. Note that Christ drew by words and by signs, both visible and invisible, that is, by inciting and stirring hearts from within: "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord" (Prv 21:1). And so an inner impulse to act well is the work of God, and those who resist it sin. If not, Stephen would have no reason to say: "You always resist the Holy Spirit" (Acts 7:51). And Isaiah (50:5) says: "The Lord has opened my ear," that is, the ear of my heart, "and I was not rebellious." When our Lord said, If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, we have to understand this as referring not only to visible works but also to the interior impulses and attractions to his teaching. If these had not been done among them, they would not have sin. It is now clear how they could have been excused, that is, if he had not accomplished miraculous works among them.

2056 Now he shows the root of their sin of disbelief, namely, their hatred, because of which they did not believe the works they saw. He says, but now they have seen, the works he did among them, and hated both me and my Father: "Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord" (Prv 1:29). As Gregory says, there are some in the Church who not only do not do good works, but they even persecute those who do, so that what they fail to do they detest in others. Thus their sin is not one of weakness or ignorance, but is committed of set purpose.

The works, then, are doubtless those miracles of healing in connection with their bodily complaints which He exhibited to such an extent as no one before had furnished amongst them: for these they saw, and it is in reproaching them therewith that He proceeds to say, "But now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father: but this cometh to pass that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause." He calls it, their law, not as invented by them, but given to them: just as we say, "Our daily bread;" which, nevertheless, we ask of God in conjoining the words "Give us." But one hates gratuitously who neither seeks advantage from the hatred nor avoids inconvenience: so do the wicked hate the Lord; and so also is He loved by the righteous, that is to say, gratuitously, inasmuch as they expect no other gifts beyond Himself, for He Himself will be all in all. But whoever would be disposed to look for something more profound in the words of Christ, "If I had not done among them the works which none other man did" (for although such were done by the Father, or the Holy Spirit, yet no one else did them, for the whole Trinity is one and the same in substance), he will find that it was He who did it even when some man of God did something similar. For in Himself He can do everything by Himself; but without Him no one can do anything. For Christ with the Father and the Holy Spirit are not three Gods, but one God, of whom it is written, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things." No one else, therefore, really himself did the works which He did amongst them; for any one else who did any such works, did them only through His doing. But He Himself did them without any doing on their part.

(xv. de Trin. c. xvii) Under the name of the Law, the whole of the Old Testament is included: and therefore our Lord says here, That is written in their law; the passage being in the Psalms.

(Tr. xci. 4) Their law, He says, not as made by them, but as given to them. A man hates without a cause, who seeks no advantage from his hatred. Thus the ungodly hate God; the righteous love Him, i. e. looking for no other good but Him: He is their all in all.

And this malignity of the Jews is expressed in Scripture: therefore he says: But that the word may be fulfilled which is written in their Law — Law is taken broadly, insofar as it comprehends the Psalms — because they hated me without cause: it is written in the Psalm: "Those who oppose me unjustly, who hate me without cause and wink with their eyes"; and in another Psalm: "While I spoke to them, they attacked me without cause." That hatred was prefigured in Genesis thirty-seven, where it is said that "the brothers of Joseph hated him and could not speak peaceably to him."

And He shows clearly that this was not unforeseen by the Law, which predicted all that was to come to pass; but we say that it. was not for this reason that the Law predicted these latter days that the Jews when they visited with hatred both the Father and the Son might be convicted of injustice, but, inasmuch as They were destined to be so hated by them, the Divine and Sacred Law presaged it, showing that the Spirit was in no way ignorant of the future. For it was written in the Book of Psalms, as spoken by the Person of Christ, as rebuking the madness of the Jews and saying, They hated Me with an unjust hatred. For surely the hatred was unjust. Certainly they were exasperated against Him without a cause, who so far from having their hatred justified, in regard at any rate to the character of the works that were done among them, ought rather to have loved Him with surpassing devotion and have delighted in a willingness to follow Him. For let any one who wishes to excuse the disobedience of the Jews come forward and tell us what ground for hatred any one could have against Him. Was any one of the works of Christ deserving of hatred or enmity? His deliverance of them from death and corruption? His emancipation of them from the tyranny of the devil, and destruction of the dominion of sin, and restoration of that which was enslaved to sonship with God? His lifting up into righteousness (by His love of mankind and forgiveness of injuries) those who were dead in sin? His allowing them to participate in the Holy Spirit an the Divine Nature, and throwing open unto us even the dwelling-place of the holy angels, and granting men an access unto heaven? How was it just, that He Who provided and ordained all this for us should incur hatred, and not rather be requited by the silence of unspoken thanksgivings and with the boon of ceaseless gratitude at our hands? Nothing, however, could I think convert the stubborn Jew to willingness to think aright. For he hated without a cause Him Whom he ought rather to have loved with his whole heart and adorned with the honour of obedience. But herein our Lord well shows that He was not unaware of the stubborn temper of the Jews, but had foretold and foreknew that it would be so with them, but still treated them with mildness and forgiveness, as became His Divine Nature. For He set before them, ill-suited as they were to receive it, the Word which called them to salvation; even to confirming the confession of their faith by miracles, if there were any men among them of a good and suitable disposition. Herein too He gives His disciples no small benefit, to the intent that in a forgiving spirit they might extend the preaching of salvation even to those who offered them insult, and might even in this be seen to walk in the track of that excellence which first was conspicuous in Him. For if there be any good thing, it is seen in Christ first, and shown to us-ward; and from Him all blessings flow.

Here our Lord clearly shows that he is not unaware of the stubborn temper of the Jews but rather, he had foretold and knew in advance how they would respond. However, he still treated them with mildness and forgiveness as was befitting his divine nature. For he set before them the Word that called them to salvation even though they were ill disposed to receive it. And if any of them did have a good and suitable disposition, he even confirmed their faith by miracles. Here too he gives his disciples considerable benefit, with the goal that in a forgiving spirit they might extend the preaching of salvation even to those who offered them insults and might even in this be seen to walk in the path of excellence which was first revealed in Christ.

But those persons sinned intentionally, of whom the Master Himself said, "If I had not come, and spoken unto them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin." And a little after, "They have both seen, and hated, both Me and My Father." For not to do good is one thing, to hate a teacher of goodness another: as it is one thing to sin from precipitancy, and another thing to sin deliberately. For a sin is often committed from precipitation, which yet is condemned on thought and deliberation. For it frequently happens that a man through infirmity loves what is right, and cannot perform it. But to sin deliberately is neither to love nor to do what is good. As it is therefore sometimes a heavier offence to love sin than to commit it, it is, in like manner, more sinful to hate righteousness, than not to have performed it. There are some then in the Church, who so far from doing good, even persecute it, and who even detest in others, what they neglect to do themselves. The sin of these persons is in truth not committed from infirmity or ignorance, but of intention alone.

This Spirit, (according to the apostle's showing, ) meant not that the service of these gifts should be in the body, nor did He place them in the human body); and on the subject of the superiority of love above all these gifts, He even taught the apostle that it was the chief commandment, just as Christ has shown it to be: "Thou shalt love the Lord with all thine heart and soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thine own self." When he mentions the fact that "it is written in the law," how that the Creator would speak with other tongues and other lips, whilst confirming indeed the gift of tongues by such a mention, he yet cannot be thought to have affirmed that the gift was that of another god by his reference to the Creator's prediction. In precisely the same manner, when enjoining on women silence in the church, that they speak not for the mere sake of learning (although that even they have the right of prophesying, he has already shown when he covers the woman that prophesies with a veil), he goes to the law for his sanction that woman should be under obedience.

[Jesus says], If I was not engaged in dialogue with them in deed and in word, they would have something to say. But now, since they do not accept my words, they are clearly condemned for their enmity toward me and the Father. Through the prophecy he also shows that their hatred of him was irrational.

Then He refers to the testimony of the prophet: "They hated Me without a cause" (Ps. 68:5). Their hatred was born from malice alone, and from no other reason. By "Law," as we have often said, He means not only the Law of Moses, but also the Books of the Prophets, as here He called the Book of David "Law." David, by the Holy Spirit, foretold what their malice would do; and they, without doubt, out of malice fulfilled what the prophet had predicted, and thereby confirmed the truth of the prophecy.

2057 Yet some could say: If it is true that the Jews hated you and your Father, why did you perform miracles among them? He answers and says It is to fulfill the word that is written in their law. Here we could ask why he says that this was written in their law when it was written in the Psalms? We can say to this that the "law" is understood in three ways in scripture. Sometimes it is taken for the entire Old Testament; and this is the way it is understood here, because the entire teaching of the Old Testament is directed to the observance of the law: "Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom" (Lk 23:42). Sometimes it is taken as distinguished from the histories and the prophets: "that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms" (in which the histories are sometimes included) "must be fulfilled" (Lk 24:44). And sometimes the law is taken as distinct only from the prophets, and then the histories are included in the prophets. He says, It is to fulfill what is written in their law, that is, in the Psalms (35:19) "They hated me without a cause," and not to gain some benefit or avoid some trouble (for this is why people hate). Indeed, Christ gave them opportunities to love him when he healed and taught them: "He went about doing good" (Acts 10:38); "Is evil a recompense for good? They have dug a pit for my life" (Jer 18:20); "What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me" (Jer 2:5).

If the Spirit proceeds from a place and passes to a place, the Father also will be found in a place, and so will the Son. If he goes out of a place, whom the Fathers sends, or the Son, surely the Spirit passing and proceeding from a place seems to leave both the Father and the Son as a body, according to impious interpretations. I declare this with reference to those who say that the Spirit has motion by descending. But neither is the Father circumscribed in any place, who is over all things not only of a corporeal nature but also of invisible creation, nor is the Son enclosed by the places and times of his works, who as the worker of all creation is over every creature. Nor is the Spirit of truth, namely, the Spirit of God, circumscribed by any corporeal boundaries, who, since he is incorporeal, is over all rational creation by the ineffable fullness of the Godhead, having the power of breathing where he wishes and of inspiring as he wishes over all things.

Come, Holy Spirit, who ever One Are with the Father and the Son, It is the hour, our souls possess With your full flood of holiness.

Let flesh, and heart, and lips and mind, Sound forth our witness to humankind; And love light up our mortal frame, Till others catch the living flame.

Grant this, O Father, ever One With Christ, your sole begotten Son And Holy Spirit we adore, Reigning and blest forevermore. Amen.

So the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and bears witness of the Son. A witness, both faithful and true, bears witness also of the Father. There is no more complete expression of the divine majesty, nothing more clear regarding the unity of divine power than this, since the Spirit knows the same as the Son, who is the witness and the inseparable sharer of the Father's secrets.

As the Son is an only-begotten offspring, so also the Spirit, being given and sent from the Son, is himself one and not many, nor one from among many, but Only Spirit. As the Son, the living Word, is one, so must the vital activity and gift by which he sanctifies and enlightens be one, perfect and complete. This [activity and gift] is said to proceed from the Father because it is from the Word, who is confessed to be from the Father, that it shines forth, is sent and is given. The Son is sent from the Father. For he says, "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." The Son sends the Spirit. "If I go away," he says, "I will send the Paraclete." The Son glorifies the Father, saying, "Father, I have glorified you." The Spirit glorifies the Son, for he says, "He shall glorify me." The Son says, "The things I heard from the Father I speak unto the world." The Spirit takes of the Son. "He shall take of mine," he says, "and shall declare it unto you." The Son came in the name of the Father. "The Holy Spirit," says the Son, "whom the Father will send in my name."

That he is the Spirit of the Father is what the Son himself says: "He proceeds from the Father," and in another place, "For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." That he is also the Spirit of the Son is what the apostle tells us: "God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying Abba, Father," that is, "making us cry." It is, after all, we who cry out but in him, that is to say, through his pouring out charity in our hearts, without which anyone who cries out, cries out in vain. That is why he also says, "Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ is not one of his." So to which person of the Trinity would communion in this companionship properly belong, if not to that Spirit who is common to Father and Son?

The Lord Jesus, in the discourse which He addressed to His disciples after the supper, when Himself in immediate proximity to His passion, and, as it were, on the eve of departure, and of depriving them of His bodily presence while continuing His spiritual presence to all His disciples till the very end of the world, exhorted them to endure the persecutions of the wicked, whom He distinguished by the name of the world: and from which He also told them that He had chosen, the disciples themselves, that they might know it was by the grace of God they were what they were, and by their own vices they had been what they had been. And then His own persecutors and theirs He clearly signified to be the Jews, that it might be perfectly apparent that they also were included in the appellation of that damnable world that persecuteth the saints. And when He had said of them that they knew not Him that sent Him, and yet hated both the Son and the Father, that is, both Him who was sent and Him who sent Him,-of all which we have already treated in previous discourses,-He reached the place where it is said, "This cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause." And then He added, as if by way of consequence, the words whereon we have undertaken at present to discourse: "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father, He shall bear witness of me: and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." But what connection has this with what He had just said, "But now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father: but that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause"? Was it that the Comforter, when He came, even the Spirit of truth, convicted those, who thus saw and hated, by a still clearer testimony? Yea, verily, some even of those who saw, and still hated, He did convert, by this manifestation of Himself, to the faith that worketh by love. To make this view of the passage intelligible, we recall to your mind that so it actually befell. For when on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit fell upon an assembly of one hundred and twenty men, among whom were all the apostles; and when they, filled therewith were speaking in the language of every nation; a goodly number of those who had hated, amazed at the magnitude of the miracle (especially when they perceived in Peter's address so great and divine a testimony borne in behalf of Christ, as that He, who was slain by them and accounted amongst the dead, was proved to have risen again, and to be now alive), were pricked in their hearts and converted; and so became aware of the beneficent character of that precious blood which had been so impiously and cruelly shed, because themselves redeemed by the very blood which they had shed. For the blood of Christ was shed so efficaciously for the remission of all sins, that it could wipe out even the very sin of shedding it. With this therefore in His eye, the Lord said, "They hated me without a cause: but when the Comforter is come, He shall bear witness of me;" saying, as it were, They hated me, and slew me when I stood visibly before their eyes; but such shall be the testimony borne in my behalf by the Comforter, that He will bring them to believe in me when I am no longer visible to their sight.

(Tr. xcii. 2) As if He said, Seeing Me, they hated and killed Me: but the Comforter shall give such testimony concerning Me, as shall make them believe, though they see Me not. And because He shall testify, ye shall testify also: And ye also shall bear witness: He will inspire your hearts, and ye shall proclaim with your voices. And ye will preach what ye know; Because ye have been with Me from the beginning; which now ye do not do, because ye have not yet the fulness of the Spirit. But the love of God shall then be shed abroad in your hearts by the Spirit which shall be given you, and shall make you confident witnesses to Me. The Holy Spirit by His testimony made others testify; taking away fear from the friends of Christ's, and converting the hatred of His enemies into love.

(Tr. xcix. 6, et sq.) If it be asked here whether the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son also, we may answer thus: The Son is the Son of the Father alone, and the Father is the Father of the Son only; but the Holy Spirit is not the Spirit of one, but of both; since Christ Himself saith, The Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. (Matt. 10:20) And the Apostle says, God hath sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts. (Gal. 4:6) This indeed, I think, is the reason why He is called peculiarly the Spirit. For both of the Father and the Son separately we may pronounce, that each is a Spirit. But what each is separately in a general sense, He who is not either one separately, but the union of both, is spiritually. But if the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Son, why should we not believe that He proceeds from the Son? Indeed if He did not proceed from the Son, Christ would not after the resurrection have breathed on His disciples, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. (John 20:29) This too is what is meant by the virtue which went out of Him, and healed all. (Luke 6.) If the Holy Ghost then proceeds both from the Father and the Son, why does Christ say, Who proceedeth from the Father? He says it in accordance with His general way of referring all that He has to Him from whom He is; as where He says, My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me. If the doctrine was His, which He says was not His own, but the Father's, much more does the Holy Spirit proceed from Him, consistently with His proceeding from the Father. From whom the Son hath His Godhead, from Him He hath it that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from Him. And this explains why the Holy Spirit is not said to be born, but to proceed. For if He were born, He would be the Son of both Father and Son, an absurd supposition; for if two together have a Son, those two must be father and mother. But to imagine any such relation as this between God the Father, and God the Son, is monstrous. Even the human offspring does not proceed from father or mother at the same time; when it proceeds from the father, it does not proceed from the mother. Whereas the Holy Spirit does not proceed from the Father into the Son, and from the Son into the creature to be sanctified; but proceeds from Father and Son at once. And if the Father is life, and the Son is life, so the Holy Ghost is life also. Just then as the Father when He had life in Himself, gave also to the Son to have life in Himself; so He gave to the Son also that life should proceed from Him, even as it proceeded from Himself.

But when he comes. Here fourthly he intimates his innocence, to be expressed by the testimony of the Holy Spirit and of the Apostles: on account of which he says: But when he comes: they persecuted me as though I were a wicked man and worthy of death; but when the Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness concerning me: Acts five: "The Spirit is a witness, whom God has given to all who obey him"; and by bearing witness to my innocence, he will convict the world of malice: below in chapter sixteen: "When he comes, he will convict the world of sin, because it does not believe."

And [we believe] in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

When He says that both He Himself and His Father were hated by the perverse Jews, this hatred of theirs being gratuitous and without justification, He with good reason makes mention of the Spirit. He thus at once adds to the Word the completion of the Holy Trinity, and also shows that it was dishonoured, to the intent that the spectators of His miracles, who were guilty of insult against the Son, might also be convicted of treating with contumely the power which so far excels every substance, not only by refusing to accept Christ, even though He had worked great marvels to convince them, but also by their actions against Him. For they treated Him with an impiety which is shocking even to think of; and yet one might say, O senseless Jew, Christ was a worker of wonders before you far exceeding the glory of Moses and the glory of every Saint. For the saying of the Lord, If I had not done among them the works which none other did, brings back a thought before our minds. While then you crown with honours so illustrious Moses, the servant and minister of lesser things than these, you do not blush when you so perversely reject Him Who is immeasurably superior and a worker of far nobler deeds; even though He brought to their long foretold fulfilment the oracles given by Moses, and terminated the shadow by the truth. Our Lord Jesus Christ therefore of necessity joined the mention of the Spirit to that of Himself and the Father. And He also shows what has been said to be true; that is, that if any one chooses to hate the Son, he will also utterly contemn the Father from Whom He proceeds. And how, or in what way, consider further.

For observe, when calling the Comforter "the Spirit of truth," that is, His own, He says that He comes from the Father. For as the Spirit naturally belongs to the Son, being in Him and proceeding through Him, so also He belongs to the Father. But the qualities of Their Substance cannot be distinct, where the Spirit is common to both. Let not then any of those who are accustomed impiously to employ the language of folly lead us to the perverted opinion that the Son, executing as it were a kind of ministerial service, vouchsafes the Spirit that is received from the Father to the creature. For some have not scrupled perversely to say this. But it is more consistent to believe that since the Spirit belongs to Him, as He also certainly belongs to God the Father, He sends Him to His holy disciples to sanctify them. For if they think that in making the Son in this also a minister and servant to us, they form and utter a shrewd conception, surely it follows that we say to them: Ye fools and blind; do you not perceive that you are going back, and diminishing the glory of the Only-begotten, when you string together miserable sophistries from the ignorance that is in you? For if the Son ministers the Spirit from the Father, being ranked as a servant, surely it is necessary to admit that the Spirit is utterly different in Essence from Him, and perhaps His superior and far above Him, if the case be as you in your ignorance suppose. For if the Son does not proceed from the Father, that is, from His Essence, as you think, surely the Spirit when compared with the Son would be regarded as superior to Him. What then say we, when we hear Christ himself saying of the Spirit: He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine and shall declare it unto you?

Now, besides what has been mentioned, this also will necessarily follow. For if you consider that the Son performs a ministerial service, providing us with That which is of another Nature, that is, the Spirit proceeding from God the Father Which is naturally holy, the Son is not by Nature holy, but only by participation, as we are. For by the ignorance of the impious He is declared to be different in Substance from the Father, from Whom also the Spirit provided unto us by Him proceeds. It will then be possible, since the Spirit does not belong to the Son, but He Himself is sanctified by adoption, as is the case with the creature, that He may fall away from the holiness that is in Him. For that which has been acquired as an addition might surely be removed, at the pleasure of Him Who has bestowed it. Who then will not flee away from such doctrines as these? I think, however, that our statement is more conformable to the truth.

The truth then is dear to us, as are the dogmas, expressing the truth; and we will not follow those heretics, but, pursuing the faith handed down by the holy fathers, we declare that the Comforter, that is, the Holy Spirit, belongs to the Son, and is not introduced from outside nor acquired in His case, as He is in that of those who receive sanctification, in whom though not originally innate He is implanted; but that the Son is of one Substance with the Spirit, as also He is with the Father. For if we take this view, the power of the doctrines of the Church will not be reduced in our case to a polytheistic mythology, but the Holy Trinity is united in the doctrine of a Single Divinity. Showing then that there is a Unity of Substance, I mean that of Himself and God the Father, in the same Being, in saying that the Comforter is the Spirit of truth He declares that He proceeds from the Father, and makes plain and beyond contradiction that the opposer of Christ is wholly at enmity with God. For he who in any degree allows himself to contemn the Son may be reasonably considered to transgress against Him from Whom He proceeds.

When then, He says, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, that is My Spirit, Which proceeds from the Father, is come, He will testify of Me. And how will He testify? By working marvels in you, and by you He will be a just and true witness of My Godlike authority, and of the greatness of My power. For He that works in you is My Spirit, and as He is My Spirit, so also is He That of God the Father. Therefore it is necessary to consider that they who, to confirm our faith, work marvels in us by the one good Spirit are alike insulted in the Person of Christ, in Whom dwelt, as Paul says, no mere part of the ineffable Divine Nature, but all the fulness [of the Godhead] bodily.

He is called the Comforter because he comforts and encourages us and helps our infirmities. We do not know what we should pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us, with groanings that cannot be uttered, that is, he makes intercession to God. Very often, someone has been outraged and dishonored unjustly for the sake of Christ. Martyrdom is at hand; tortures on every side, and fire, and sword, and savage beasts and the pit. But the Holy Spirit softly whispers to him, "Wait on the Lord." What is now happening to you is a small matter; the reward will be great. Suffer a little while, and you will be with angels forever. "The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that shall be revealed in us." He portrays to the person the kingdom of heaven. He gives him a glimpse of the paradise of delight.

He does not say, "from God" or "from the Almighty" but "from the Father," because though the Father and God Almighty are the same, yet the Spirit of truth properly proceeds from God as the Father, the Begetter.… The Father and the Son together send the Spirit of truth: He comes by the will both of the Father and the Son.

(Didym. De Spir. Sanct.) The Holy Spirit He calls the Comforter, a name taken from His office, which is not only to relieve the sorrows of the faithful, but to fill them with unspeakable joy. Everlasting gladness is in those hearts, in which the Spirit dwells. The Spirit, the Comforter, is sent by the Son, not as Angels, or Prophets, or Apostles, are sent, but as the Spirit must be sent which is of one nature with the Divine wisdom and power that sends Him. The Son when sent by the Father, is not separated from Him, but abides in the Father, and the Father in Him. In the same way the Holy Spirit is not sent by the Son, and proceedeth from the Father, in the sense of change of place. For as the Father's nature, being incorporeal, is not local, so neither hath the Spirit of truth, Who is incorporeal also, and superior to all created things, a local nature.

(ut sup.) He does not say, from God, or, from the Almighty, but, from the Father: because though the Father and God Almighty are the same, yet the Spirit of truth properly proceeds from God, as the Father, the Begetter. The Father and the Son together send the Spirit of truth: He comes by the will both of the Father and the Son.

The Holy Spirit is truly Spirit, coming forth from the Father indeed, but not after the manner of the Son, for it is not by generation but by procession.… There is then one God in three, and these three are one.

The Holy Spirit always existed, and exists and always will exist, who neither had a beginning nor will have an end … ever being partaken but not partaking; perfecting, not being perfected; sanctifying, not being sanctified; deifying, not being deified … Life and Lifegiver; Light and Lightgiver; Absolute Good and Spring of Goodness … By whom the Father is known and the Son is glorified.… Why make a long discourse of it? All that the Father has the Son has also; except the being unbegotten. And all that the Son has the Spirit has also, except the generation.

Tell me, what position will you assign to that which proceeds, which has started up between the two terms of your distinctions [i.e., the terms begotten and unbegotten] and is introduced by a better theologian than you, namely, our Savior himself? Or perhaps you have taken that word out of your Gospels for the sake of your third testament: "The Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father." Because he proceeds from that source, he is no creature. And because he is not begotten, he is no son. And because he is between the unbegotten and the begotten, he is God. And so, escaping the labors of your syllogisms, he [i.e., the Spirit] has manifested himself as God, stronger than your distinctions. What then is procession? Tell me what the unbegottenness of the Father is, and I will explain to you the physiology of the generation of the Son and the procession of the Spirit, and we shall both of us be frenzy-stricken for prying into the mystery of God! And who are we to do these things, we who cannot even see what lies at our feet or number the sand of the sea, or the drops of rain, or the days of eternity, much less enter into the depths of God and supply an account of that nature that is so unspeakable and transcending all words?What then, they say, is there lacking to the Spirit that prevents him from being a Son, for if there were not something lacking he would be a Son? We assert that there is nothing lacking—for God has no deficiency. But the difference of manifestation, if I may so express myself, or rather of their mutual relations one to another, has caused the difference of their names. For indeed, there is no deficiency in the Son that prevents his being Father (for sonship is not a deficiency), and yet he is not Father. According to this line of argument there must be some deficiency in the Father, in respect of his not being Son. For the Father is not Son, and yet this is not due to either deficiency or subjection of essence. But the very fact of being unbegotten or begotten or proceeding has given the name of Father to the first, of the Son to the second, and of the third, him of whom we are speaking, of the Holy Spirit that the distinction of the three persons may be preserved in the one nature and dignity of the Godhead. For neither is the Son Father, for the Father is one, but he is what the Father is. Nor is the Spirit Son because he is of God, for the Only Begotten is one, but he is what the Son is. The three are one in Godhead, and the one three in properties, so that neither is the unity a Sabellian one, nor does the Trinity countenance the present evil distinction. What then? Is the Spirit God? Most certainly. Well then, is he consubstantial? Yes, if he is God.

The Advocate shall come, and the Son shall send him from the Father, and he is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father.… He will send from the Father the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father. [The Son] therefore cannot be the recipient, since he is revealed as the sender. It only remains to make sure of our conviction on the point, whether we are to believe an egress of a co-existent being or a procession of a being begotten.… If one believes that there is a difference between receiving from the Son and proceeding from the Father, surely to receive from the Son and to receive from the Father will be regarded as one and the same thing.… For when he says that all things whatever the Father has are his and that for this cause he declared that it must be received from his own, he teaches also that what is received from the Father is yet received from himself, because all things that the Father has are his.

Wherefore also the Lord promised to send the Comforter, who should join us to God. For as a compacted lump of dough cannot be formed of dry wheat without fluid matter, nor can a loaf possess unity, so, in like manner, neither could we, being many, be made one in Christ Jesus without the water from heaven. And as dry earth does not bring forth unless it receive moisture, in like manner we also, being originally a dry tree, could never have brought forth fruit unto life without the voluntary rain from above. For our bodies have received unity among themselves by means of that layer which leads to incorruption; but our souls, by means of the Spirit. Wherefore both are necessary, since both contribute towards the life of God, our Lord compassionating that erring Samaritan woman -who did not remain with one husband, but committed fornication by [contracting] many marriages-by pointing out, and promising to her living water, so that she should thirst no more, nor occupy herself in acquiring the refreshing water obtained by labour, having in herself water springing up to eternal life. The Lord, receiving this as a gift from His Father, does Himself also confer it upon those who are partakers of Himself, sending the Holy Spirit upon all the earth.

Which Paul doth also. For when many wondered how that the Jews believed not, he brings in Prophets foretelling it of old, and declaring the cause; that their wickedness and pride were the cause of their unbelief. "Well then; if they kept not Thy saying, neither will they keep ours; if they persecuted Thee, therefore they will persecute us also; if they saw signs, such as none other man wrought; if they heard words such as none other spake, and profited nothing; if they hate Thy Father and Thee with Him, wherefore," saith one, "hast Thou sent us in among them? How after this shall we be worthy of belief? which of our kindred will give heed to us?" That they may not therefore be troubled by such thoughts, see what sort of comfort he addeth.

"When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me. And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning."

"He shall be worthy of belief, for He is the Spirit of Truth." On this account He called It not "Holy Spirit," but "Spirit of Truth." But the, "proceedeth from the Father," showeth that He knoweth all things exactly, as Christ also saith of Himself, that "I know whence come and whither I go", speaking in that place also concerning truth. "Whom will send." Behold, it is no longer the Father alone, but the Son also who sendeth. "And ye too," He saith, "have a right to be believed, who have been with Me, who have not heard from others." Indeed, the Apostles confidently rely on this circumstance, saying, "We who did eat and drink with Him." And to show that this was not merely said to please, the Spirit beareth witness to the words spoken.

We believe also in one Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and rests in the Son, the object of equal adoration and glorification with the Father and Son, since he is co-essential and co-eternal; the Spirit of God, direct, authoritative, the fountain of wisdom, and life and holiness; God existing and addressed along with Father and Son; uncreated, full, creative, all-ruling, all-effecting, all-powerful, of infinite power, Lord of all creation and not under any lord; deifying, not deified; filling, not filled; shared in, not sharing in; sanctifying, not sanctified; the intercessor, receiving the supplications of all; in all things like to the Father and Son: proceeding from the Father and communicated through the Son, participated in by all creation, through himself creating and investing with essence and sanctifying and maintaining the universe: having subsistence, existing in its own proper and peculiar subsistence, inseparable and indivisible from Father and Son, possessing all the qualities that the Father and Son possess, except that of not being begotten or born. For the Father is without cause and unborn; since he is derived from nothing but derives from himself his being, nor does he derive a single quality from another. Rather, he is himself the beginning and cause of the existence of all things in a definite and natural manner. But the Son is derived from the Father after the manner of generation, and the Holy Spirit likewise is derived from the Father, yet not after the manner of generation but after that of procession. And we have learned that there is a difference between generation and procession, but the nature of that difference we in no wise understand. Further, the generation of the Son from the Father and the procession of the Holy Spirit are simultaneous.

The name Paraclete seems to be understood in the case of our Savior as meaning intercessor. For he is said to intercede with the Father because of our sins. In the case of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete must be understood in the sense of comforter because he bestows consolation on the souls to whom he openly reveals the apprehension of spiritual knowledge.

Grant, then, that all have erred; that the apostle was mistaken in giving his testimony; that the Holy Ghost had no such respect to any one (church) as to lead it into truth, although sent with this view by Christ, and for this asked of the Father that He might be the teacher of truth; grant, also, that He, the Steward of God, the Vicar of Christ, neglected His office, permitting the churches for a time to understand differently, (and) to believe differently, what He Himself was preaching by the apostles,-is it likely that so many churches, and they so great, should have gone astray into one and the same faith? No casualty distributed among many men issues in one and the same result.

Or if, again, (the pseudo-prophetic spirit) has been eager to affect this (sentiment) in accordance with "the Spirit of truth," it follows that "the Spirit of truth" has indeed the power of indulgently granting pardon to fornicators, but wills not to do it if it involve evil to the majority.

Through the descent of the Spirit, he says, there will be a confirmation of what I said, that is, that they committed a serious offense against me and my Father. When in my name signs happen through the power of the Spirit, then the truth of my words will appear. It will be evident that the Father was despised with me because of the iniquity of my enemies. And then Jesus, wanting to emphasize their fault on the basis of the person who will testify, says, "who comes from the Father," that is, the one whose essence is from the nature of the Father. In fact, if the natural procession [of the Spirit] were not understood from the word comes but, for instance, a certain external sending, there would be uncertainty about the spirit he is talking about, because many spirits are sent on missions, as also the apostle Paul said, "Are not all angels spirits in the divine service, sent to serve?" Here also the fact that he mentions it by itself is sufficient to signify the one who proceeds from the Father and appropriately is called by the name of Spirit in the Holy Scripture.

The Lord said to the disciples: "You will be persecuted, your word will not be kept." They could have said: "Lord, why then are You sending us? How will they believe us? Who will heed us? Who will listen to us?" Lest they say this, the Lord adds: "When the Comforter comes, He will testify of Me." He is a trustworthy witness. Therefore, those convicted by the Spirit that they sin without excuse will accept your preaching. The words "Whom I will send" show His equality with the Father. For in another place He said that the Father will send the Spirit (John 14:26), but here He says that He Himself will send Him. By this He shows nothing other than equality. And lest they think that He rises up against the Father when He sends the Spirit by a different authority, He added "from the Father." I will send Him Myself, but "from the Father," that is, by the good pleasure of the Father, and I will send Him together with Him. For I do not bring forth the Spirit from My own bosom, but from the Father He is bestowed through Me. When you hear "proceeds," do not understand by procession a sending forth, as the ministering spirits are sent forth; rather, procession is the natural mode of being of the Spirit. If we were to understand procession not in this way, but as an external sending forth, it would not be clear which Spirit He is speaking of. For countless are the spirits "sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation" (Heb. 1:14). But here, procession is a certain particular and distinctive property belonging properly to the one Spirit alone. Therefore, by procession we must understand not a sending forth, but the natural mode of being from the Father.

Elsewhere He says that the Father sends the Spirit; now He says He does: Whom I will send unto you; thus declaring the equality of the Father and the Son. That He might not be thought however to be opposed to the Father, and to be another and rival source, as it were, of the Spirit, He adds, From the Father; i. e. the Father agreeing, and taking an equal part in sending Him. When it is said that He proceedeth, do not understand His procession to be an external mission, such as is given to ministering spirits, but a certain peculiar, and distinct procession, such as is true of the Holy Spirit alone. To proceed is not the same as being sent, but is the essential nature of the Holy Ghost, as coming from the Father.

2058 Now he shows that they are inexcusable because of what will come to pass after him: because they would have other testimonies, namely, those of the Holy Spirit and of the apostles. First, he states what was to come from the Holy Spirit; secondly, from the apostles (v 27). He indicates four things about the Spirit: his freedom, tenderness, procession and activity.

2059 He indicates his freedom, or power, when he says, But when the Paraclete comes. Strictly speaking that person is said to come who comes willingly and on his own authority; and this is true of the Holy Spirit, because "the Spirit blows where it wills" [3:8]; "I called upon God, and the Spirit of wisdom came to me" (Wis 7:7). Therefore, in saying, whom I shall send, he does not suggest force but origin.

2060 He touches on his tenderness when he says, the Paraclete, that is the Consoler. Since the Paraclete is the Love of God he makes us scorn earthly things and cling to God; and thus he takes away our pain and sadness and gives us joy in divine things: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace" (Gal 5:22); and in Acts (9:31) we read that the Church was walking "in the comfort of the Holy Spirit."

2061 Thirdly, he touches on the twofold procession of the Holy Spirit. First, he mentions the temporal procession when he says, whom I shall send to you from the Father. Note that the Holy Spirit is said to be sent not because the Spirit is changing place, since the Spirit fills the entire universe, as we read in Wisdom (1:7), but because, by grace, the Holy Spirit begins to dwell in a new way in those he makes a temple of God: "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Cor 3:16). There is no disagreement in saying that the Holy Spirit is sent and that he comes. In saying that the Spirit comes the grandeur of his divinity is indicated: the "Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills" (1 Cor 12:11). And he is said to be sent to indicate his procession from another, for the fact that he sanctifies the rational creature by indwelling he has from that other, from whom he has it that he is, just as it is from another that the Son has whatever he does.

The Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son together; and this is indicated in "He showed me the river of the water of life," that is, the Holy Spirit, "flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb," that is, of Christ (Rev 22:1). Therefore, when speaking of the sending of the Holy Spirit he mentions the Father and the Son, who send the Spirit by the same and equal power. Thus sometimes he mentions the Father as sending the Spirit, but not without the Son, as above (14:26): "The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name"; at other times he says that he himself sends the Holy Spirit, but not without the Father: as here, whom I shall send to you from the Father, because whatever the Son does he has from the Father: "The Son cannot do anything of himself" [5:19].

2062 He mentions the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit when he shows in a similar way that the Spirit is related both to the Father and the Son. He shows the Spirit as related to the Son when he says, the Spirit of truth, for the Son is the Truth: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (14:6). He shows the Spirit as related to the Father when he says, who proceeds from the Father. So to say that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, is the same as saying the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Son: "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts" (Gal 4:6). And because the word "spirit" (spiritus) suggests a kind of impulse and every motion produces an effect in harmony with its source (as heating makes something hot), it follows that the Holy Spirit makes those to whom he is sent like the one whose Spirit he is. And since he is the Spirit of Truth "He will teach you all truth" [16:13]; "The inspiration of the Almighty gives understanding" [Job 32:8]. In the same way, because he is the Spirit of the Son, he produces sons: "You have received the spirit of sonship" (Rom 8:15). He says the Spirit of truth as contrasted with the spirit of lying: "The Lord has mingled within her the spirit of error" [Is 19:14]; "I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets" (1 Kgs 22:22).

2063 Because he says who proceeds from the Father and does not add "and from the Son," the Greeks say that the Holy Spirit does not proceed from the Son but only from the Father. But this absolutely cannot be. For the Holy Spirit could not be distinguished from the Son unless he either proceeds from the Son, or on the other hand, the Son proceeds from him (and no one claims this). For one cannot say that among the divine persons, who are entirely immaterial and simple, there is a material distinction based on a division of quantity, which matter underlies. Thus it is necessary that the distinction of the divine persons be by way of a formal distinction, which has to involve some kind of opposition. For if forms are not opposed they are compatible with one another in the same subject and do not diversify a supposit; for example, to be white and large. So among the divine persons, since "not subject to birth" and "fatherhood" are not opposed, they belong to one person. If, then, the Son and the Holy Spirit are distinct persons proceeding from the Father, they have to be distinguished by some properties that are opposed. These properties cannot be opposed like affirmation and negation or privation and possessing are opposed, because then the Son and the Holy Spirit would be related to one another like being and non-being and as the complete to the deprived, and this is repugnant to their equality. Nor can these properties be opposed like contraries are opposed, one of which is more perfect than the other. What remains is that the Holy Spirit is distinguished from the Son only by a relative opposition.

This kind of opposition rests solely on the fact that one of them is referred to the other. For the different relations of two things to some third thing are not directly opposed except accidentally, that is by some incidental consequence. So in order for the Holy Spirit to be distinguished from the Son, they must have relations that are opposed, by which they will be opposed to each other. No such relations can be found except relations of origin, insofar as one person is from the other. Thus it is impossible, granting the Trinity of persons, that the Holy Spirit not be from the Son.

2064 Some say that the Holy Spirit and the Son are distinguished by the different ways they proceed, insofar as the Son is from the Father by being born and the Holy Spirit by proceeding. But the same problem still returns which arose from the previous opinion, as to how these two processions differ. One cannot say that they are distinguished because of the diverse things received by their respective generations, like the generation of a human being and a horse differ because of the diverse natures that are communicated. For the very same nature is received by the Son by being born from the Father and by the Holy Spirit by proceeding. So we are left with the conclusion that they are distinguished only by the order of origin, that is to say, insofar as the birth of the Son is a principle of the procession of the Holy Spirit. And so, if the Holy Spirit were not from the Son, the Spirit would not be distinguished from the Son and procession would not be distinguished from birth.

Thus even the Greeks admit some order between the Son and the Holy Spirit. For they say that the Holy Spirit is of the Son, and that the Son acts through the Holy Spirit, but not conversely. And some even admit that the Holy Spirit is from the Son, but they will not concede that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son. Yet in this they are obviously imprudent. For we use the word "procession" in all cases in which one thing is from another in any way. And so this word, because it is so general, has been adapted to indicate the existence of the Holy Spirit as from the Son. We don't have any examples of this in creatures which would lead us to give it a specific name; while we do have examples which give us the special term of "generation" which is applied to the Son. The reason for this is that in creatures we do not find a person proceeding from will, as love, while we do find a person proceeding from nature, as son. Thus, however the Holy Spirit is ordered to the Son, it can be concluded that the Spirit proceeds from the Son.

2065 Nevertheless some of the Greeks assert that one should not say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son because for them the preposition "from" indicates a principle which is not from a principle, and this is so only of the Father. This is not compelling because the Son with the Father is one principle of the Holy Spirit, as also of creatures. And although the Son has it from the Father that the Son is a principle of creatures, still creatures are said to be from the Son; and for the same reason it can be said that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son.

Nor does it make any difference that we read here, who proceeds from the Father, instead of "from the Father and the Son," because in a similar way it is said, whom I shall send, and yet the Father is also understood to send, since there is added, from the Father. In a similar way because it says, the Spirit of truth, that is, the Spirit of the Son, we understand that the Spirit proceeds from the Son. For, as has been said, when the procession of the Holy Spirit is mentioned, the Son is always joined to the Father, and the Father to the Son; and so these different ways of expression indicate a distinction of persons.

2066 Fourthly, he mentions the activity of the Holy Spirit when he says, he will bear witness to me; and this in three ways. First, the Spirit will teach the disciples and give them the confidence to bear witness: "For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you" (Mt 10:20). Secondly, the Spirit will communicate his teaching to those who believe in Christ: "God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit" (Heb 2:4). Thirdly, the Spirit will soften the hearts of their hearers: "When you send forth your Spirit, they are created" (Ps 104:30).

"And ye also," He says," shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." The Holy Spirit shall bear witness, and so also shall ye. For, just because ye have been with me from the beginning, they can preach what ye know; which ye cannot do at present, because the fullness of that Spirit is not yet present within you. "He therefore shall testify of me, and ye also shall bear witness:" for the love of God shed abroad in your hearts by the Holy Spirit, who shall be given unto you, will give you the confidence needful for such witness-bearing. And that certainly was still wanting to Peter, when, terrified by the question of a lady's maid, he could give no true testimony; but, contrary to his own promise, was driven by the greatness of his fear thrice to deny Him. But there is no such fear in love, for perfect love casteth out fear. In fine, before the Lord's passion, his slavish fear was questioned by a bond-woman; but after the Lord's resurrection, his free love by the very Lord of freedom: and so on the one occasion he was troubled, on the other tranquillized; there he denied the One he had loved, here he loved the One he had denied. But still even then that very love was weak and straitened, till strengthened and expanded by the Holy Spirit. And then that Spirit, pervading him thus with the fullness of richer grace, kindled his hitherto frigid heart to such a witness-bearing for Christ, and unlocked those lips that in their previous tremor had suppressed the truth, that, when all on whom the Holy Spirit had descended were speaking in the tongues of all nations to the crowds of Jews collected around, he alone broke forth before the others in the promptitude of his testimony in behalf of the Christ, and confounded His murderers with the account of His resurrection. And if any one would enjoy the pleasure of gazing on a sight so charming in its holiness, let him read the Acts of the Apostles: and there let him be filled with amazement at the preaching of the blessed Peter, over whose denial of his Master he had just been mourning; there let him behold that tongue, itself translated from diffidence to confidence, from bondage to liberty, converting to the confession of Christ the tongues of so many of His enemies, not one of which he could bear when lapsing himself into denial. And what shall I say more? In him there shone forth such an effulgence of grace, and such a fullness of the Holy Spirit, and such a weight of most precious truth poured from the lips of the preacher, that he transformed that vast multitude of Jews who were the adversaries and murderers of Christ into men that were ready to die for His name, at whose hands he himself was formerly afraid to die with his Master. All this did that Holy Spirit when sent, who had previously only been promised. And it was these great and marvellous gifts of His own that the Lord foresaw, when He said, "They have both seen and hated both me and my Father: that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness." For He, in bearing witness Himself, and inspiring such witnesses with invincible courage, divested Christ's friends of their fear, and transformed into love the hatred of His enemies.

Not only he, but you also, confirmed by him: whence: And you shall bear witness, because you are with me from the beginning: Acts 1: "Therefore, of these men who have been gathered together with us from the time when the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, one of them must be made a witness of his resurrection with us." The Apostles did not give this testimony before the coming of the Holy Spirit, but after. Whence Peter, who denied Christ at the voice of a maidservant, after the sending of the Holy Spirit responded with great authority to the chief priest, Acts 5: "We ought to obey God rather than men."

But when the Spirit bears witness, you yourselves also, He says, will bear witness with Him. For you have been eye-witnesses and spectators of what I have done among My own, being even with Me as My disciples.

In matters of belief, the very thing that gives one a right to be believed is the fact of having learned what you believe from eyewitnesses.… Therefore John also says, "I saw and bore record that this is the Son of God." … Accordingly, Jesus gave them permission to rest many details of their testimony on the fact of their having seen them when he said, "And you also are witnesses because you have been with me from the beginning." The apostles themselves also often speak in a similar way. … For they more readily received the testimony of people who had been his companions because the notion of the Spirit was as yet very much beyond them. Therefore John also at that time, in his Gospel, speaking of the blood and water, said, he himself saw it, making the fact of his having seen it equivalent to the highest testimony for them, although the witness of the Spirit is more certain than the evidence of sight, but not so with unbelievers.

When you speak, the Spirit, through its testimony, will confirm your words with evident signs, as also the apostle said, "My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power." The signs that happened through the power of the Spirit in the name of the Lord showed the greatness of him who underwent passion and, at the same time, the foolishness of those who dared crucify him.

And you who have been with Me from the beginning will also bear witness, that both by words and by deeds I have left them without excuse. Therefore, do not be troubled. The preaching will not be without testimony; but the Spirit will bear witness through signs and wonders, and His testimony will be trustworthy. For He is the Spirit of truth. As the Spirit of truth, He will bear witness to the truth. As proceeding from the Father, He knows all things precisely, for He is from the One from Whom all knowledge comes. This same Spirit will bear witness concerning the preaching. And you also will bear witness, because you did not hear from others, but you yourselves have been with Me from the very beginning. And the testimony of those who were with Him from the beginning is no small matter. The apostles themselves later said before the people: "Witnesses of His resurrection are we, who ate and drank with Him" (Acts 10:41). So the testimony is from two sides: both from you and from the Spirit. Concerning you, people might think that you testify to please Me; but the Spirit will in no way testify out of flattery.

2067 Finally, he mentions what lies ahead for the disciples when he says, and you also are witnesses, inspired by the Holy Spirit: "You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of this earth" (Acts 1:8). We read of this twofold testimony in Acts (5:32): "We are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him."

He adds why this testimony is appropriate when he says, because you have been with me from the beginning, that is, the beginning of my preaching and working of miracles, and so you can testify to what you have seen and heard: "That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you" (1 Jn 1:3). We can see from this that Christ did not perform miracles in his youth, as some apocryphal gospels relate, but only from the time he called his disciples.

In the words preceding this chapter of the Gospel, the Lord strengthened His disciples to endure the hatred of their enemies, and prepared them also by His own example to become the more courageous in imitating Him: adding the promise, that the Holy Spirit should come to bear witness of Him, and also that they themselves could become His witnesses, through the effectual working of His Spirit in their hearts. For such is His meaning when He saith, "He shall bear witness of me, and ye also shall bear witness." That is to say, because He shall bear witness, ye also shall bear witness: He in your hearts, you in your voices; He by inspiration, you by utterance: that the words might be fulfilled, "Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth." For it would have been to little purpose to have exhorted them by His example, had He not also filled them with His Spirit. Just as we see that the Apostle Peter, after having heard His words, when He said, "The servant is not greater than his lord: if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you;" and seen that already fulfilled in Him, wherein, had example been sufficient, he ought to have imitated the patient endurance of his Lord, yet succumbed and fell into denial, as utterly unable to bear what He saw his Master enduring. But when he really received the gift of the Holy Spirit, he preached Him whom he had denied; and whom he had been afraid to confess, he had no fear now in openly proclaiming. Already, indeed, had he been sufficiently taught by example to know what was proper to be done; but not yet was he inspired with the power to do what he knew: he had got instruction to stand, but not the strength to keep him from falling. But after this was supplied by the Holy Spirit, he preached Christ even to the death, whom, in his fear of death, he had previously denied. And so the Lord in this succeeding chapter, on which we have now to address you, saith, "These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended." As it is sung in the psalm, "Great peace have they who love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them." Properly enough, therefore, with the promise of the Holy Spirit, by whose operation in their hearts they should be made His witnesses, He added, "These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended." For when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given unto us, they have great peace who love God's law, so that nothing may offend them.

(Tr. xciii) After the promise of the Holy Spirit, to inspire them with strength to give witness; He well adds, These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. (Rom. 5:5) For when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us, then great peace have they that love God's law, and they are not offended at it. (Ps. 118.)

The Savior warned his disciples ahead of time that they would not only be driven away from fellowship with their fellow citizens but also that they would suffer death at their hands. The Jews thought that they were doing a service to God in pursuing the ministers of the new covenant with hatred and death. The apostle says, "For I bear witness to them that they have zeal for God, but not according to full knowledge." Here, it is as if he were saying, "You are going to suffer battles and tribulations from your fellow citizens, but accept them the more steadfastly in the realization that you are afflicted with them not so much out of hatred toward yourselves as out of zeal for the divine law." Mindful of this advice, the blessed martyr Stephen prayed for his slayers. Those zealous for the Law thought that they were doing a service to God when they were murdering the heralds of grace.

These things I have spoken to you etc. Here, fifth, he arms his disciples for patience, so that they may not fail on account of tribulations, but endure them; therefore he says: These things I have spoken to you, that you may not be scandalized: because, as Gregory says, "arrows that are foreseen strike less forcefully, and we endure the evils of the world more tolerably if we are fortified against them by the shield of foresight." Therefore he forearms them concerning future tribulation.

The Saviour, having clearly set before His disciples the madness of the Jews, was perhaps about to add to what He had said, that these misguided men would reach such a height of disobedience, and so stubbornly refuse to listen, and in their cowardice advance so far in hatred of God, that even if there should be two witnesses of His glory they would decline to admit it----and this though the Law openly declares that whatever is testified by two or three witnesses should be believed and received as unquestionably true. But He avoids mentioning this on the present occasion for good reasons. For His statement would thus have produced in them an immoderate grief, and, breaking the hearts of His disciples even to despair, would have made the entrance of faint-heartedness and cowardice into their hearts absolutely certain. For they might reasonably have questioned among themselves;----If the masses of the Jews would not only lend to no one a complete obedience, but also set at nought the Comforter though He astonished them with marvels passing description, and in spite of this would actually afterwards be found as guilty of hating Christ as they were before, and in hating Him of hating the Father, what necessity was there for spending their labour in vain? Why should they not rid themselves of their troubles, and choose silence in preference to teaching men unwilling to hear? Knowing then in all likelihood the thoughts that would agitate His disciples, He skilfully conceals what was too grievous to be told, and what would have been calculated to produce cowardice and faint-heartedness in the duty of teaching. But He rightly turns the drift of His speech into an exhortation to hold themselves in readiness and make vigorous preparation for the results that might be expected to follow in the future. For whatever comes to men suddenly and unexpectedly is likely to disturb even the mind that is stable. For the reception of that, the advent of which has been anticipated, the way is made smooth and its burden is lightened, since it has been already foreseen, and lost its edge by the expectation of certain suffering. Something of this kind, I think, Christ wishes to signify. For if, He says, I have already worked such marvels even before your eyes, the Comforter also will work marvels in you. And if the headstrong madness of the Jews is not diminished, and their conduct is the same as before, and even worse, be not offended, He says, when you find yourselves its victims. But keep ever in mind My words: A disciple is not above his master, nor a servant above his lord.

"These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended."

That is, "when ye see many disbelieve, and yourselves ill-treated."

I predicted these things to you, he says, so that when sudden unexpected tribulations would occur, your resolve might not turn and fail but instead, through constant meditation, you might be trained through these difficulties.

"I," He says, "told you about this before it came to pass, so that you would not be scandalized afterwards, when you see that many do not believe your preaching and that you yourselves will undergo afflictions, but so that, concluding from the fact that I told you about this before it came to pass, you would also accept My consolation with faith that I will not deceive you in this case, just as I did not lie in the prediction about the afflictions."

2068 Above, our Lord had used certain considerations to console his disciples over his leaving and against the persecutions and tribulations that would come upon them. Here he amplifies these considerations more clearly. First, he explains the considerations he gave before; and secondly, we see the effect of this explanation on the disciples (v 29).

If we pay close attention to what was said in the pervious two chapters, we can see that our Lord aimed at consoling his disciples against two things: his own leaving them, and the tribulations that would come upon them. But he here explains these two things in reverse order. He had consoled them first over his leaving because this would take place very soon and he had not yet foretold all the tribulations that would come upon them. But now, since they seemed to be more troubled by their own tribulations than by Christ's leaving, our Lord here consoles them first of all against their forthcoming trials, and then against his leaving (v 5). He does three things concerning the first: first, he gives his intention; secondly, he mentions the tribulations they will suffer from being persecuted (v 2); thirdly, he tells why they will be persecuted (v 3).

2069 He says: I have said that the Jews hate me and you, because they do not know who sent me. I have said that they are inexcusable and that you and the Holy Spirit will bear witness against them. Now I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away, that is, so you don't fall away when the tribulations I have foretold come upon you. And it is fitting that our Lord restrains them from falling after promising the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is love ‑ "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Rom 5:5) ‑ and the Holy Spirit prevents stumbling: "Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble" (Ps 119:165). Now it is characteristic of friends that they disregard any loss for the sake of one another, as stated in Proverbs (12:26). So, for one who is a friend of God, to suffer punishment and loss is no reason to fall away. Yet because the disciples had not yet received the Holy Spirit before the death of Christ, they did fall away during his passion: "You will all fall away because of me this night" (Mt 26:31). But after the Holy Spirit came there was no falling away.

And then He expressly declares what they were to suffer: "They shall put you out of the synagogues." But what harm was it for the apostles to be expelled from the Jewish synagogues, as if they were not to separate themselves therefrom, although no one expelled them? Doubtless He meant to announce with reprobation, that the Jews would refuse to receive Christ, from whom they as certainly would refuse to withdraw; and so it would come to pass that the latter, who could not exist without Him, would also be cast out along with Him by those who would not have Him as their place of abode. For certainly, as there was no other people of God than that seed of Abraham, they would, had they only acknowledged and received Christ, have remained as the natural branches in the olive tree; nor would the Churches of Christ have been different from the synagogues of the Jews, for they would have been one and the same, had they also desired to abide in Him. But having refused, what remained but that, continuing themselves out of Christ, they put out of the synagogues those who would not abandon Christ? For having received the Holy Spirit, and so become His witnesses, they would certainly not belong to the class of whom it is said: "Many of the chief rulers of the Jews believed on Him; but for fear of the Jews they dared not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." And so they believed on Him, but not in the way He wished them to believe when He said: "How can ye believe, who expect honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?" It is, therefore, with those disciples who so believe in Him, that, filled with the Holy Spirit, or, in other words, with the gift of divine grace, they no longer belong to those who, "ignorant of the righteousness of God, and going about to establish their own, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God;" nor to those of whom it is said, "They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God:" that the prophecy harmonizes, which finds its fulfillment in their own case: "They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance: and in Thy name shall they rejoice all the day; and in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted: for Thou art the glory of their strength." Rightly enough is it said to such, "They shall cast you out of the synagogues;" that is, they who "have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge;" because, "ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own," they expel those who are exalted, not in their own righteousness, but in God's, and have no cause to be ashamed at being expelled by men, since He is the glory of their strength.

Finally, to what He had thus told them, He added the words: "But the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service: and these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me." That is to say, they have not known the Father, nor His Son, to whom they think they will be doing service in slaying you. Words which the Lord added in the way of consolation to His own, who should be driven out of the Jewish synagogues. For it is in thus announcing beforehand what evils they would have to endure for their testimony in His behalf, that He said, "They will put you out of the synagogues." Nor does He say, And the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. What then? "But the hour cometh:" just in the way He would have spoken, were He foretelling them of something good that would follow such evils. What, then, does He mean by the words, "They will put you out of the synagogues: but the hour cometh"? As if He would have gone on to say this: They, indeed, will scatter you, but I will gather you; or, They shall, indeed, scatter you, but the hour of your joy cometh. What, then, has the word which He uses, "but the hour cometh," to do here, as if He were going on to promise them comfort after their tribulation, when apparently He ought rather to have said, in the form of continuous narration, And the hour cometh? But He said not, And it cometh, although predicting the approach of one tribulation after another, instead of comfort after tribulation. Could it have been that such a separation from the synagogues would so discompose them, that they would prefer to die, rather than remain in this life apart from the Jewish assemblies? Far surely would those be from such discomposure, who were seeking, not the praise of men, but of God. What, then, of the words, "They will put you out of the synagogues: but the hour cometh;" when apparently He ought rather to have said, And the hour cometh, "that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service"? For it is not even said, But the hour cometh that they shall kill you, as if implying that their comfort for such a separation would be found in the death that would befall them; but "The hour cometh," He says, "that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." On the whole, I do not think He wished to convey any further meaning than that they might understand and rejoice that they themselves would gain so many to Christ, by being driven out of the Jewish congregations, that it would be found insufficient to expel them, and they would not suffer them to live for fear of all being converted by their preaching to the name of Christ, and so turned away from the observance of Judaism, as if it were the very truth of God. For so ought we to understand the reference of His words to the Jews, when He said of them, "They will put you out of the synagogues." For the witnesses, in other words, the martyrs of Christ, were likewise slain by the Gentiles: they, however, thought not that it was to the true God, but to their own false deities, that they were doing service when they so acted. But every Jew that slew the preachers of Christ reckoned that he was doing God service; believing as he did that all who were converted to Christ were deserting the God of Israel. For it was also by the same reasoning that they were incited to the murder of Christ Himself: because their own words on this subject have also been put on record. "Ye perceive that the whole world is gone after him:" "If we let him live, the Romans will come, and take away both our place and nation." And those of Caiaphas: "It is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish." And accordingly in this address He sought by His own example to stimulate His disciples, to whom He had just been saying, "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you;" that as in slaying Him they thought they had done God a service, so also would it be in reference to them.

(Tr. xciii) But what evil was it to the Apostles to be put out of the Jewish synagogues, which they would have gone out of, even if none had put them out? Our Lord wished to make known to them, that the Jews were about not to receive Him, while they on the other hand were not going to desert Him. There was no other people of God beside the seed of Abraham: if they acknowledged Christ, the Churches of Christ would be none other than the synagognes of the Jews. But inasmuch as they refused to acknowledge Him, nothing remained but that they should put out of the synagogue those who would not forsake Christ. He adds: But the time cometh, that whoever killeth you, will think that he doeth God service. Is this intended for a consolation, as if they would so take to heart their expulsion from the synagogues, that death would be a positive relief to them after it? God forbid that they who sought God's glory, not men's, should be so disturbed. The meaning of the words is this: They shall put you out of the synagogue, but do not be afraid of being left alone. Separated from their assemblies, ye shall assemble so many in my name, that they fearing that the temple and rites of the old law will be deserted, will kill you, and think to do God service thereby, having a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. These who kill, are the same with those who put out of the synagogues, viz. the Jews. For Gentiles would not have thought that they were doing God service, by killing Christ's witnesses, but their own false gods; whereas every one of the Jews, who killed the preacher of Christ, thought he was doing God service, believing that whoever were converted to Christ, deserted the God of Israel.

They will put you out of the synagogues: Acts 8: "There arose a great persecution against the Church which was at Jerusalem, and they were all dispersed through the regions of Judea and Samaria." And the reason for this bitter persecution is added: But the hour comes, that whoever kills you will think that he is offering service to God. That hour was the time of the preaching of the Apostles; then, by killing them, they thought they were doing well; whence there is an example in Paul, Acts 9, who "asked for letters from the chief priests to Damascus, that if he found any" etc. But such thinking has its origin in unbelief; and therefore he says:

There is a question about what He says: The hour comes when everyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God.

Therefore according to this, those who were killing the Apostles were killing with good intention; therefore they were meriting.

If you say that it could not be done with good intention, that is false, because things evil in genus, which are not evil in themselves, can be done well; and such is killing.

I respond: It must be said that certain works can in no way be done well, such as lying, as Augustine says, because "as soon as they are named they are joined to evil," as the Philosopher says. But certain works can immediately be done well when good intention is present, as are those good in genus. Certain works are not made good by intention alone, unless there is present a cause and due order, and such are killing and similar acts. Whence whenever a man kills another for God, unless there is present the order of judgment and a cause, it is in no way done well. In such a manner it was done against the Apostles, because just cause and due inquiry were lacking.

Which things must all now be considered by us, that no one may desire anything from the world that is now dying, but may follow Christ, who both lives for ever, and quickens His servants, who are established in the faith of His name. For there comes the time, beloved brethren, which our Lord long ago foretold and taught us was approaching, saying, "The time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things they will do unto you, because they have not known the Father nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them." Nor let any one wonder that we are harassed with constant persecutions, and continually tried with increasing afflictions, when the Lord before predicted that these things would happen in the last times, and has instructed us for the warfare by the teaching and exhortation of His words. Peter also, His apostle, has taught that persecutions occur for the sake of our being proved, and that we also should, by the example of righteous men who have gone before us, be joined to the love of God by death and sufferings. For he wrote in his epistle, and said, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is thing happened unto you; but as often as ye partake in Christ's sufferings, rejoice in all things, that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached in the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the name of the majesty and power of the Lord resteth on you, which indeed on their part is blasphemed, but on our part is glorified." Now the apostles taught us those things which they themselves also learnt from the Lord's precepts and the heavenly commands, the Lord Himself thus strengthening us, and saying, "There is no man that hath left house, or land, or parents, or brethren, or sisters, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive sevenfold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting." And again He says, "Blessed are ye when men shall hate you, and shall separate you from their company, and shall cast you out, and shall reproach your name as evil for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy; for, behold your reward is great in heaven."

That it was before predicted that the world would hold us in abhorrence, and that it would stir up persecutions against us, and that no new thing is happening to the Christians, since from the beginning of the world the good have suffered, and the righteous have been oppressed and slain by the unrighteous. The Lord in the Gospel forewarns and foretells, saying: "If the world hates you, know that it first hated me. If ye were of the world, the world would love what is its own: but because ye are not of the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I spoke unto you, The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also." And again: "The hour will come, that every one that killeth you will think that he doeth, God service; but they will do this because they have not known the Father nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the hour shall come ye may remember them, because I told you." And again: "Verily, verily, I say unto yon, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy." And again: "These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace; but in the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good confidence, for I have overcome the world."

Of the benefits of martyrdom. In the Proverbs of Solomon: "The faithful martyr delivers his soul from evils." Also in the same place: "Then shall the righteous stand in great boldness against them who have afflicted them, and who took away their labours. When they see them, they shall be disturbed with a horrible fear; and they shall wonder at the suddenness of their unhoped-for salvation, saying among themselves, repenting and groaning with distress of spirit, These are they whom some time we had in derision, and in the likeness of a proverb; we fools counted their life madness, and their end without honour. How are they reckoned among the children of God, and their lot among the saints! Therefore we have wandered from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness has not shined upon us, and the sun has not risen upon us. We have been wearied in the way of iniquity and of perdition, and we have walked through difficult solitudes; but we have not known the way of the Lord. What hath pride profited us? or what hath the boasting of riches brought to us? All these things have passed away as a shadow." Of this same thing in the cxvth Psalm: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Also in the cxxvth Psalm: "They who sow in tears shall reap in joy. Walking they walked, and wept as they cast their seeds; but coming they shall come in joy, raising up their laps." Of this same thing in the Gospel according to John: "He who loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall find it to life eternal." Also in the same place: "But when they shall deliver you up, take no thought what ye shall speak; for it is not ye who speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." Also in the same place: "The hour shall come, that every one that killeth you shall think he doeth service to God l but they shall do this also because they have not known the Father nor me."

He extends His forewarning of danger to that which is the most dreadful of all terrors, but not with the intention of arousing in His disciples an unmanly panic. For this would not harmonise with His anxiety to stimulate them to a fearless proclamation of the heavenly message. His object rather was that, thrusting aside the extremity of fear, as already anticipated and for this reason having lost its edge, they might gain a complete victory over every evil, and consider even the possible approach of intolerable evils as of no account whatsoever. For what loss could the lesser evil inflict on those who do not even dread the greater? And how could those who know how to be superior to the worst objects of fear be dismayed by any of the rest? In order then that they might have their minds bent on enduring everything with a cheerful courage, and to convince them of the necessity of so far withstanding the malice of the Jews as not even to fear an immediate and cruel death, He not only tells them that these things will continually happen, and the devices or opposition of the Jews not be satisfied with merely turning them out of the synagogues, but forewarns them that their impiety will reach such a height of cruelty as to make them consider their extreme inhumanity towards them to be the path of piety towards God. It must be plain that those who held fast to the love of Christ actually were cast out of the synagogues by the Jews, and endured this punishment at the outset of their work----when we are told by the Evangelist that nevertheless even of the rulers many believed on Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; and again: For the Scribes and Pharisees had agreed already, that if any man should confess Him to be the Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. But if, He says, any are indisposed to endure the malice of the Jews, let them then know that their devices against you will not stop here. For be not at all alarmed, He says, even though you must endure this suffering. Their audacity will reach such a pitch of wickedness as to make them suppose your death to be as an actual service towards God. And this we shall find happening in the case of the holy Stephen, the first of the martyrs, and in that of the inspired Paul. For involving Stephen in a charge of blasphemy, and simulating herein the zeal that loves God, they slew him by stoning him. And some of the Jews were so enraged against the holy and wise Paul that they bound themselves under a curse neither to eat nor to drink till they had slain him. For we shall find this recorded in the Acts of the holy Apostles. Excellent then and profitable is His prediction, moderating by anticipation their fear of what was dreadful, and forging His disciples anew (as having as it were already suffered), into a courageous disposition. For the foreknowledge in the minds of the sufferers of the dreadfulness of their danger will give them strength beforehand, while it deprives the approach of evil of its power.

"They shall put you out of the synagogues."

(For "the Jews had already agreed, that if any one should confess Christ, he should be put out of the synagogues".)

"Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service."

"They shall so seek after your murder, as of an action pious and pleasing to God." Then again He addeth the consolation.

What the Savior said in prophesying to the disciples … was originally fulfilled in his own case. For those who required that he should die thought they were offering a service to God and had gone up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.

"They will put you out of the synagogues," they will excommunicate you from their assemblies and honored places and deprive you of all fellowship. For "they had already agreed that if anyone should confess Him to be the Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue" (John 9:22). Not only will you be expelled from the synagogues, but you will also receive death, and a shameful death, for you will be killed as harmful people, enemies of God. And everyone who kills you will so strive for your murder that "he will think that he is thereby serving God," that is, he will think that he is performing a deed pleasing to God and holy.

2070 The disciples might say: Don't we have reason to fall away? Many troubles will come upon us: first, that of rejection; secondly, we will be killed.

2071 They will be rejected from the society of the Jews; so he says, They will put you out of the synagogues: "The Jews had already agreed that if any one should confess him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue" (9:22). This was so successful that for this reason some of the Jewish authorities who did believe in Christ were afraid to profess him publicly, as we read above (12:42). Christ foretold this rejection: "Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man" (Lk 6:22).

2072 Was it an evil for the apostles to be cast out of the Jewish synagogues, since they were going to leave them in any case? The answer, according to Augustine, is that it was a trial for them, because this was our Lord's way of telling them that the Jews would not accept Christ. For if they had received Christ, the synagogue of the Jews and the Church of Christ would have been the same; and those who would be converted to the Church of Christ would have been converted to the synagogue of the Jews.

2073 The other trial is that of being killed: indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. We can take these words as spoken to console the disciples, so that the indeed signifies a contrary train of thought and the sense would be: indeed, you ought to be consoled by what they will do to you, for the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. How is it a consolation for them that whoever kills them thinks he is serving God? The answer, according to Augustine, is that in saying, they will put you out of the synagogues, we are to understand that those converted to Christ would be immediately killed by the Jews. And so to console his disciples our Lord tells them that they would win so many to Christ, who would be expelled from the Jewish synagogues, that they could not all be killed, and so the Jews would try to kill the apostles so they would not convert all the people to the name of Christ by their preaching.

Or, we could say that here Christ is simply telling them beforehand that they will be killed.

2074 He says, whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God, and not to the gods, to show that he is speaking only of persecution from the Jews: "I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify" (Mt 23:34). The martyrs of Christ were killed by the gentiles, and they did not consider that they were serving God but only their own gods. It was the Jews who, when they killed those who were preaching Christ, thought this was a service to God. For they had zeal for God, but without knowledge, since they believed that anyone who converted to Christ was deserting God. We read of this killing: "For your sake we are slain all the day long, and accounted as sheep for the slaughter" (Ps 44:22).