Memorial Saturday

But of the heavenly words none are greater witnesses than we, upon whom the ends of the world have come. What wars and what rumours of wars have we received!

There are also other wars which the Christian wages, the struggles of different lusts, and the conflicts of the will; and domestic foes are far more dangerous than foreign.

When this type of thing was chanted to you in the temple, "The gods who protected Rome have not saved it now, because they no longer exist," you would say, "They did save it when they existed."We, however, can show that our God is truthful. He foretold all these things. You read all of them and heard them. I am not sure whether you have remembered them, you that are upset by such words. Have you not heard the prophets, the apostles, the Lord Jesus Christ himself foretelling evils to come? When old age comes to the world and the end draws near, you heard it, brothers and sisters, we all heard it together. There will be wars, turmoil, tribulations and famines. Why do we contradict ourselves? When these things are read, we believe them, but when they are fulfilled, we grumble.

But when you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified. These things must first take place, but the end will not come immediately. Wars pertain to enemies. Insurrections pertain to citizens. Both of these have been abundant among the Jewish people since the time of the Lord's passion, who chose a seditious thief as their savior. But with these preceding, the apostles are warned not to be terrified and not to abandon Jerusalem and Judea. Because evidently the end does not come immediately, which rather is to be deferred to the fortieth year, that is, the destruction of the nation and the ultimate ruin of the city and temple follows.

The Apostles are also exhorted not to be alarmed by these forerunners, nor to desert Jerusalem and Judæa.

Secondly, as to the aggravation of wars, he adds: But when you shall hear of wars and seditions, be not terrified. For just as the deceitfulness of those who err is not to be followed, so the wickedness of those who wage war is not to be feared, especially by just men: whence Matthew 10: "Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul"; since a just man does not lose what he loves through wars, and therefore does not dread wars of this kind: Proverbs 28: "The wicked man flees, when no one pursues; but the just man, confident as a lion, shall be without terror." Whence Chrysostom: "Holy men remain undisturbed at the hearing of either bodily or spiritual wars, because the things that are in the world cannot harm those who are outside the world; just as one who is in a tent indeed hears the sound of the tempest, but does not feel the blast." Therefore Proverbs 12: "Whatever befalls the just man shall not sadden him." These things are therefore not to be feared, because they are not harmful. — Nor are they to be feared, because they are opportune: therefore he adds: These things must first come to pass, but the end is not yet at once. Chrysostom: "That which has always been in use cannot be a sign. For these bodily wars have always been and will be." For as long as concupiscence reigns, there must be strife and wars: James 4: "Whence are wars and contentions among you? Are they not from your concupiscences, which war in your members?" But the Lord permits these things to happen for the overthrow of the wicked and the exercise of the good, so that thus may appear that saying of Job 7: "The life of man upon earth is a warfare." And therefore that good soldier said in Second Corinthians 7: "When we had come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we suffered all tribulation: combats without, fears within." For John 16: "In the world you shall have distress; but have confidence, I have overcome the world."

Our Lord and Redeemer announces beforehand the evils that precede the perishing world, so that the things to come may disturb us less because they have been foreknown. For missiles 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 foreknowledge. For behold he says: "When you hear of wars and seditions, do not be terrified; for these things must happen first, but the end is not yet at once." The words of our Redeemer must be weighed carefully, through which he announces that we will suffer one thing internally, another externally. For wars indeed pertain to enemies, seditions to citizens. Therefore, to indicate that we are troubled both internally and externally, he declares that we suffer one thing from enemies, another from brothers. But since the end does not immediately follow when these evils come first, he adds: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." The final tribulation is preceded by many tribulations, and through the frequent evils that come before, the perpetual evils that will follow are indicated. And therefore after wars and seditions the end does not come immediately, because many evils must run before, so that they may be able to announce evil without end.

(in Hom. 35. in Evang.) God denounces the woes that shall forerun the destruction of the world, that so they may the less disturb when they come, as having been foreknown. For darts strike the less which are foreseen. And so He says, But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, &c. Wars refer to the enemy, commotions to citizens. To show us then that we shall be troubled from within and without, He asserts that the one we suffer from the enemy, the other from our own brethren.

But that the end will not immediately follow these evils which come first, it is added, These things must first come to pass; but the end is not yet, &c. For the last tribulation is preceded by many tribulations, because many evils must come first, that they may await that evil which has no end.

But He says, that the end of the city shall not come immediately, that is, the taking of Jerusalem, but there shall be many battles first.

Perhaps you are anxious, brothers and sisters, at the fact that we hear constantly of the tumult of wars and the onsets of battles. Perhaps your love is still more anxious since these are taking place in our times. The reason is the closer we are to the destruction of the world, the closer we are to the kingdom of the Savior. The Lord himself says, "In the last days nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. When you see wars, earthquakes and famines, know that the kingdom of God is at hand." This nearness of wars shows us that Christ is near.

"Wars," I observe, "and kingdom against kingdom, and nation against nation, and pestilence, and famines, and earthquakes, and fearful sights, and great signs from heaven" -all which things are suitable for a severe and terrible God.

There will be "wars and commotions," for, with the cessation of all love, wars and commotions will naturally take place.

Now some have wished to place the fulfilment of these things not only at the future consummation of all things, but at the time also of the taking of Jerusalem. For when the Author of peace was killed, then justly arose among the Jews wars and sedition, But from wars proceed pestilence and famine, the former indeed produced by the air infected with dead bodies, the latter through the lands remaining uncultivated. Josephus also relates the most intolerable distresses to have occurred from famine; and at the time of Claudius Cæsar there was a severe famine, as we read in the Acts, (Acts 11:28.) and many terrible events happened, forboding, as Josephus says, the destruction of Jerusalem.

This is a true sequence of prophecy and a fresh cause of mystery, because the Jews will be led captive a second time to Babylon and Assyria. Those throughout the world who have denied Christ will be captive. A hostile army will trample visible Jerusalem as the sword kills Jews. All Judea will be put to the spiritual sword, the two-edged sword, by the nations that will believe. There will be different signs in the sun, moon and the stars. … When very many fall away from religion, a cloud of unbelief will darken bright faith, because for me that heavenly Sun is either diminished or increased by my faith. If very many gaze on the rays of the worldly sun, the sun seems bright or pale in proportion to the capacity of the viewer, so the spiritual light is imparted to each according to the devotion of the believer. In its monthly courses, the moon, opposite the earth, wanes when it is in the sun's quarter. When the vices of the flesh obstruct the heavenly Light, the holy church also cannot borrow the brightness of the divine Light from the rays of Christ. In the persecutions, love of this life alone certainly very often shuts out the light of God.

All which signs are more clearly described in Matthew, Then shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven.

While many also fall away from religion, clear faith will be obscured by the cloud of unbelief, for to me that Sun of righteousness is either diminished or increased according to my faith; and as the moon in its monthly wanings, or when it is opposite the sun by the interposition of the earth, suffers eclipse, so also the holy Church when the sins of the flesh oppose the heavenly light, cannot borrow the brightness of divine light from Christ's rays. For in persecutions, the love of this world generally shuts out the light of the divine Sun; the stars also fall, that is, men who shine in glory fall when the bitterness of persecution waxes sharp and prevails. And this must be until the multitude of the Church be gathered in, for thus are the good tried and the weak made manifest.

(ad Hes. Ep. 199.) But you will say, your punishment compels you to confess that the end is now approaching, seeing the fulfilment of that which was foretold. For it is certain there is no country, no place in our time, which is not affected or troubled. But if those evils which mankind now suffer are sure signs that our Lord is now about to come, what meaneth that which the Apostle says, For when they shall say peace and safety. (1 Thess. 5:3.) Let us see then if it be not perhaps better to understand the words of prophecy to be not so fulfilled, but rather that they will come to pass when the tribulation of the whole world shall be such that it shall belong to the Church, which shall be troubled by the whole world, not to those who shall trouble it. For they are those who shall say, Peace and safety. But now these evils which are counted the greatest and most immoderate, we see to be common to both the kingdoms of Christ and the Devil. For the good and the evil are alike afflicted with them, and among these great evils is the yet universal resort to licentious feasts. Is not this the being dried up from fear, or rather the being burnt up from lust?

(ad Hes. ut sup.) But that the Lord may not seem to have foretold as extraordinary those things concerning His second coming, which were wont to happen to this world even before His first coming, and that we may not be laughed at by those who have read more and greater events than these in the history of nations, I think what has been said may be better understood to apply to the Church. For the Church is the sun, the moon, and the stars, to whom it was said, Fair as the moon, elect as the sun. (Cant. 6:10.) And she will then not be seen for the unbounded rage of the persecutors.

(ut sup.) But in the words, And upon the earth distress of nations, He would understand by nations, not those which shall be blessed in the seed of Abraham, but those which shall stand on the left hand.

And there will be signs in the sun, and moon, and stars, and on the earth distress of nations, in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves. For as the Lord indicates in the following, when the universal judgment appears, heaven and earth will pass away, and as we read in the Apocalypse of John, the sea will be no more, rightly therefore, with the same judgment impending, the roaring of the sea and waves is confused, the inhabitants of the earth pressing upon each other are afflicted, the great lights of the sky having their rays struck with new horror hide their troubled face. And just as trees thrust to fall are accustomed to emit signs of their crash and movement, so the elements, as if anxious with the approach of their end, tremble and waver. Therefore, what Matthew says: The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky (Matt. 24), signifies the very presence of judgment, when with the appearance of the true glory of light, all the lights of the world are compared to darkness and shadows. However, what Luke says: There will be signs in the sun, and moon, and stars, he indicates as precursors, as heralds of the coming judgment. Among these is that of the Prophet: The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and manifest day of the Lord comes (Joel 2). Also what Luke says: And on the earth distress of nations, I believe this to be what Matthew describes when speaking of the times of the Antichrist: For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be (Matt. 24). But what Luke adds, in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, is a foretelling of what John saw among the other changes of the age concerning the sea.

The events which were to follow the fulfilment of the times of the Gentiles He explains in regular order, saying, There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars

And there shall be signs in the sun, etc. After he foretold what was to come generally, concerning persecution and concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, here fourthly he foretells what is to come concerning the final judgment. In this instruction he first instructs the disciples unto foresight. Second, he raises them to confidence, there: But when these things begin to come to pass, etc. Third, he rouses them to vigilance, there: But take heed to yourselves, etc.

Concerning the final judgment he describes a universal commotion on the part of celestial, elemental, rational, and intellectual nature and of the judge himself appearing.

First therefore, as regards celestial nature, he says: And there shall be signs in the sun and moon and stars. The sun and moon he names specifically as the two principal luminaries both according to appearance and according to efficacy: Genesis 1: "God made two great luminaries: the greater luminary, to rule over the day, and the lesser luminary, to rule over the night, and the stars." In these luminaries therefore shall appear signs of darkening, according to that passage of Joel 2: "The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and Terrible day of the Lord comes." Horrible moreover it will be on account of the darkening of those lights, according to that passage of the Psalm: "He made the moon for seasons; the sun knows its setting. You have appointed darkness" etc.; and concerning this, Wisdom 17: "Nor could the most brilliant flames of the stars illuminate that dreadful night." Whence these luminaries, which in the beginning of time were placed in the firmament as signs through their light, according to that passage of Genesis 1: "Let there be luminaries in the firmament of heaven, and let them be for signs and for seasons" etc.; at the end of times are signs of the end through the concealment of light. Whence Revelation 6: "The sun became black as a sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood, and the stars fell from heaven upon the earth"; and Matthew 24: "But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven."

Here however blessed Luke does not express that the stars shall fall, but that in them there shall be signs: because in truth the bodies of the celestial stars will not change their position according to substance, but according to appearance. By the virtue of the stars, with judgment imminent, very many impressions will be generated, which the Philosopher calls assub, which will so multiply that the stars of the heavens will appear to fall.

And it should be noted that just as the luminaries are signs of natural things according to natural operations, so they are signs of those things which occur above nature, through certain things done in them above nature. For to designate the wondrous power of Christ, the sun stood still, according to that passage of Joshua 10: "Sun, do not move against Gabaon, and moon, against the valley of Aialon." "And the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and did not hasten to set for the space of one day." But to designate the wondrous condescension, the sun went back ten degrees: Isaiah 38: "The sun returned ten lines, by the degrees by which it had descended," because man after the nine orders of Angels holds the tenth place. But to designate the wondrous passion, both in the Head and in the members, the sun was darkened in the passion of the Head: below in chapter 23: "Darkness was made over the whole earth, and the sun was darkened"; similarly in the passion of the body: Apocalypse 8: "A third part of the sun was struck, and a third part of the moon, and a third part of the stars"; which refers to the body, because, Apocalypse 12, "the dragon drew a third part of the stars."

Secondly, as regards elemental nature, he adds: And on earth distress of nations from the confusion of the sound of the sea and of the waves. Bede: "As the last judgment approaches, the sound of the sea and of the waves is thrown into confusion, because, as their end approaches, the elements waver and tremble as if in terror"; Wisdom 5: "His zeal shall take armor, and he shall arm creation for the vengeance of enemies." "The bolts of lightning shall go forth directly, and as from a well-bent bow of clouds they shall be driven out and shall leap to a fixed place. And hailstones full of wrath shall be cast from stony fury, and the water of the sea shall rage against them." Whence then shall be verified that passage of Exodus 15: "In the blast of your fury the waters were gathered together." For the Lord himself is the one who disturbs the sea; Isaiah 51: "I am the Lord your God, who disturbs the sea, and its waves swell up." And this indeed by his just judgment: because, as is said in Isaiah 57, "the wicked are like a raging sea, which cannot rest, and its waves overflow into trampling." And then there shall be a confusion of all the elements, according to what happened in Egypt, according to that passage of Exodus 9: "Fire and hail mingled together were carried along." And in this confusion there shall be a terrible sound: for then shall be verified that passage of the Psalm: "The voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of majesty has thundered, the Lord is upon many waters." For this sound designates the sound of the terrible voice of the Judge himself; whence Apocalypse 1: "His eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine brass as in a burning furnace, and his voice as the voice of many waters"; Ezekiel 1: "I heard the sound of their wings as the sound of many waters and as the sound of the most high God: when they walked, the sound was as the sound of a multitude, as the sound of an army."

For at that time when the end of this perishing life shall be accomplished, and, as the Apostle says, The fashion of this world passeth away, (1 Cor. 7:13.) then shall succeed a new world, in which instead of sensible light, Christ Himself shall shine as a sunbeam, and as the King of the new world, and so mighty and glorious will be His light, that the sun which now dazzles so brightly, and the moon and all the stars, shall be hidden by the coming of a far greater light.

What things shall befall the world after the darkening of the orbs of light, and whence shall arise the straitening of nations, He next explains as follows, And on the earth distress of nations, by reason of the confusion of the roaring of the sea. Wherein He seems to teach, that the beginning of the universal change will be owing to the failing of the watery substance. For this being first absorbed or congealed, so that no longer is heard the roaring of the sea, nor do the waves reach the shore because of the exceeding drought, the other parts of the world, ceasing to obtain the usual vapour which came forth from the watery matter, shall undergo a revolution. Accordingly since the appearance of Christ must put down the prodigies which resist God, namely, those of Antichrist, the beginnings of wrath shall take their rise from droughts, such as that neither storm nor roaring of the sea be any more heard. And this event shall be succeeded by the distress of the men who survive; as it follows, Men's hearts being dried up for fear, and looking after those things which shall come upon the whole world. But the things that shall then come upon the world He proceeds to declare, adding, For the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Our Lord and Redeemer, most beloved brethren, desiring to find us prepared, announces what evils will follow upon the aging world, so that He might restrain us from love of it. He makes known what great calamities will precede its approaching end, so that if we are unwilling to fear God in times of peace, we may at least fear His judgment drawing near, worn down by these afflictions.

Of all these things, we certainly see some already accomplished, and we dread others as soon to come. For we see nation rising against nation and their pressure bearing down upon the lands more in our own times than we read of in books. How often we have heard from other parts of the world that earthquakes have destroyed countless cities, you well know. We suffer pestilences without ceasing. Signs in the sun, and moon, and stars we do not yet see openly, but that these too are not far off we gather from the very changes in the atmosphere. Indeed, before Italy was handed over to be struck by the barbarian sword, we saw fiery battle lines in the sky, flashing with that very blood of the human race which was afterward shed. The confusion of the sea and waves has not yet newly arisen. But since many things foretold have already been fulfilled, there is no doubt that the few which remain will also follow, for the fulfillment of past events is the certainty of things to come.

For as in this world the moon and the stars are soon dimmed by the rising of the sun, so at the glorious appearance of Christ shall the sun become dark, and the moon not shed her ray, and the stars shall fall from heaven, stripped of their former attire, that they may put on the robe of a better light.

Then, having shown what was to be the period of the destruction, even "when Jerusalem should begin to be compassed with armies," He described the signs of the end of all things: "portents in the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity-like the sea roaring-by reason of their expectation of the evils which are coming on the earth."

For after He had declared that "Jerusalem was to be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles should be fulfilled," -meaning, of course, those which were to be chosen of God, and gathered in with the remnant of Israel-He then goes on to proclaim, against this world and dispensation (even as Joel had done, and Daniel, and all the prophets with one consent ), that "there should be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth." "For," says He, "the powers of heaven shall be shaken; and then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds, with power and great glory.

"There will be," He says, "signs in the sun and moon and stars." For with the transformation of creation, it is natural for there to be a new order in the elements as well. Nations will have "despondency," that is, grief mixed with perplexity in all things.

Or else, When the higher world shall be changed, then also the lower elements shall suffer loss; whence it follows, And on the earth distress of nations, &c. As if He said, the sea shall roar terribly, and its shores shall be shaken with the tempest, so that of the people and nations of the earth there shall be distress, that is, a universal misery, so that they shall pine away from fear and expectation of the evils which are coming upon the world.

So severe then will be the manifold fires of our souls, that with consciences depraved through the multitude of crimes, by reason of our fear of the coming judgment, the dew of the sacred fountain will be dried upon us. But as the Lord's coming is looked for, in order that His presence may dwell in the whole circle of mankind or the world, which now dwells in each individual who has embraced Christ with his whole heart, so the powers of heaven shall at our Lord's coming obtain an increase of grace, and shall be moved by the fulness of the Divine nature more closely infusing itself. There are also heavenly powers which proclaim the glory of God, which shall be stirred by a fuller infusion of Christ, that they may see Christ.

You say that our very suffering forces us to admit that the end is at hand when there is a fulfillment of what was foretold: "men withering away for fear and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world." You say, "It is plain that there is no country or place in our time that is not harassed or humbled according to the words 'for fear and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world.' " If the evils that the human race now suffers are clear signs that the Lord is about to come now, what becomes of the apostle's words: "When they shall say, 'Peace and security' "? When the Gospel said, "men withering away for fear and expectation," it immediately continued, "For the powers of heaven shall be moved. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with great power and majesty."

(ut sup.) Or the powers of heaven shall be stirred, because when the ungodly persecute, some of the most stout-hearted believers shall be troubled.

Men will wither away from fear and expectation of what is coming upon the entire world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. I believe this sentence signifies the very advent of the judge, when, according to another parable, all, that is, both wise and foolish virgins, roused by an unusual cry, trim their lamps, that is, they count their works with them, for which, with great fear, they are now expecting the imminent event of eternal judgment. For until then, nearly the entire world will act without any fear of the judge, as testified by the apostle who says: For when they say, 'Peace and safety,' then sudden destruction will come upon them (I Thess. V). Then therefore, with fear and expectation of the strict examination coming upon the whole world, many who seemed to flourish in this world will wither when they see themselves fruitless. Then faith, which flourished without works, will wither, as proven by the righteous Judge. Nor is it surprising that men, that is either by nature or by earthly sense, are disturbed at His judgment, whose presence even the powers of the heavens, that is, the angelic hosts, tremble at, as testified by the blessed Job who says: The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at His rebuke. What, then, will the planks do when the columns tremble? What will the twig of the desert endure when the cedar of paradise is shaken?

Thus it is said in Job, the pillars of heaven tremble and are afraid at his reproof. (Job 26:11.) What then do the boards do, when the pillars tremble? what does the shrub of the desert suffer, when the cedar of Paradise is shaken?

Third, with respect to rational nature, he adds: Men withering away from fear and expectation of the things that shall come upon the whole world. For then shall be fulfilled that word of Matthew twenty-five: "At midnight a cry was made: Behold the bridegroom comes," etc. Whence the Gloss: "This is understood of the advent itself, when all the virgins, wise and foolish, roused by the unusual cry, trim their lamps, that is, reckon their works with themselves, on account of which they await with the greatest fear the now imminent coming of the Eternal judgment." Moreover, those men are said to wither who have lived according to the flesh; for Isaiah forty: "All flesh is grass." "The grass is dried up," etc. Whence also James one: "The sun rose with its burning heat and dried up the grass"—the sun of justice coming to judgment. Whence Bede: "In the expectation of the strict examination, those who flourished in this world shall wither away," according to that word of Exodus fifteen: "Let fear and dread fall upon them by the greatness of your arm." Then in those in whom there was security and joy, there shall be nothing but fear and mourning, because, First Thessalonians five, "when they shall say: Peace and security, then sudden destruction shall come upon them." Whence Chrysostom: "There shall be neither strength to resist, nor place for repentance, nor opportunity for satisfaction; from the anguish of all things nothing shall remain but mourning." Whence Matthew twenty-four: "The sign of the Son of Man shall appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn."

Fourth, with respect to intellectual nature, he adds: For the powers of the heavens shall be moved. Now the powers of the heavens are the blessed Angels, who are said to be shaken by the disturbance of all things, according to that word of Job twenty-six: "The pillars of heaven tremble and are terrified at his command." They are said to tremble and quake, however, not from fear of punishment, but from reverential fear and horror at the divine vengeance, according to that word of Job forty-one: "When he shall raise himself up, the Angels shall fear, and being terrified they shall be purified." Whence, just as someone standing upon a mountain ridge is in a certain way terrified by the burning of some village or a chasm in the earth, so in a certain way those heavenly powers shall tremble at that terrible retribution. Whence Jerome: "What shall the twig of the desert do, when the cedar of the Lebanon of paradise is shaken with fear?" Whence Isaiah six: "The lintels of the doorposts were moved at the voice of the one crying out, and the house was filled with smoke." Whence Chrysostom: "If a king, about to go forth to war against someone, orders a campaign among the people, all the dignitaries are stirred, the army is mustered, the whole city is in ferment—how much more, when the heavenly King arises to judge the living and the dead, are the angelic powers moved: terrible ministers preceding the terrible Lord; before him, in place of candelabra, living lightnings shall go forth; in place of trumpets, dreadful thunders! Truly a great voice, which all the elements obey, which splits rocks, opens the netherworld, and breaks the bonds of death."

Or the powers of heaven are those which preside over the sensible parts of the universe, which indeed shall then be shaken that they may attain to a better state. For they shall be discharged from the ministry with which they serve God toward the sensible bodies in their perishing condition.

We say these things, dearly beloved brethren, so that your minds may be awakened to the pursuit of caution, lest they grow sluggish through security, lest they become feeble through ignorance, but that fear may always stir them and solicitude strengthen them in good work, considering what is added by the voice of our Redeemer: "Men withering away from fear and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world. For the powers of heaven shall be moved." For what does the Lord call the powers of heaven except angels, archangels, thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, which at the coming of the strict Judge will then visibly appear to our eyes, so that they may then strictly demand from us what the invisible Creator now patiently bears with us?

(Hom. 1. in Ev.) For whom does He call the powers of heaven, but the angels, dominions, principalities, and powers? which at the coming of the strict Judge shall then appear visibly to our eyes, that they may strictly exact judgment of us, seeing that now our invisible Creator patiently bears with us.

(ad Olymp. Ep. 2.) Or the heavenly powers shall be shaken, although themselves know it not. For when they see the innumerable multitudes condemned, they shall not stand there without trembling.

That "the very powers also of heaven have to be shaken," you may find in Joel: "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth-blood and fire, and pillars of smoke; the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.

The sea will roar terribly, and fear and confusion will set in, so that people will expire from sheer terror and expectation of the calamities coming upon the world. Do you see? He speaks here clearly about the end of the world. For above He was speaking about Jerusalem being surrounded and trampled by pagan armies, but here He speaks of the onset of calamities for the world. This means He is now speaking about the end of the world. "What I say (He says), that at the change of all creation people will be troubled? The very Angels and the foremost Powers will be troubled and terrified at such fearful changes in everything."

But not only shall men be tossed about when the world shall be changed, but angels even shall stand amazed at the terrible revolutions of the universe. Hence it follows, And the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

You see him in the clouds. I certainly do not think that Christ will come in the darkness of mist and the chill of rain. The clouds are visible and surely cover the heaven in foggy cold. How has he set his tabernacle in the sun if his coming brings the rain? Some clouds suitably cover the radiance of the heavenly mystery. Some clouds grow moist with the dew of spiritual grace. Consider the cloud in the Old Testament. "He spoke to them," it says, "in a pillar of cloud." … He comes in a calm cloud in the Song of Songs, shining with the joy of a bridegroom. He also comes in a swift light cloud, incarnate of the Virgin. The prophet saw him as a cloud coming from the east. He fittingly said, "a light cloud," that earthly vices would not weigh down. See the cloud upon which the Holy Spirit came and the power of the Most High overshadowed. When Christ will appear in the clouds, the tribes of the earth will grieve over themselves.

"Then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with great power and majesty." As I see it, this could be taken in two ways. One way is that he will come in the church as in a cloud. He continues to come in this way according to his word, "Hereafter you will see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven." He comes with great power and majesty because his greater power and majesty will appear in the saints to whom he will give great power, so that persecution might not overcome them. The other way in which he will come will be in his body in which he sits at the right hand of the Father. In this body, he died, rose again, and ascended into heaven. It is written in the Acts of the Apostles: "When he had said these things, a cloud received him and he was taken up from their sight." The angels then said, "He shall so come as you have seen him going away." We have reason to believe that he will come not only in the same body but also in a cloud since he will come as he left, and a cloud received him as he went.

And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with great power and majesty. In power and majesty, they will see Him whom, when He was in humility, they did not wish to hear, so that they will then feel His power all the more severely, as they now do not bow the neck of their hearts to His patience. But since these words are spoken against the reprobate, they are soon turned to the consolation of the elect, for it is added:

Fifth, with respect to the judge appearing, he says: And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with great power and majesty. Revelation 1: "Behold, he comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and those who pierced him." And concerning this coming, Daniel 7: "I was watching in a vision of the night, and behold, with the clouds of heaven one like the Son of man was coming, and he reached even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him before his sight. And he gave him power and honor and a kingdom. His power is an everlasting power, which shall not be taken away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." And this coming will be so utterly terrifying that that word of Isaiah 2 will be fulfilled: "The loftiness of men shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day, and the idols shall be utterly crushed." "And he shall enter the clefts of the rocks and the caverns of the stones, from the face of the terror of the Lord and from the glory of his majesty, when he shall rise up to strike the earth." And therefore in the Psalm: "God shall come manifestly, our God, and he shall not be silent. A fire shall burn in his sight, and round about him a mighty tempest."

Although many wondrous and almost indescribable things will occur at the judgment, Jerome nevertheless relates certain things which he says he found in the annals of the Jews, which are arranged in different ways by different authors. For he says that on the first day the sea will raise itself above the height of the mountains, so that that word of the Psalm may be verified: "Wondrous are the surges of the sea." — On the second day it will descend so far that it can scarcely be seen, according to that word of Nahum 1: "The Lord is in the tempest and the whirlwind of his ways, and the clouds are the dust of his feet, rebuking the sea and drying it up and reducing all the rivers to a desert." And concerning these two days, in the Psalm: "He spoke, and the wind of the storm arose, and its waves were lifted up," etc. — On the third day the beasts of the sea, rising above the surface, will send forth roars up to heaven, as though announcing the coming judgment: Job 12: "Speak to the earth, and it will declare to you, and the fish of the sea will tell you," etc.

On the fourth day the water will burn, according to that word of Isaiah 64: "Would that you would rend the heavens and come down; the mountains would melt before your face, as the burning of fire they would waste away, the waters would burn with fire, that your name might be made known to your enemies."

On the fifth day the plants and trees will give forth a bloody dew: Revelation 14: "And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress up to the horses' bridles."

On the sixth day buildings will collapse: Revelation 16: "And the great city was broken into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell"; and Matthew 24: "There shall not be left stone upon stone that shall not be destroyed," etc.

On the seventh day rocks will crash against one another, as happened during the Lord's passion: Matthew 27: "The rocks were split," etc.

On the eighth day there will be a universal earthquake: Revelation 16: "And there was a great earthquake, such as had not been since men began to exist."

Ninth, the earth will be leveled; and then that word of Isaiah 40 will be fulfilled: "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low"; and Apocalypse 6: "Every mountain and the islands were moved out of their places." - Tenth, men will come out of their caves and will go about as if out of their minds and will not be able to speak to one another, and this on account of the stupor at those wonders which they will see and await; and this is what is indicated here, when he says: "Men withering away from fear." - Eleventh, the tombs will be opened, and bones will stand upon them; and then that word of Ezekiel 37 will be fulfilled: "Behold, I will open your graves and will lead you out of your sepulchres, O my people," etc.

- Twelfth, the stars will fall from heaven: Matthew 24: "The stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be moved." - Thirteenth, men will die, so that they may rise again with the dead, because, as the Apostle says in First Corinthians 15 according to another translation, "we shall all indeed die, but we shall not all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," etc. - Fourteenth, heaven and earth will burn, that is, the surface of the earth and of the air: Second Peter 3: "The day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be dissolved with heat, and the earth and the works that are in it shall be burned up."

On the fifteenth day there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and men will rise again, and the judgment will take place; concerning this John says in Apocalypse 21: "I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea is no more."

He says that they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Christ will not come secretly or obscurely but as God and Lord in glory suitable for deity. He will transform all things for the better. He will renew creation and refashion the nature of people to what it was at the beginning. He said, "When these things come to pass, lift up your heads and look upward, for your redemption is near." The dead will rise. This earthly and infirm body will put off corruption and will clothe itself with incorruption by Christ's gift. He grants those that believe in him to be conformed to the likeness of his glorious body.

Great must be understood in like manner. For His first appearance He made in our weakness and lowliness, the second He shall celebrate in all His own power.

Watch for your life's sake. Let not your lamps be quenched, nor your loins unloosed; but be ye ready, for ye know not the hour in which our Lord cometh. But often shall ye come together, seeking the things which are befitting to your souls: for the whole time of your faith will not profit you, if ye be not made perfect in the last time. For in the last days false prophets and corrupters shall be multiplied, and the sheep shall be turned into wolves, and love shall be turned into hate; for when lawlessness increaseth, they shall hate and persecute and betray one another, and then shall appear the world-deceiver as Son of God, and shall do signs and wonders, and the earth shall be delivered into his hands, and he shall do iniquitous things which have never yet come to pass since the beginning. Then shall the creation of men come into the fire of trial, and many shall be made to stumble and shall perish; but they that endure in their faith shall be saved from under the curse itself. And then shall appear the signs of the truth; first, the sign of an out-spreading in heaven; then the sign of the sound of the trumpet; and the third, the resurrection of the dead; yet not of all, but as it is said: The Lord shall come and all His saints with Him. Then shall the world see the Lord coming upon the clouds of heaven.

When also the Son of God shall come in glory, and shall crush the proud empire of the son of sin, the angels of heaven attending Him, the doors of heaven which have been shut from the foundation of the world shall be opened, that the things that are on high may be witnessed.

And there it is added: "And then they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and majesty." As if it were openly said: They shall see in power and majesty Him whom, placed in humility, they refused to hear, so that they may then feel His power all the more strictly, inasmuch as now they do not bow the neck of their heart to His patience.

(Hom. 1. in Ev.) For in power and majesty will men see Him, whom in lowly stations they refused to hear, that so much the more acutely they may feel His power, as they are now the less willing to bow the necks of their hearts to His sufferings.

For God ever appears in a cloud, according to the Psalms, clouds and darkness are round about him. (Ps. 17:11.) Therefore shall the Son of man come in the clouds as God, and the Lord, not secretly, but in glory worthy of God. Therefore He adds, with great power and majesty.

And when these things shall come to pass, ye shall look up, and raise your heads; for your redemption hath come near," that is, at the time of the kingdom, of which the parable itself treats. "So likewise ye, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.

"And then they will see the Son of Man." Who? All believers and unbelievers. "Coming on a cloud," that is, as God, with power and great glory. For then both He Himself and His cross will shine more brightly than the sun, and will be recognized by all.

It follows, And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds. Both the believers and unbelievers shall see Him, for He Himself as well as His cross shall glisten brighter than the sun, and so shall be observed of all.

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. We must understand that the heaven which will pass away is not the ethereal or sidereal, but the airy heaven, from which both the birds of heaven and the clouds of heaven are named. This is attested by Peter, who states that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth formed out of water and through water by the word of God, by means of which the world then existed perished. But the heavens that now exist and the earth are stored up by the same word for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and the destruction of ungodly men (2 Peter 3). He clearly teaches that not another heaven will perish by fire than the one destroyed by water, that is, these empty and cloudy spaces of the windy air. For the water of the flood, which surpassed the mountain peaks by only fifteen cubits, is not to be believed to have reached beyond the boundaries of air and ether. But wherever it could reach, evidently, according to the aforementioned statement of the blessed Peter, the fire of judgment will also reach. If, however, heaven and earth will pass away, it can be questioned how Ecclesiastes says: A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever (Eccles. 1). But by clear reason, heaven and earth pass away through the image they now have; nevertheless, they subsist without end through their essence. For the form of this world is passing away (1 Cor. 7). And to John, the angel says: There will be (he says) a new heaven and a new earth (Apoc. 21). These indeed are not other things to be created, but these same are renewed. Therefore, heaven and earth will both pass away and will be, because they are purged by fire from the form they now have, and yet they will always be preserved in their own nature. Hence it is said by the Psalmist: You will change them, and they will be changed (Psalm 102). Indeed, their ultimate transformation is now announced to us by the very vicissitudes we observe, by which they incessantly alternate for our uses. For the earth fails from its species, in winter dryness, and greens in vernal moisture. The heaven is shrouded daily by the darkness of night, and is renewed by the brightness of day. Hence, therefore, hence let every faithful person deduce both that these things perish and yet are renewed through innovation, which now evidently are continually repaired as if from defect.

But by the heaven which shall pass away we must understand not the æthereal or the starry heaven, but the air from which the birds are named "of heaven." But if the earth shall pass away, how does Ecclesiastes say, The earth standeth for ever? (Ecc. 1:4.) Plainly then the heaven and earth in the fashion which they now have shall pass away, but in essence subsist eternally.

And therefore he adds: Heaven and earth will pass away, as regards their outward form. Psalm: "You in the beginning, O Lord, founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands. They shall perish, but you remain," etc.; and therefore First Corinthians seven: "The form of this world passes away." Whence Isaiah fifty-one: "The heavens shall melt away like smoke, and the earth shall be worn out like a garment"; and Isaiah sixty-five: "Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth."

And therefore all these things pass away as temporal things; but on the contrary, my words shall not pass away, as regards their interior meaning. Psalm: "Forever, O Lord, your word endures." Whence Gregory: "Everything that among you is durable and without change is not durable unto eternity; and everything that in my sight is seen to pass away is held fixed and without passing." Whence Isaiah forty: "The grass has withered, and the flower has fallen; but the word of our Lord remains forever." Whoever wishes, therefore, to remain eternally, must not linger in transitory things, but rather, by forsaking transitory things through the divine words, pass over to eternal things.

For which reason it should be noted that this world passes away with respect to everything desirable that it has in itself. It passes away first with respect to loftiness: Wisdom 5: "What has pride profited us, or what has the boasting of riches conferred upon us? All things have passed away" etc. Psalm: "I saw the wicked highly exalted" etc. — Second, with respect to beauty: Psalm: "In the morning let it pass away like grass, in the morning let it flourish and pass away"; and James 1: "Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because like the flower of grass he will pass away. For the sun rose with its burning heat and dried up the grass."

Third, with respect to sweetness: 1 John 2: "The world passes away and its concupiscence"; Proverbs 5: "The lips of a harlot are a dripping honeycomb."

Therefore whoever clings to these transitory things makes a threefold passage. The first is from fault to fault: Wisdom 2: "Let us crown ourselves with roses before they wither; let there be no meadow that our luxury does not pass through" etc. The second is from fault to punishment: Wisdom 2: "Our time is the passing of a shadow"; and Job 7: "My days have passed more swiftly than the web is cut by the weaver." The third is from punishment to punishment: Job 24: "They shall pass from the waters of snow to excessive heat."

But whoever passes from transitory things makes a threefold passage. The first is from fault to repentance; and concerning this, Acts 12: "Passing through the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate"; and this was prefigured in the crossing of the Red Sea, Exodus 14. The second is from repentance to wisdom: Ecclesiasticus 24: "Come over to me, all you who desire me, and be filled from my generations"; and this is prefigured in the passage through the desert, in which the children of Israel tasted manna, Exodus 16. The third is from wisdom to eternal life: Psalm: "We have passed through fire and water" etc.; and John 13: "Knowing that his hour had come" etc.; and this is prefigured in the crossing of the Jordan, by which they entered the promised land: Joshua 4: "The people made haste to cross; and when all had crossed, the ark of God also crossed." — Whoever makes this threefold passage, he alone is a Hebrew and celebrates the true Passover; because Passover is nothing other than a passing over.

"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." For nothing in the nature of corporeal things is more enduring than heaven and earth, and nothing in nature passes as quickly as speech. For words, as long as they are incomplete, are not words; but when they have been completed, they no longer exist at all, because they cannot be completed except by passing away. Therefore he says: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." As if he were saying openly: Everything that is enduring among you is not enduring unto eternity without change; and everything that is seen to pass away in me is held fixed and without passing away, because my speech which passes away expresses judgments that remain without mutability.

(ut sup.) Or else, The heaven and earth shall pass away, &c. As if He says, All that with us seems lasting, does not abide to eternity without change, and all that with Me seems to pass away is held fixed and immoveable, for My word which passeth away utters sentences which remain unchangeable, and abide for ever.

(If you examine) the whole passage of this Gospel Scripture, from the inquiry of the disciples down to the parable of the fig-tree you will find the sense in its connection suit in every point the Son of man, so that it consistently ascribes to Him both the sorrows and the joys, and the catastrophes and the promises; nor can you separate them from Him in either respect.

Since the beneficent Deity had premised that these things must needs come to pass, although so terrible and dreadful, as they had been predicted by the law and the prophets, therefore He did not destroy the law and the prophets, when He affirmed that what had been foretold therein must be certainly fulfilled. He further declares, "that heaven and earth shall not pass away till all things be fulfilled." What things, pray, are these? Are they the things which the Creator made? Then the elements will tractably endure the accomplishment of their Maker's dispensation.

Since He said that there would be commotions and wars, and changes both in the elements and in things themselves, lest anyone should come to think that perhaps Christianity too might someday be overthrown, He says: no! this generation, that is, the generation of Christians, shall never pass away. Heaven and earth shall change, but My words and My Gospel shall not be overthrown, but shall abide forever, even if everything were shaken, and faith in Me shall not fail. From this it is also evident that He prefers the Church to all creation: for creation shall change, but of the Church of the faithful, as well as of His words and Gospel, nothing shall perish.

For because He had foretold that there should be commotions, and wars, and changes, both of the elements and in other things, lest any one might suspect that Christianity itself also would perish, He adds, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away: as if He said, Though all things should be shaken, yet shall my faith fail not. Whereby He implies that He sets the Church before the whole creation. The creation shall suffer change, but the Church of the faithful and the words of the Gospel shall abide for ever.

(de Con. Ev. l. ii. c. 77.) This is supposed to be that flight which Matthew mentions; which must not be in the winter or on the sabbath day. To the winter belong the cares of this life, which are mournful as the winter, but to the sabbath surfeiting and drunkenness, which drowns and buries the heart in carnal luxury and delight, since on that day the Jews are immersed in worldly pleasure, while they are lost to a spiritual sabbath.

(Hom. 1. in illud Atten de tibi.) Every animal has within itself certain instincts which it has received from God, for the preservation of its own being. Wherefore Christ has also given us this warning, that what comes to them by nature, may be ours by the aid of reason and prudence: that we may flee from sin as the brute creatures shun deadly food, but that we seek after righteousness, as they wholesome herbs. Therefore saith He, Take heed to yourselves, that is, that you may distinguish the noxious from the wholesome. But since there are two ways of taking heed to ourselves, the one with the bodily eyes, the other by the faculties of the soul, and the bodily eye does not reach to virtue; it remains that we speak of the operations of the soul. Take heed, that is, Look around you on all sides, keeping an ever watchful eye to the guardianship of your soul. He says not, Take heed to your own or to the things around, but to yourselves. For ye are mind and spirit, your body is only of sense. Around you are riches, arts, and all the appendages of life, you must not mind these, but your soul, of which you must take especial care. The same admonition tends both to the healing of the sick, and the perfecting of those that are well, namely, such as are the guardians of the present, the providers of the future, not judging the actions of others, but strictly searching their own, not suffering the mind to be the slave of their passions, but subduing the irrational part of the soul to the rational. But the reason why we should take heed He adds as follows, Lest at any time your hearts be overcharged, &c.

(in Reg. Brev. ad int. 88.) But carefulness, or the care of this life, although it seems to have nothing unlawful in it, nevertheless if it conduce not to religion, must be avoided. And the reason why He said this He shows by what comes next, And so that day come upon you unawares.

But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come upon you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. O foolish presumption of the human heart, which foresees the lamentable end of greed, drunkenness, and carousing, not even with the judge himself testifying, but, like the edict of the eternal King, after having learned it, despises it like a wicked servant. And certainly, if any skilled and wise doctor were to instruct us: Take heed, saying to you, lest one (for example) too eagerly takes of the juice of this or that herb; for if he does this, sudden destruction will come upon him, how diligently would every man keep the commands of the forewarning doctor, so that by refraining from the forbidden, he might not perish? But now the Saviour and Lord of both souls and bodies commands the herb of drunkenness and carousing to be avoided, as well as the cares of the world, as if they were deadly juices, yet how many of us fear not only to be wounded by these but also to be consumed? I believe there is no other cause, but that they despise to give the same credence to the words of the Lord as they do to those of a doctor. For if they had believed, surely by believing they would fear, and by fearing they would beware of impending danger. But they, on the contrary, by remaining sluggish, prove how justly it is said: When the Son of Man comes, do you think he will find faith on earth (Luke XVIII)?

Now supposing a physician should bid us beware of the juice of a certain herb, lest a sudden death overtake us, we should most earnestly attend to his command; but when our Saviour warns us to shun drunkenness and surfeiting, and the cares of this world, men have no fear of being wounded and destroyed by them; for the faith which they put in the caution of the physician, they disdain to give to the words of God.

But take heed to yourselves, etc. After he instructed the disciples toward foresight and raised them to confidence, here thirdly he arouses them to vigilance: which indeed he does in four ways, namely by dissuading from the contrary, by intimating the danger, by persuading toward the purpose, and by introducing an example.

First therefore, as regards the dissuasion from the opposite of vigilance, he says: But take heed to yourselves, through vigilance, lest perhaps your hearts be weighed down, through drowsiness: Wisdom nine: "The body that is corrupted weighs down the soul": in surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life, through excess in gluttony; Sirach thirty-seven: "Because of surfeiting many have perished, but he who is abstinent shall prolong life." Moreover, this kind of excess renders us unfit for keeping watch concerning the study of truth: Proverbs twenty: "Wine is a luxurious thing, and drunkenness is tumultuous. Whoever delights in these will not be wise"; and therefore Ecclesiastes two: "I thought to withdraw my flesh from wine, that I might transfer my soul," etc. Likewise, concerning the exercise of virtue: Romans thirteen: "Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in revelries and drunkenness," etc.; and Philippians three: "Many walk, of whom I have often told you: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame"; and Romans sixteen: "Such men do not serve Christ, but their own belly." Likewise, concerning the height of contemplation: Ephesians five: "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking to yourselves," etc.; Hebrews thirteen: "It is best to establish the heart with grace, not with foods"; because, Romans fourteen, "the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but justice and peace," etc.

Second, as regards the intimation of danger, he adds: And that day come upon you suddenly, on account of an unforeseen occurrence. For that which is not foreseen happens suddenly; Isaiah thirty: "Suddenly, when it is not expected, its destruction shall come." For that day of judgment comes suddenly upon those who have not prepared themselves against it: above, chapter twelve: "If that servant shall say: My lord delays his coming, and shall begin to eat and drink and be drunk: the lord of that servant shall come in a day that he does not expect, and at an hour that he does not know: and shall cut him asunder and shall appoint his portion with the unfaithful."

(Clem. Al. lib. ii. Pædag. c. 2.) Drunkenness is an excessive use of wine; crapula is the uneasiness, and nausea attendant on drunkenness, a Greek word so called from the motion of the head. And a little below. As then we must partake of food lest we suffer hunger, so also of drink lest we thirst, but with still greater care to avoid falling into excess. For the indulgence of wine is deceitful, and the soul when free from wine will be the wisest and best, but steeped in the fumes of wine is lost as in a cloud.

Antony said, 'I think that the body has a natural movement within itself, which obeys the orders of the mind, a kind of inclination of which the body's actions are only symptoms. There is a second movement in the body, caused by eating and drinking, by which the blood is heated and excited. That is why St Paul said, 'Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess' (Eph. 5:18), and again the Lord commanded his disciples in the Gospel, 'See that your hearts be not overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness' (Luke 21:34). There is a third movement which comes from the deceit and envy of demons against those who are trying to live a good life. It is a help to know that there are three bodily inclinations – from nature, from too much food, and from the demons.'

He taught them therefore to take heed unto the things we have just before mentioned, lest they fall into the indolence resulting therefrom. Hence it follows, Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all those things that shall come to pass.

And therefore did the Lord say to His disciples, to make us become good workmen: "Take heed to yourselves, and watch continually upon every occasion, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day shall come upon you unawares; for as a snare shall it come upon all dwelling upon the face of the earth." ...[In these passages] He declares one and the same Lord, who in the times of Noah brought the deluge because of men's disobedience, and who also in the days of Lot rained fire from heaven because of the multitude of sinners among the Sodomites, and who, on account of this same disobedience and similar sins, will bring on the day of judgment at the end of time...

For this reason the Lord also said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." And, "Take heed to yourselves, lest perchance your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and worldly cares." ...All such passages demonstrate the independent will of man, and at the same time the counsel which God conveys to him, by which He exhorts us to submit ourselves to Him, and seeks to turn us away from [the sin of] unbelief against Him, without, however, in any way coercing us.

And therefore it is ordered that a virgin shall not taste of this vine, so that she may be sober and watchful from the cares of life, and may kindle the shining torch of the light of righteousness for the Word. "Take heed to yourselves," says the Lord, "lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares, as a snare."

"But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare." You heard the proclamation of the eternal King. You learned the deplorable end of "drunkenness" or "intoxication." Imagine a skilled and wise physician who would say, "Beware, no one should drink too much from this or that herb. If he does, he will suddenly be destroyed." I do not doubt that everyone would keep the prescriptions of the physician's warning concerning his own health. Now the Lord, who is both the physician of souls and bodies, orders them to avoid as a deadly drink the herb "of drunkenness" and the vice "of intoxication" and also the care of worldly matters. I do not know if any one can say that he is not wounded, because these things consume him.Drunkenness is therefore destructive in all things. It is the only thing that weakens the soul together with the body. According to the apostle, it can happen that when the body "is weak," then the spirit is "much stronger," and when "the exterior person is destroyed, the interior person is renewed." In the illness of drunkenness, the body and the soul are destroyed at the same time. The spirit is corrupted equally with the flesh. All the members are weakened: the feet and the hands. The tongue is loosened. Darkness covers the eyes. Forgetfulness covers the mind so that one does not know himself nor does he perceive he is a person. Drunkenness of the body has that shamefulness.

Now Paul crieth unto us, "Let not your hearts be made heavy through the eating of flesh and the drinking of wine," that he may teach us that meat maketh heavy the heart, but they ate and did not become heavy, and they ate, moreover, that they might show that their lightness was more powerful than the heaviness of meat, and that by that thing which maketh dense the heart their mind became the brighter, and that by that which maketh heavy the body, and darkeneth the mind, the lightness of their understanding became more luminous. For being abstinent, that they should be clean, and pure, and holy, was not accounted by them so great a thing as that they should be purified in the matter of the things which make gross the heart, that is to say, that they should be purified in the matter of the things which are the contrary of purity, that they might overcome like mighty men that which was opposed to them, and that, like men of power and freemen, they might be uninjured by the things which cause injury.

Let the disciples also be warned, "lest their hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this world; and so that day come upon them unawares, like a snare " -if indeed they should forget God amidst the abundance and occupation of the world.

You, he says, have heard about the horrors and commotions. All of them sensibly prefigure those calamities that will befall sinners. But against these misfortunes there is a powerful and counteracting remedy – prayer and attentiveness to oneself. For constant readiness and expectation of the end can overcome all of this. And you will have it on this condition, he says, if you are watchful and your hearts are not weighed down with "carousing and drunkenness, and the cares of this life."

Our Lord declared above the fearful and sensible signs of the evils which should overtake sinners, against which the only remedy is watching and prayer, as it is said, And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time, &c.

As if He says, Beware lest the eyes of your mind wax heavy. For the cares of this life, and surfeiting, and drunkenness, scare away prudence, shatter and make shipwreck of faith.

And with regard to such people he adds: For as a snare it will come upon all who sit upon the face of the whole earth, that is, upon all who are devoted to earthly things. Whence Jeremiah forty-eight: "Fear and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of Moab," by whom indeed the carnal are understood, who sit upon the earth, concerning whom in the Psalm: "For our soul has been humbled in the dust, our belly has been glued to the earth"; Ezekiel twenty-six: "They will sit upon the ground, and, astonished at your sudden fall, they will marvel." Concerning this, moreover, the Lord set forth above in the seventeenth chapter a twofold example, namely concerning the days of Noah and the days of Lot: because the first perished by flood, the second by fire. And concerning such people, Job twenty-one: "Their houses are secure and peaceful." "They take up the timbrel and the harp and rejoice at the sound of the organ; they spend their days in good things, and in a moment they descend to hell."

For that day will not come with observation, but unexpectedly, secretly, like a net capturing those who are inattentive to themselves. Another person might perhaps investigate in detail the expression: "dwelling (sitting) upon the face of all the earth." That day will capture in its net those who lead a carefree and idle life. For it is precisely they who are sitting, and they are the ones caught in the net. But whoever is active and industrious, vigilant in the doing of good and always striving toward good, does not sit and does not rest content with earthly things, but rouses himself and says to himself: "Arise and depart, for this land is not a place of rest" (Mic. 2:10), and desires a better fatherland — for him that day is not a net and calamity, but rather a festival.

For that day will not come when men are expecting it, but unlooked for and by stealth, taking as a snare those who are unwary. For as a snare shall it come upon all them that sit upon the face of the earth. But this we may diligently keep far from us. For that day will take those that sit on the face of the earth, as the unthinking and slothful. But as many as are prompt and active in the way of good, not sitting and loitering on the ground, but rising from it, saying to themselves, Rise up, begone, for here there is no rest for thee. To such that day is not as a perilous snare, but a day of rejoicing.

Therefore, watch at all times, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. He who desires to stand before the Son of Man, and to serve Him day and night in His temple according to the Revelation of John, and not to be cursed and cast into eternal fire away from His sight, should not only be restrained from worldly allurements but also pray and fast, and this not on certain days but at all times, just as the psalm says: I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth (Psalm XXXIII). For in this manner, he will be worthy to dwell in the house of the Lord, to praise Him forever and ever.

Third, with regard to the persuasion of the resolution, he subjoins: Watch therefore, praying at all times. It should be noted, moreover, that he joins together watchfulness and prayer. For one must watch against the external enemy, namely the devil; First Peter, the last chapter: "Be sober and watch, because your adversary the devil," etc.; and against the domestic enemy, namely the flesh: and therefore Sirach thirty-one: "The vigil of honesty will waste away the flesh." One must watch for the progress of virtue; Second Corinthians six: "In all things let us exhibit ourselves as ministers of God, in much patience, in many vigils," etc.

One must watch through the desire of contemplation: Song of Songs five: "I sleep, and my heart watches"; and Isaiah twenty-six: "My soul has desired you in the night," etc. And since we can neither overcome enemies nor advance in good nor possess heavenly consolations except through the gift of divine grace, therefore one must pray: and for this reason Matthew twenty-six: "Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation"; and Sirach thirty-nine: "The just man will give his heart to watching at daybreak," etc.

Because therefore it is necessary to watch on account of the avoidance of evil, he therefore adds: That you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come, according to that passage of Matthew twenty-four: "But pray that your flight be not in winter or on the Sabbath." And the Prophet prayed for this in the Psalm: "Lord, hear my prayer, give ear to my supplication," etc. — It is necessary to watch also on account of the attainment of good, and therefore he adds: And to stand before the Son of Man: the Gloss says: "This is the summit of blessedness, to stand secure in the presence of the Judge"; Job twenty-three: "Who will grant me that I might know and find him and come even to his throne"? And therefore Revelation seven: "These are they who have come out of great tribulation and have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple." And for this one must always pray; whence in the Psalm: "My soul has thirsted for God, the living fountain: when shall I come and appear before the face of God"!

"Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all those things, and to stand before the Son of man; " that is, no doubt, at the resurrection, after all these things have been previously transacted.

Therefore one must be watchful and pray to God, so that we may be able to escape all the coming calamities. Which ones? Perhaps, first, famine and pestilence, and the rest, which will not burden the elect as much as the others, but on the contrary, will be shortened for the others' sake on account of the elect; perhaps, second, those which will come upon sinners for eternity, for we cannot escape them otherwise than by watchfulness and prayer. Since for the magnanimous it is not enough to escape affliction, but they also need to obtain some good, having said, that you may be able to escape all the coming calamities, the Lord added: "and to stand before the Son of Man," in which the enjoyment of blessings consists. For a Christian must not only flee from evils, but also strive to obtain glory. And to stand before the Son of Man and our God is an angelic dignity. For it is said: "Their angels in heaven always behold the face of My Father" (Mt. 18:10).

Namely, hunger, pestilence, and such like, which for a time only threaten the elect and others, and those things also which are hereafter the lot of the guilty for ever. For these we can in no wise escape, save by watching and prayer.

And because a Christian needs not only to flee evil, but to strive to obtain glory, He adds, And to stand before the Son of man. For this is the glory of angels, to stand before the Son of man, our God, and always to behold His face.

Because humans love to live on this earth, life has been promised to them; and because they greatly fear dying, eternal life has been promised to them. What do you love? Living. You will have this. What do you fear? Dying. You will not suffer this. This appeared to suffice for human frailty, so that it might be said: You will have eternal life. The human mind grasps this, in one way or another, from what it does, it grasps what is to come. But how much does it grasp from this small portion of what it does? Because it lives and does not want to die; it loves eternal life, wants to live forever, never to die. But even those who will be tortured in punishments want to die, and cannot. Therefore, it is not great to live long or to live always; but it is great to live blessedly.

Let us love eternal life, and from that, let us understand how much we should labor for eternal life, when we see people, lovers of the present, temporal, and transient life, laboring for it in such a way that, when the fear of death comes, they do whatever they can not to remove, but to delay death. How much man labors when death is imminent, fleeing, hiding, giving whatever he has, and redeeming himself, laboring, enduring torments and troubles, employing doctors, and whatever else man can do? You see that, having exhausted his labors and resources, whatever he can do so that he may live a little longer, he can do; but that he may live forever, he cannot. If therefore with so much labor, effort, expenses, insistence, vigilance, and care it is done so that he may live a little longer, how should it be done so that he may live forever? And if those are called prudent who in every way act to delay death and live a few days, lest they lose a few days, how foolish are those who live in such a way that they lose the eternal day?

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whoso heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but is passed," not is passing now, but is already passed, "from death into life." And mark this, "Whoso heareth my word, and" - He says not, believeth me, but - "believeth Him that sent me." Let him hear the word of the Son, that he may believe the Father. Why heareth Thy word, and yet believeth another? When we hear any one's word, is it not him that utters the word we believe? is it not to him who speaks we lend our faith? What, then, did He mean, saying, "Whoso heareth my word, and believeth Him that sent me," if it be not this, because "His word is in me"? And what is "heareth my word," but "heareth me"? So, too, "believeth Him that sent me," because, believing Him, he believeth His word; but again, believing His word, he believeth me, because I am the Word of the Father. There is therefore peace in the Scriptures, and all things duly disposed, and in no way clashing. Cast away, then, contention from thy heart; understand the harmony of the Scriptures. Dost thou think that the Truth should speak things contrary to itself?

"Whoso heareth my word, and believeth Him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but is passed from death unto life." You remember what we laid down above, that "as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, so also the Son quickeneth whom He will." He is beginning already to reveal Himself; and behold, even now, the dead are rising. For "whoso heareth my word, and believeth Him that sent me, hath eternal life, and will not come into judgment." Prove that he has risen again. "But is passed," saith He "from death unto life." He that is passed from death unto life, has surely without any doubt risen again. For he could not pass from death to life, unless he were first in death and not in life; but when he will have passed, he will be in life, and not in death. He was therefore dead, and is alive again; he was lost, but is found. Hence a resurrection does take place now, and men pass from a death to a life; from the death of infidelity to the life of faith; from the death of falsehood to the life of truth; from the death of iniquity to the life of righteousness. There is, therefore, that which is a resurrection of the dead.

"Whoso heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath eternal life." Surely we are all striving after eternal life: and He saith, "Whoso heareth my word, and believeth Him that sent me, hath eternal life." Then, would He have us hear His word, and yet would He not have us understand it? Since, if in hearing and believing is eternal life, much more in understanding. But the action of piety is faith, the fruit of faith understanding, that we may come to eternal life, when there will be no reading of Gospel to us; but after all pages of reading and the voice of reader and preacher have been removed out of the way, He, who has at this time dispensed to us the gospel, will Himself appear to all that are His, now present with Him with purged heart and in an immortal body never more to die, cleansing and enlightening them, now living and seeing how that "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God."

"Whoso heareth my words," saith He, "and believeth Him that sent me, hath eternal life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life." Where, when do we come from death to life, that we come not into judgment? In this life there is a passing from death to life; in this life, which is not yet life, there is a passing hence from death unto life. What is that passing? "Whoso heareth my words," He said, "and believeth Him that sent me." Observing these, thou believest and passest. And does a man pass while standing? Evidently; for in body he stands in mind he passes. Where was he, whence he should pass, and whither does he pass? He passes from death to life. Look at a man standing, in whom all that is here said may happen. He stands, he hears, perhaps he did not believe, by hearing he believes: a little before he did not believe, just now he believes; he has made a passage, as it were, from the region of unbelief to the region of faith, by motion of the heart, not of the body, by a motion into the better; because they who again abandon faith move into the worse.

The Lord our God then reveals it, and by His Scriptures puts us in mind how it may be understood when judgment is spoken of. I exhort you, therefore, to give attention. Sometimes judgment means punishment, sometimes it means discrimination. According to that mode of speech in which judgment means discrimination, "we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ that" a man "may there receive what things he has done in the body, whether it be good or ill." For this same is a discrimination, to distribute good things to the good, evil things to the evil. For if judgment were always to be taken in a bad sense, the psalm would not say, "Judge me, O God." Perhaps some one is surprised when he hears one say, "Judge me, O God." For man is wont to say, "Forgive me, O God;" "Spare me, O God." Who is it that says, "Judge me, O God"? Sometimes in the psalm this very verse even is placed in the pause, to be given out by the reader and responded by the people. Does it not perhaps strike some man's heart so much that he is afraid to sing and to say to God, "Judge me, O God"? And yet the people sing it with confidence, and do not imagine that they wish an evil thing in that which they have learned from the divine word; even if they do not well understand it, they believe that what they sing is something good. And yet even the psalm itself has not left a man without an insight into the meaning of it. For, going on, it shows in the words that follow what kind of judgment it spoke of; that it is not one of condemnation, but of discrimination. For saith it, "Judge me, O God." What means "Judge me, O God, and discern my cause from an unholy nation"? According to this judgment of discerning, then, "we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ." But again, according to the judgment of condemnation, "Whoso heareth my words," saith He, "and believeth Him that sent me, hath eternal life, and shall not come into judgment, but makes a passage from death to life." What is "shall not come into judgment?" Shall not come into condemnation.

(Tr. xxii. s. 2) If in hearing and believing is eternal life, how much more in understanding? But the step to our piety is faith, the fruit of faith, understanding. It is not, Believeth on Me, but on Him that sent Me. Why is one to hear His word, and believe another? Is it not that He means to say, His word is in Me? And what is, Heareth My word, but heareth Me? And it is, Believeth on Him that sent Me; as to say, He that believeth on Him, believeth on His Word, i. e. on Me, because I am the Word of the Father.

(Tr. xxii. s. 4. et sq.) But who is this favoured Person? Will there be any one better than the Apostle Paul, who says, We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ? (1 Cor. 6) Now judgment sometimes means punishment, sometimes trial. In the sense of trial, we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ: in the sense of condemnation we read, some shall not come into judgment; i. e. shall not be condemned. It follows, but is passed from death into life: not, is now passing, but hath passed from the death of unbelief, into the life of faith, from the death of sin, unto the life of righteousness. Or, it is so said perhaps, to prevent our supposing that faith would save us from bodily death, that penalty which we must pay for Adam's transgression. He, in whom we all then were, heard the divine sentence, Thou shall surely die; (Gen. 2) nor can we evade it. But when we have suffered the death of the old man, we shall receive the life of the new, and by death make a passage to life. But to what life? (Tr. xix.). To life everlasting: the dead shall rise again at the end of the world, and enter into everlasting life. (Tr. xxii.). For this life does not deserve the name of life; only that life is true which is eternal.

(de Verb. Dom. Serm. lxiv) We see the lovers of this present transitory life so intent on its welfare, that when in danger of death, they will take any means to delay its approach, though they can not hope to drive it off altogether. If so much care and labour then is spent on gaining a little additional length of life, how ought we to strive after life eternal? And if they are thought wise, who endeavour in every way to put off death, though they can live but a few days longer; how foolish are they who so live, as to lose the eternal day?

The Lord declared His power in general: here He begins to declare it in particular, descending to the power of giving life and to the power of judging. The power of giving life regards the kindness of mercy: the power of judging regards the severity of justice. Therefore He describes the power of giving life in this order: first, whom He gives life to; second, how He gives life; third, by what power He gives life. And the first regards the object, the second regards the act, and the third regards the power. In these three consists the perfect knowledge of a power, namely in power, operation, and object.

First, therefore, he determines whom he vivifies, namely with the life of the soul, since not all, but believers. These are those who hear the word of God and, having heard, believe; therefore he says: "Amen, amen I say to you," that is, truly: "That he who hears my word," disposing himself to faith, because, Romans 10, "faith comes from hearing"; "and believes in him who sent me," consenting to what has been heard: below, chapter 12: "He who believes in me does not believe in me, but in him who sent me"; he indeed "has eternal life": above, chapter 3: "He who believes in the Son of God has eternal life" — eternal life, not punishment. Whence he also adds: "And does not come into judgment," into the judgment of death, namely: "but passes from death to life; from death," that is, from the present life, which is death, he passes to eternal life without the judgment of condemnation; above, chapter 3: "He who believes in him is not judged." But the present life is called death, because, as is said in Romans 8, "the body is dead on account of sin." From this death the just pass to life, for whom to die temporally is to pass over: below, chapter 13, concerning Christ the head: "Knowing that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father." Concerning this the just glory in the Psalm: "And let all who hope in you rejoice: they shall exult forever, and you shall dwell in them. And all who love your name shall glory in you, for you shall bless the just."

Salvation, accordingly, is the following of Christ: "For that which is in Him is life." "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My words, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into condemnation, but hath passed from death to life." Thus believing alone, and regeneration, is perfection in life; for God is never weak. For as His will is work, and this is named the world; so also His counsel is the salvation of men, and this has been called the church. He knows, therefore, whom He has called, and whom He has saved; and at one and the same time He called and saved them.

Having now proved sufficiently by the foregoing, that the miserable Jews sin not against the Son only, by daring to find fault with the things which He says or does among them in His teaching, but do also ignorantly transgress against the Father Himself, and having as far as pertains to the force of what has been said, wrapped about their over-confidence with fear, and persuaded them to live more religiously in hope of things to come, He at length snares them to obedience. And not unskilfully again did He frame His speech to this end. For since He knew that the Jews were still diseased, and yet offended concerning Him, He again brings back their faith to the Person of God the Father, not as excluding Himself, but as honoured in the Father too by reason of Identity of Essence. For He affirms that they who believe shall not only be partakers of eternal life, but also shall escape the peril of the condemnation, being justified, that is: holding forth fear mixed with hope. For thus could He make His discourse more efficacious and more demonstrative to the hearers.

Having said that the Son quickeneth whom He will, He next shows that we attain to life through the Son: Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life.

(vii. de Trin. c. 21) The conclusion then stands good against all the fury of heretical minds. He is the Son, because He does nothing of Himself: He is God, because, whatsoever things the Father doeth, He doeth the same; They are one, because They are equal in honour: He is not the Father, because He is sent.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life."

Seest thou how continually He putteth the same thing to cure that feeling of suspicion, both in this place and in what follows by fear and by promises of blessings removing their jealousy of Him, and then again condescending greatly in words? For He said not, "he that heareth My words, and believeth on Me," since they would have certainly deemed that to be pride, and a superfluous pomp of words; because, if after a very long time, and ten thousand miracles, they suspected this when He spake after this manner, much more would they have done so then. It was on this account that at that later period they said to Him, "Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead, how sayest Thou, If a man keep My saying, he shall never taste of death?" In order therefore that they may not here also become furious, see what He saith, "He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life." This had no small effect in making His discourse acceptable, when they learned that those who hear Him believe in the Father also; for after having received this with readiness, they would more easily receive the rest. So that the very speaking in a humble manner contributed and led the way to higher things; for after saying, "hath everlasting life," He addeth, "And cometh not into judgment, but is passed from death unto life."

By these two things He maketh His discourse acceptable; first, because it is the Father who is believed on, and then, because the believer enjoyeth many blessings. And the "cometh not into judgment" meaneth, "is not punished," for He speaketh not of death "here," but of death eternal, as also of the other "life" which is deathless.

In a like sense He had previously said: "He that heareth my words, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but shall pass from death unto life." Constituting, therefore, His word as the life-giving principle, because that word is spirit and life, He likewise called His flesh by the same appellation; because, too, the Word had become flesh, we ought therefore to desire Him in order that we may have life, and to devour Him with the ear, and to ruminate on Him with the understanding, and to digest Him by faith.

Actually, he tells what the benefit is for those who honor or believe in him.… The one who obeys, he says, my words and believes is made a participant in eternal life. Such a person will not only avoid the judgment, that is, the tribulations of judgment, but will even be held in honor, and certainly honor will be attributed to him by the judge himself.

He said "the One who sent" so that they would not become hardened, as we said above. For He, as has been said, wonderfully combines His teaching: sometimes He gives lofty testimony about Himself, as was fitting, and sometimes humble testimony, because of the raging of the hostile Jews. For if, after His resurrection from the dead, after His ascension into heaven, after the manifestation of His power through the apostles, Arius and Eunomius rose up against His glory and reduced Him to a creature, then what would the Jews of His own time, seeing Him walking in the flesh, eating and drinking with tax collectors and harlots as one of many, not have done if He had spoken only lofty things about Himself and had not also added what was lowly? Therefore He also adds: "He who hears My words and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life." Thus, by the fact that those who hear His words will believe in God, He calms their minds. For He did not say "whoever believes in Me," but "in Him who sent Me." Whoever believes in Him does not come to judgment, that is, to torment, but lives with eternal life, not subject to spiritual and eternal death, although he will not escape bodily and temporal death.

770 Above, our Lord showed that he had life-giving power; here he shows how someone can share in this life coming from him. First, he tells how one can share in this life through him. Secondly, he predicts its fulfillment (v 25).

771 With respect to the first, we should point out that there are four grades of life. One is found in plants, which take nourishment, grow, reproduce, and are reproduced. Another is in animals which only sense. Another in living things that move, that is, the perfect animals. Finally, there is another form of life which is present in those who understand. Now among those grades of life that exist, it is impossible that the foremost life be that found in plants, or in those with sensation, or even in those with motion. For the first and foremost life must be that which is per se, not that which is participated. This can be none other than intellectual life, for the other three forms are common to a corporal and spiritual creature [as man]. Indeed, a body that lives is not life itself, but one participating in life. Hence intellectual life is the first and foremost life, which is the spiritual life, that is immediately received from the first principle of life, whence it is called the life of wisdom. For this reason in the Scriptures life is attributed to wisdom: "He who finds me finds life, and has salvation from the Lord" (Prv 8:35). Therefore we share life from Christ, who is the Wisdom of God, insofar as our soul receives wisdom from him.

Now this intellectual life is made perfect by the true knowledge of divine Wisdom, which is eternal life: "This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" (below 17:3). But no one can arrive at any wisdom except by faith. Hence it is that in the sciences, no one acquires wisdom unless he first believes what is said by his teacher. Therefore, if we wish to acquire this life of wisdom, we must believe through faith the things that are proposed to us by it. "He who comes to God must believe that he is and rewards those who seek him" (Heb 11:6); "If you do not believe, you will not understand," as we read in another version of Isaiah (28:16).

772 Thus, our Lord fittingly shows that the way of obtaining life is through faith, saying, whoever hears my voice and believes in him who sent me, possesses eternal life. First, he mentions the merit of faith. Secondly, the reward of faith, eternal life.

773 Concerning the merit of faith, he first indicates how faith is brought to us; and secondly, the foundation of faith, that on which it rests.

Faith comes to us through the words of men: "Faith comes through hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ" (Rom 10:17). But faith does not rest on man's word, but on God himself: "Abram believed God, who counted this as his justification" (Gn 15:6); "You who fear the Lord, believe in him" (Sir 2:8). Thus we are lead to believe through the words of men, not in the man himself who speaks, but in God, whose words he speaks: "When you heard the word we brought you as God's word, you did not receive it as the word of men, but, as what it really is, the word of God" (1 Thes 2:13). Our Lord mentions these two things. First, how faith is brought to us, when he says, whoever hears my voice [literally, word], which leads to faith. Secondly, he mentions that on which faith rests, saying, and believes in him who sent me, i.e., not in me, but in him in virtue of whom I speak.

This text can apply to Christ, as man, insofar as it is through Christ's human words that men were converted to the faith. And it can apply to Christ, as God, insofar as Christ is the Word of God. For since Christ is the Word of God, it is clear that those who heard Christ were hearing the Word of God, and as a consequence, were believing in God. And this is what he says: whoever hears my word, i.e., me, the Word of God, and believes in him, i.e., the Father, whose Word I am.

774 Then when he says, possesses eternal life, he mentions the reward of faith, and states three things we will possess in the state of glory; but they are mentioned in reverse order. First, there will be the resurrection from the dead. Secondly, we will have freedom from the future judgment. Thirdly, we will enjoy everlasting life, for as we read in Matthew (c 25), the just will enter into everlasting life. He mentions these three as belonging to the reward of faith; and the third was mentioned first since it is desired more than the others.

775 So he says, whoever believes, i.e., through faith, possesses eternal life, which consists in the full vision of God. And it is fitting that one who believes on account of God certain things that he does not see, should be brought to the full vision of these things: "These things are written that you may believe... and that believing you may have life in his name" (below 20:31).

776 He mentions the second when he says, and he will not encounter judgment. But the Apostle says something which contradicts this: "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ" (2 Cor 5:10), even the apostles. Therefore, even one who does believe will encounter judgment. I answer that there are two kinds of judgment. One is a judgment of condemnation, and no one encounters that judgment if he believes in God with a faith that is united with love [a "formed faith"]. We read about this judgment: "Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no living man is just in your sight"; and it was said above (3:18): "Whoever believes is not judged." There is also a judgment of separation and examination; and, as the Apostle says, all must present themselves before the tribunal of Christ for this judgment. Of this judgment we read: "Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from those people who are not holy" (Ps 42:1).

777 Thirdly, he mentions a reward when he says, but has passed from death to life, or "will pass," as another version says. This statement can be explained in two ways. First, it can refer to the resurrection of the soul. In this case the obvious meaning is that he is saying: Through faith we attain not only to eternal life and freedom from judgment, but also to the forgiveness of our sins as well. Hence he says, but has passed, from unbelief to belief, from injustice to justice: "We know that we have passed from death to life" (1 Jn 3:14).

Secondly, this statement can be explained as referring to the resurrection of the body. Then it is an elaboration of the phrase, possesses eternal life. For some might think from what was said, that whoever believes in God will never die, but live forever. But this is impossible, because all men must pay the debt incurred by the first sin, according to: "Where is the man who lives, and will not see death?" (Ps 88:49). Consequently, we should not think that one who believes has eternal life in such a way as never to die; rather, he will pass from this life, through death, to life, i.e., through the death of the body he will be revived to eternal life.

Or, "will pass," might refer to the cause [of one's resurrection] for when a person believes, he already has the merit for a glorious resurrection: "Your dead will live, your slain will rise" (Is 26:19). And then, once released from the death of the old man, we will receive the life of the new man, that is, Christ.

The one who made the body of Adam out of the earth will raise up the bodies of the rest, and that of the first man, after their decay … He, therefore, who brings about that decay will himself bring about the resurrection. And he who said, "The Lord took dust from the ground, and formed man and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul," added after humanity's disobedience, "Earth you are, and to earth you shall return." This same one promised us resurrection afterwards, for he says, "All that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those that hear shall live."

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is." We did look for a resurrection of the dead in the end, for so we have believed; yea, not we looked, but are manifestly bound to look for it: for it is not a false thing we believe, when we believe that the dead will rise in the end. When the Lord Jesus, then, was willing to make known to us a resurrection of the dead before the resurrection of the dead, it is not as that of Lazarus, or of the widow's son, or of the ruler of the synagogue's daughter, who were raised to die again (for in their case there was a resurrection of the dead before the resurrection of the dead); but, as He says here, "hath," says He, "eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but is passed from death into life." To what life? To life eternal. Not, then, as the body of Lazarus: for he indeed passed from the death of the tomb to the life of men, but not to life eternal, seeing he was to die again; whereas the dead, that are to rise again at the end of the world, will pass to eternal life.

When our Lord Jesus Christ, then, our heavenly Master, the Word of the Father, and the Truth, was willing to represent to us a resurrection of the dead to eternal life before the resurrection of the dead to eternal life, "The hour cometh," saith He. Doubtless thou, imbued with a faith of the resurrection of the flesh, didst look for the hour of the end of the world, which, that thou shouldst not look for here, He added, "and now is." Therefore He saith not this, "The hour cometh," of that last hour, when "at the command and the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet Christ in the air: and so shall we be ever with the Lord." That hour will come, but is not now. But consider what this hour is: "The hour cometh, and now is." What happens in that hour? What, but a resurrection of the dead? And what kind of resurrection? Such that they who rise live for ever. This will be also in the last hour.

What then? How do we understand these two resurrections? Do we, it may be, understand that they who rise now will not rise then; that the resurrection of some is now, of some others then? It is not so. For we have risen in this resurrection, if we have rightly believed; and we ourselves, who have already risen, are looking for another resurrection in the end. Moreover, both now are we risen to eternal life, if we perseveringly continue in the same faith; and then, too, we shall rise to eternal life, when we shall be made equal with the angels. But let Himself distinguish and open up what we have made bold to speak; how there happens to be a resurrection before a resurrection, not of different but of the same persons; nor like that of Lazarus, but into eternal life. He will open it clearly.

Hear ye the Master, while dawning upon us, and as our Sun gliding in upon our hearts; not such as the eyes of flesh desire to look upon, but on whom the eyes of the heart fervently long to be opened. To Him, then, let us give ear: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead" - you see that a resurrection is asserted - "shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live." Why hath He added, "they that hear shall live"? Why, could they hear unless they lived? It would have been enough, then, to say, "The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God." We should immediately understand them to be living, since they could not hear unless they lived. No, saith He, not because they live they hear; but by hearing they come to life again: "Shall hear, and they that hear shall live."

What, then, is "shall hear," but "shall obey"? For, as to the hearing of the ear, not all who hear shall live. Many, indeed, hear and do not believe; by hearing and not believing, they obey not; by not obeying, they live not. And so here, they that "shall hear" are they that "shall obey." They that obey, then, shall live: let them be sure and certain of it, shall live.

Christ, the Word of God, is preached to us; the Son of God, by whom all things were made, who, for the dispensation's sake, surely took flesh, was born of a virgin, was an infant in the flesh, a young man in the flesh, suffering in the flesh, dying in the flesh, rising again in the flesh, ascending in the flesh, promising a resurrection to the flesh, promising a resurrection to the mind - to the mind before the flesh, to the flesh after the mind. Whoso heareth and obeyeth, shall live; whoso heareth and obeyeth not, that is, heareth and despiseth, heareth and believeth not, shall not live. Why shall not live? Because he heareth not. What is "heareth not"? Obeyeth not. Thus, then, "they that hear shall live."

Himself explains that already, and goes on, "Verily, verily, I say unto you." In case, because He said "is passed from death to life," we should understand this of the future resurrection, and willing to show that he who believes is passed, and that to pass from death to life is to pass from unbelief to faith, from injustice to justice, from pride to humility, from hatred to charity, He saith now, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and now is." What more evident? "And now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." We have already spoken of these dead. What think we, my brethren? Are there no dead in this crowd that hear me? They who believe and act according to the true faith do live, and are not dead. But they who either do not believe, or believe as the devils believe, trembling, and living wickedly, confessing the Son of God, and without charity, must rather be esteemed dead.

This hour, however, is still passing. For the hour of which the Lord spoke will not be an hour of the twelve hours of a day. From the time when He spoke even to the present, and even to the end of the world, the same one hour is passing; of which hour John saith in his epistle, "Little children, it is the last hour." Therefore, is now. Whoso is alive, let him live; whoso was dead, let him live; let him hear the voice of the Son of God, who lay dead; let him arise and live. The Lord cried out at the sepulchre of Lazarus, and he that was four days dead arose. He who stank in the grave came forth into the air. He was buried, a stone was laid over him: the voice of the Saviour burst asunder the hardness of the stone; and thy heart is so hard, that Divine Voice does not yet break it! Rise in thy heart; go forth from thy tomb. For thou wast lying dead in thy heart as in a tomb, and pressed down by the weight of evil habit as by a stone. Rise, and go forth. What is Rise, and go forth? Believe and confess. For he that has believed has risen; he that confesses is gone forth.

"The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live." From what source shall they live? From life. From what life? From Christ. How do we prove that the source is Christ the life? "I am," saith He, "the way, the truth, and the life." Dost thou wish to walk? "I am the way." Dost thou wish not to be deceived? "I am the truth." Wouldest thou not die? "I am the life." This saith thy Saviour to thee: There is not whither thou mayest go but to me; there is not whereby thou mayest go but by me. Therefore this hour is going on now, this act is clearly taking place, and does not at all cease. Men who were dead, rise; they pass over to life; at the voice of the Son of God they live; from Him they live, while persevering in the faith of Him. For the Son hath life, whence He has it that they that believe shall live.

(de Verb. Dom. Serm. lxiv) We see the lovers of this present transitory life so intent on its welfare, that when in danger of death, they will take any means to delay its approach, though they can not hope to drive it off altogether. If so much care and labour then is spent on gaining a little additional length of life, how ought we to strive after life eternal? And if they are thought wise, who endeavour in every way to put off death, though they can live but a few days longer; how foolish are they who so live, as to lose the eternal day?

(Tr. xxiii. s. 14) Some one might ask thee, The Father quickeneth him who believes on Him; but what of thee? dost thou not quicken? Observe thou that the Son also quickens whom He will: Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live.

(Tr. xxii. s. 12) Or, He means to guard against our thinking, that the being passed from death to life, refers to the future resurrection; its meaning being, that he who believes is passed: and therefore He says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, (what hour?) and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. He saith not, because they live, they hear; but in consequence of hearing, they come to life again. But what is hearing, but obeying? For they who believe and do according to the true faith, live, and are not dead; whereas those who believe not, or, believing, live a bad life, and have not love, are rather to be accounted dead. And yet that hour is still going on, and will go on, the same hour, to the end of the world: as John says, It is the last hour. (1 John 2:13)

When the dead, i. e. unbelievers, shall hear the voice of the Son of God, i. e. the Gospel: and they that hear, i. e. who obey, shall live, i. e. be justified, and no longer remain in unbelief.

"Amen, amen I say to you." Here the second point is touched upon, namely how he vivifies, namely through internal inspiration, which whoever hears is vivified; therefore he says: "The hour comes and now is," namely, of grace, which now is: concerning which, Romans 13: "It is the hour for us now to rise from sleep" — from the sleep, namely, of sin and death: "when the dead," through fault, "shall hear the voice of the Son of God," through internal inspiration: Ephesians 5: "Rise, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall enlighten you." "And those who hear shall live," through grace, because his word vivifies those who hear: below, chapter 10: "My sheep hear my voice, and I give them eternal life"; and this I give and preserve by the word: Deuteronomy 8: "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."

Having said that believers shall pass from death to life, He introduces Himself as Performer of the promise, and Accomplisher of the whole thing, partly hinting to the Jews, that marvellous in truth is the Power shown in the case of the paralytic, but that the Son will be revealed as a Worker of things yet more glorious, driving away from the bodies of men not only sickness and the infirmities of diseases, but also overthrowing death and the heavily-pressing corruption (for this was what was said a little before, The Father loveth the Son and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth and greater works than these will He show Him, that YE may marvel; for the greater wonder is shown in the raising of the dead), partly also preparing the way for that which would probably in no slight degree affright the hearers. For He plainly declares that He will raise the dead, and will bring the creature to judgment, that through the expectation of one day being brought before Him and giving account of everything, they might be found more backward in their daring to persecute Him, and might receive more zealously the word of teaching and guidance.

To these things then the aim of the chapter looks and tends: but we must now explain the words. The common account then is (as it seems) that the time will come, when the dead shall hear the Voice of Him That raiseth them: and they suppose that it is now too no less present, either as when Lazarus for instance is to hear the Voice of the Saviour, or as saying that the dead are those not yet called through faith unto eternal life, who will surely attain unto it, by having received the doctrine of the Saviour. And this method of considering it does indeed preserve a plausible appearance, but accuracy not at all. Wherefore ruminating again the force of the words, we will affix a more suitable sense, and thus open the reading:

Verily verily I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God; the hour again that is, when they that hear shall live. By the words then in the beginning, He means the time of the resurrection, wherein He teaches through the word of the Judge that they that sleep shall rise again to answer for their life in the world, that as I said before, devising the fear thence arising as a bridle, He might persuade them to live full excellently and wisely: by the closing words He shows that the due time of believing is now come, but also says that everlasting life will be the reward of obedience: all but declaring, Ye shall all come to judgement, sirs, that is at the time of the Resurrection, but if it seem bitter to you to be punished, and to undergo endless penalties at the hand of the offended Judge, suffer not the time of obedience to pass by, but laying hold of it while yet present, haste ye to attain to everlasting life.

The heretics, driven hard by Scripture proofs, are obliged to attribute to the Son at any rate a likeness, in respect of virtue, to the Father. But they do not admit a likeness of nature, not being able to see that a likeness of virtue, could not arise but from a likeness of nature; as an inferior nature can never attain to the virtue of a higher and better one. And it cannot be denied that the Son of God has the same virtue with the Father, when He says, What things soever (the Father) doeth, the same doeth the Son likewise. But an express mention of the likeness of nature follows: As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself. In life are comprehended nature and essence. And the Son, as He hath it, so hath He it given to Him. For the same which is life in both, is essence in both; and the life, i. e. essence, which is begotten from life, is born; though not born unlike the other. For, being life from life, it remains like in nature to its origin.

(vii. de Trin. c. 27, 28) Living born from living, hath the perfection of nativity, without the newness of nature. For there is nothing new implied in generation from living to living, the life not coming at its birth from nothing. And the life which derives its birth from life, must by the unity of nature, and the sacrament of a perfect birth, both be in the living being, and have the being who lives it, in itself. Weak human nature indeed is made up of unequal elements, and brought to life out of inanimate matter; nor does the human offspring live for some time after it is begotten. Neither does it wholly live from life, since much grows up in it insensibly, and decays insensibly. But in the case of God, the whole of what He is, lives: for God is life, and from life, can nothing be but what is living.

For the person of the receiver, is distinct from that of the giver: it being inconceivable that one and the same person, should give to and receive from Himself. He who lives of Himself is one person: He who acknowledges an Author of His life is another.

Moreover, concerning the resurrection and the kingdom of the saints, Daniel says, "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall arise, some to everlasting life, (and some to shame and everlasting contempt)." Esaias says, "The dead men shall arise, and they that are in their tombs shall awake; for the dew from thee is healing to them." The Lord says, "Many in that day shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." And the prophet says, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." And John says, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power." For the second death is the lake of fire that burneth. And again the Lord says, "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun shineth in his glory." And to the saints He will say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." But what saith He to the wicked? "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, which my Father hath prepared." And John says, "Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever maketh and loveth a lie; for your part is in the hell of fire." And in like manner also Esaias: "And they shall go forth and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me. And their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be for a spectacle to all flesh."

As these things, therefore, of which we have spoken before are in the future, beloved, when the one week is divided into parts, and the abomination of desolation has arisen then, and the forerunners of the Lord have finished their proper course, and the whole world, in fine, comes to the consummation, what remains but the manifestation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Son of God, from heaven, for whom we have hoped; who shall bring forth fire and all just judgment against those who have refused to believe in Him? For the Lord says, "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be; for wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together." For the sign of the cross shall arise from the east even unto the west, in brightness exceeding that of the sun, and shall announce the advent and manifestation of the Judge, to give to every one according to his works. For concerning the general resurrection and the kingdom of the saints, Daniel says: "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." And Isaiah says: "The dead shall rise, and those in the tombs shall awake, and those in the earth shall rejoice." And our Lord says: "Many in that day shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live."

And that our bodies are to rise again, He shows when He says, "Verily I say unto you, that the hour cometh, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live." And [says] the apostle, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." And that we must live soberly and righteously, he [shows when he] says again, "Be not deceived: neither adulterers, nor effeminate persons, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor fornicators, nor revilers, nor drunkards, nor thieves, can inherit the kingdom of God." And again, "If the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised; our preaching therefore is vain, and your faith is also vain: ye are yet in your sins. Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. If the dead rise not, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." But if such be our condition and feelings, wherein shall we differ from asses and dogs, who have no care about the future, but think only of eating, and of indulging such appetites as follow after eating? For they are unacquainted with any intelligence moving within them.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that have heard shall live."

Having said the words, He speaketh also of the proof by deeds. For when He had said, "As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will," that the thing may not seem to be mere boasting and pride, He affordeth proof by works, saying, "The hour cometh"; then, that thou mayest not deem that the time is long, He addeth, "and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that have heard shall live." Seest thou here His absolute and unutterable authority? For as it shall be in the Resurrection, even so, He saith, it shall be "now." Then too when we hear His voice commanding us we are raised; for, saith the Apostle, "at the command of God the dead shall arise." "And whence," perhaps some one will ask, "is it clear that the words are not mere boast?" From what He hath added, "and now is"; because had His promises referred only to some future time, His discourse would have been suspected by them, but now He supplieth them with a proof: "While I," saith He, "am tarrying among you, this thing shall come to pass"; and He would not, had He not possessed the power, have promised for that time, lest through the promise He should incur the greater ridicule.

Thus, in the present instance, we have the Spirit giving life to the flesh, which has been subdued by death. For "the hour," he says, "is coming, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." Now, what is "the dead" but the flesh? And what is "the voice of God" but the Word? And what is the Word but the Spirit, who shall justly raise the flesh that he had once himself become and that too from death, which he himself suffered, and from the grave, which he himself once entered?

Thus, in the present instance, we have the Spirit giving life to the flesh which has been subdued by death; for "the hour," says He, "is coming, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." Now, what is "the dead" but the flesh? and what is "the voice of God" but the Word? and what is the Word but the Spirit, who shall justly raise the flesh which He had once Himself become, and that too from death, which He Himself suffered, and from the grave, which He Himself once entered? Then again, when He says, "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall come forth; they that have done good, to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation," -none will after such words be able to interpret the dead "that are in the graves" as any other than the bodies of the flesh, because the graves themselves are nothing but the resting-place of corpses: for it is incontestable that even those who partake of "the old man," that is to say, sinful men-in other words, those who are dead through their ignorance of God (whom our heretics, forsooth, foolishly insist on understanding by the word "graves" )-are plainly here spoken of as having to come from their graves for judgment.

Above He said that whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, and He proclaimed something lofty about Himself. Lest His words be taken for pomposity and empty arrogance, He presents confirmation from deeds as well. He says: "the hour is coming." Then, lest they think of a distant time, He says: "and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son," that is, of Me, now living among you. He says this concerning the dead whom He was going to raise, namely: the son of the widow, the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, and Lazarus.

Here He speaks with a reference to those whom He was about to raise from the dead: viz. the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, the son of the widow, and Lazarus.

778 Amen, amen, I say to you... Since some might doubt if any would pass from death to life, our Lord predicts that this will happen, saying: I say that he [who believes] "will pass from death to life"; and I say it before it actually occurs. And this is what he states, saying: Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming, not determined by a necessity of fate, but by God's decree: "It is the last hour" (1 Jn 2:18). And so that we do not think that it is far off, he adds, and is now here: "it is now the time for us to rise from sleep" (Rom 13:11)—i.e., the hour is now here when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear it will live.

779 This can be explained in two ways. In one way as referring to the resurrection of the body, and so it is said that the hour is coming, and is now here, as if he had said: It is true that eventually all will rise, but even now is the hour when some, whom the Lord was about to resuscitate, shall hear the voice of the Son of God. This is the way Lazarus heard it when it was said to him, "Come forth," as we read below (11:43); and in this way the daughter of the leader of the synagogue heard it (Mt 9:18); and the widow's son (Lk 7:12). Therefore, he says significantly, and is now here, because through me the dead already are beginning to be raised.

Another explanation is given by Augustine, according to which and is now here refers to the resurrection of the soul. For as was said above, resurrection is of two kinds: the resurrection of bodies, which will happen in the future; this does not take place now, but will occur at the future judgment. The other is the resurrection of souls from the death of unbelief to the life of faith, and from the life of injustice to that of justice; and this is now here. Hence he says, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead, i.e., unbelievers and sinners, shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear it will live, according to the true faith.

780 This passage seems to imply two strange occurrences. One, when he says that the dead will hear. The other, when he adds that it is through hearing that they will come to life again, as though hearing comes before life, whereas hearing is a certain function of life. However, if we refer this to the resurrection, it is true that the dead will hear, i.e., obey the voice of the Son of God. For the voice expresses the interior concept. Now all nature obeys the slightest command of the divine will: "He calls into existence what does not exist" (Rom 4:17). According to this, then, wood, stones, all things, not just the dry bones but also the dust of dead bodies, shall hear the voice of the Son of God so far as they obey his slightest will. And this belongs to Christ, not insofar as he is the Son of Man, but insofar as he is the Son of God, because all things obey the Word of God. And so he significantly says, of the Son of God; "What kind of man is this, for the sea and winds obey him?" (Mt 8:27).

If this statement (25b) is understood as referring to the resurrection of souls, then the reason for it is this: the voice of the Son of God has a life-giving power, that voice by which he moves the hearts of the faithful interiorly by inspiration, or exteriorly by his preaching and that of others: "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life" (below 6:64). And so he gives life to the dead when he justifies the wicked. And since hearing is the way to life, either of nature through obedience, namely, by repairing nature, or the hearing of faith by repairing life and justice, he therefore says, and those who hear it, by obedience as to the resurrection of the body, or by faith as to the resurrection of souls, will live, in the body in eternal life, and in justice in the life of grace.

And how hath He? Even as the Father hath. Hear Himself saying, "For as the Father hath life in Himself, so also hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself." Brethren, I shall speak as I shall be able. For these are those words that perplex the puny understanding. Why has He added, "in Himself"? It would suffice to say, "For as the Father hath life, so also hath He given to the Son to have life." He added, "in Himself:" for the Father "hath life in Himself," and the Son hath life in Himself. He meant us to understand something in that which He saith, "in Himself."

And here a secret matter is shut up in this word; let there be knocking, that there may be an opening. O Lord, what is this that Thou hast said? Wherefore hast Thou added, "in Himself"? For did not Paul the apostle, whom Thou madest to live, have life? He had, said He. As for men that were dead to be made alive, and at Thy word to pass unto life by believing; when they shall have passed, will they not have life in Thee? They shall have life; for I said also a little before, "Whoso heareth my words, and believeth Him that sent me, hath eternal life." Therefore those that believe in Thee have life; and Thou hast not said, "in themselves." But when Thou speakest of the Father, "even as the Father hath life in Himself;" again, when Thou speakest of Thyself, Thou saidst, "So also hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself." Even as He hath, so gave He to have. Where hath He? "In Himself." Where gave He to have? "In Himself." Where hath Paul life? Not in himself, but in Christ. Where hast thou, believer? Not in thyself, but in Christ. Let us see whether the apostle says this: "Now I live; but not I, but Christ liveth in me."

Our life, as ours, that is, of our own personal will, will be only evil, sinful, unrighteous; but the life in us that is good is from God, not from ourselves; it is given to us by God, not by ourselves. But Christ hath life in Himself, as the Father hath, because He is the Word of God. With Him, it is not the case that He liveth now ill, now well; but as for man, he liveth now ill, now well. He who was living ill, was in his own life; he who is living well, is passed to the life of Christ. Thou art made a partaker of life; thou wast not that which thou hast received, but wast one who received: but it is not so with the Son of God as if at first He was without life, and then received life. For if thus He received life, He would not have it in Himself. For, indeed, what is in Himself? That He should Himself be the very life.

I may perhaps declare that matter more plainly still. One lights a candle: that candle, for example, so far as regards the little flame which shines there-that fire has light in itself; but thine eyes, which lay idle and saw nothing, in the absence of the candle, now have light also, but not in themselves. Further, if they turn away from the candle, they are made dark; if they turn to it, they are illumined. But certainly that fire shines so long as it exists: if thou wouldst take the light from it, thou dost also at the same time extinguish it; for without the light it cannot remain. But Christ is light inextinguishable and co-eternal with the Father, always bright, always shining, always burning: for if He were not burning, would it be said in the psalm, "Nor is there any that can hide himself from his heat"?

But thou wast cold in thy sin; thou turnest that thou mayest become warm; if thou wilt turn away, thou wilt become cold. In thy sin thou wast dark; thou turnest in order to be enlightened; if thou turnest away, thou wilt become dark. Therefore, because in thyself thou wast darkness, when thou shalt be enlightened, thou wilt be light, though in the light. For saith the apostle, "Ye were once darkness, but now light in the Lord." When he had said, "but now light," he added, "in the Lord." Therefore in thyself darkness, "light in the Lord." In what way "light"? Because by participation of that light thou art light. But if thou wilt depart from the light by which thou art enlightened, thou returnest to thy darkness.

Not so Christ, not so the Word of God. But how not? "As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given also to the Son to have life in Himself;" so that He lives, not by participation, but unchangeably, and is altogether Himself life. "So hath He given also to the Son to have life." Even as He hath, so has He given. What is the difference? For the one gave, the other received. Was He already in being when He received? Are we to understand that Christ was at any time in being without light, when Himself is the wisdom of the Father, of which it is said, "It is the brightness of the eternal light"? Therefore what is said, "gave to the Son," is such as if it were said, "begat the Son;" for by begetting He gave. As He gave Him to be, so He gave Him to be life, so also gave Him to be life in Himself. What is that, to be life in Himself? Not to need life from elsewhere, but to be Himself the plenitude of life, out of which others believing should have life while they lived. "Hath given Him," then, "to have life in Himself." Hath given as to whom? As to His own Word, as to Him who "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God."

Concerning this very resurrection He immediately subjoined, "For as the Father hath life in Himself, even so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself." What means that, "The Father hath life in Himself"? Not elsewhere hath He life but in Himself. His living, in fact, is in Him, not from elsewhere, nor derived from another. He does not, as it were, borrow life, nor, as it were, become a partaker of life, of a life which is not what Himself is: but "hath life in Himself," so that the very life is to Him His very self.

If I should be able yet further in some small measure to speak from this matter, by proposing examples for informing your understanding, will depend on God's help and the piety of your attention. God lives, and the soul also lives; but the life of God is unchangeable, the life of the soul is changeable. In God is neither increase nor decrease; but He is the same always in Himself, is ever as He is: not in one way now, in another way hereafter, in some other way before. But the life of the soul is exceedingly various: it lived foolish, it lives wise; it lived unrighteous, it lives righteous; now remembers, now forgets; now learns, now cannot learn; now loses what it had learned, now apprehends what it had lost. The life of the soul is changeable. And when the soul lives in unrighteousness, that is its death; when again it becomes righteous, it becomes partaker of another life, which is not what itself is, inasmuch as by rising up to God, and cleaving to God, of Him it is justified. For it is said, "To him that believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." By forsaking God, it becomes unrighteous; by coming to Him, it is made righteous.

Consequently, to have light in oneself is not to need light from another. Behold, whoso understands wherein He shows that the Son is equal with the Father, when He saith, "As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son also to have life in Himself;" that there may be only this difference between the Father and the Son, that the Father hath life in Himself, which none gave Him, whilst the Son hath life in Himself which the Father gave.

But here also arises a cloud that must be scattered. Let us not lose heart, let us strive in earnest. Here are pastures of the mind; let us not disdain them, that we may live. Behold, sayest thou, thyself confessest that the Father hath given life to the Son, that He may have life in Himself, even as the Father hath life in Himself; that the Father not lacking, the Son may not lack; that as the Father is life, so the Son may be life; and both united one life, not two lives; because God is one, not two Gods; and this same is to be life. How, then, is the Father said to have given life to the Son? Not so as if the Son had been without life before, and received life from the Father that He might live; for if it were so, He would not have life in Himself.

Behold, I was speaking of the soul. The soul exists; though it be not wise, though it be not righteous, though it be not godly, it is soul. It is one thing for it to be soul, but another thing to be wise, to be righteous, to be godly. Something there is, then, in which it is not yet wise, not yet righteous, not yet godly. Nevertheless it is not therefore nothing, it is not therefore non-life; for it shows itself to be alive by certain of its own actions, although it does not show itself to be wise, godly, or righteous. For if it were not living it would not move the body, would not command the feet to walk, the hands to work, the eyes to look, the ears to hear; would not open the mouth for speaking, nor move the tongue to distinction of speech. So, then, by these operations it shows itself to have life, and to be something which is better than the body. But does it in any wise show itself by these operations to be wise, godly, or righteous? Do not the foolish, the wicked, the unrighteous walk, work, see, hear, speak? But when the soul rises to something which itself is not, which is above itself, and from which its being is, then it gets wisdom, righteousness, holiness, which so long as it was without, it was dead, and did not have the life by which itself should live, but only that by which the body was quickened. For that in the soul by which the body is quickened is one thing, that by which the soul itself is quickened is another. Better, certainly, than the body is the soul, but better than the soul itself is God.

The soul, even if it be foolish, ungodly, unrighteous, is the life of the body. But since its own life is God, just as it supplies vigor, comeliness, activity, the functions of the limbs to the body, while it exists in the body; so, in like manner, while God, its life, is in the soul, He supplies to it wisdom, godliness, righteousness, charity. Accordingly, what the soul supplies to the body, and what God supplies to the soul, are of a different kind: the soul quickens and is quickened. It quickens while dead, even if itself is not quickened. But when the word comes, and is poured into the hearers, and they not only hear, but are made obedient, the soul rises from its death to its life - that is, from unrighteousness, from folly, from ungodliness, to its God, who is to it wisdom, righteousness, light.

Let it rise to Him, and be enlightened by Him. "Come near," saith he, "to Him." And what shall we have? "And be enlightened." If, therefore, by "coming to" ye are enlightened, and by "departing from" ye become darkened, your light was not in yourselves, but in your God. Come to Him that ye may rise again: if ye depart from Him, ye shall die. If by coming to Him ye live, and by departing from Him ye die, your life was not in yourselves. For the same is your life which is your light. "Because with Thee is the fountain of life, and in Thy light we shall see light."

Not, then, in like manner as the soul is one thing before it is enlightened, and becomes a better thing when it is enlightened, by participation of a better; not so, I say, was the Word of God, the Son of God, something else before He received life, that He should have life by participation; but He has life in Himself, and is consequently Himself the very life. What is it, then, that He saith, "hath given to the Son to have life in Himself"? I would say it briefly, He begot the Son. For it is not that He existed without life, and received life, but He is life by being begotten. The Father is life not by being begotten; the Son is life by being begotten. The Father is of no father; the Son is of God the Father. The Father in His being is of none, but in that He is Father, it is because of the Son. But the Son also, in that He is Son, it is because of the Father: in His being, He is of the Father.

This He said, therefore: "hath given life to the Son, that He might have it in Himself." Just as if He were to say, "The Father, who is life in Himself, begot the Son, who should be life in Himself." Indeed, He would have this "hath given" to be understood for the same thing as "hath begotten." It is like as if we said to a person, "God hath given thee being." To whom? If to some one already existing, then He gave him not being, because he who could receive existed before it was given him. When, therefore, thou hearest it said, "He gave thee being," thou wast not in being to receive, but thou didst receive, that thou shouldst be by coming into existence. The builder gave to this house that it should be. But what did he give to it? He gave it to be a house. To what did he give? To this house. Gave it what? To be a house. How could he give to a house that it should be a house? For if the house was, to what did he give to be a house, when the house existed already? What, then, does that mean, "gave it to be a house"? It means, he brought to pass that it should be a house. Well, then, what gave He to the Son? Gave Him to be the Son, begot Him to be life - that is, "gave Him to have life in Himself" - that He should be the life not needing life, that He may not be understood as having life by participation.

For if He had life by participation, He might, by losing, be without life. Do not take, nor think, nor believe this to be possible respecting the Son. Wherefore the Father continues the life, the Son continues the life: the Father, life in Himself, not from the Son; the Son, life in Himself, but from the Father. Begotten of the Father, that He might live in Himself; but the Father, not begotten, life in Himself. Nor did He beget the Son less than Himself to become equal by growth. For surely He by whom, being perfect, the times were created, was not assisted by time towards His own perfection. Before all time, He is co-eternal with the Father. For the Father has never been without the Son; but the Father is eternal, therefore also the Son co-eternal.

Soul, what of thee? Thou wast dead, didst lose life; hear then the Father through the Son. Arise, take to thee life, that in Him who has life in Himself thou mayest receive the life which is not in thee. He that giveth thee life, then, is the Father and the Son; and the first resurrection is accomplished when thou risest to partake of the life which thou art not thyself, and by partaking art made living. Rise from thy death to thy life, which is thy God, and pass from death to eternal life. For the Father hath eternal life in Himself; and unless He had begotten such a Son as had life in Himself, it could not be that as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, so also the Son should quicken whom He will.

(Tr. xxii. s. 9) But some one will ask, Hath the Son life, whence those who believe will live? Hear His own words: As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself. Life is original and absolute in Him, cometh from no other source, dependeth on no other power. He is not as if He were partaker of a life, which is not Himself; but has life in Himself: so as that He Himself is His own life. Hear, O dead soul, the Father, speaking by the Son: arise, that thou mayest receive that life which thou hast not in thyself, and enter into the first resurrection. For this life, which the Father and the Son are, pertaineth to the soul, and is not perceived by the body. The rational mind only discovers the life of wisdom.

(xv. de Trin. c. 47. [xxvi.]) The Father must he understand not to have given life to the Son, who was existing without life, but so to have begotten Him, independently of time, that the life which He gave Him in begetting, was coeternal with His own.

(Tr. xxii. s. 10) Given to the Son, then, has the meaning of, begat the Son; for He gave Him the life, by begetting. As He gave Him being, so He gave Him to have life in Himself; so that the Son did not stand in need of life to come to Him from without; but was in Himself the fulness of life, whence others, i. e. believers, received their life. What then is the difference between Them? This, that one gave, the other received.

"For as the Father has life in himself." The third point is touched upon here, namely by what power he gives life, since by his own power according to the Divinity given to him by the Father through generation: whence he says: I have rightly said that the Son gives life: "for as the Father has life in himself," that is, by essence: "so he has given to the Son also to have life in himself," that is, by essence, not by participation. And because that which is life by essence pours life into all things, as Dionysius says; therefore the Son is able of himself to give life. Whence below in the eleventh chapter: "I am the resurrection and the life: he who believes in me, even if he shall have died, shall live": similarly below in the fourteenth chapter: "I am the way, the truth, and the life"; I am not living by another's life, but I am life, giving others to live.

This fountainhead, however, is in a certain way the origin of another totality. For since the Father produces the Son, and through the Son and with the Son produces the Holy Spirit, therefore God the Father, through the Son with the Holy Spirit, is the principle of all created things: for unless He produced them from eternity, He could not produce through them in time: and therefore by reason of that production in the Trinity He is rightly said to be the fountain of life. For just as He has life in Himself, so He gives the Son to have life in Himself, etc. Hence it is that eternal life is this alone, that the rational spirit, which flows from the most blessed Trinity and is the image of the Trinity, returns by way of a certain intelligible circle through memory, understanding, and will, through the deiformity of glory into the most blessed Trinity.

Observe again the economy in these words, that thou mayest marvel at the form of expression and not, by falling into offence thereat from ignorance, bring upon thyself perdition. For the Only-Begotten, being Man in respect of the nature of His Body, and seen as one of us while yet upon the earth with flesh, manifoldly instructing the Jews in matters pertaining to salvation, clothed Himself with the glory of two God-befitting things. For He clearly affirmed, that He would both raise the dead, and set them at His Judgement-seat to be judged. But it was extremely likely that the hearers would be vexed at this, accusing Him with reason, because He said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. Having mingled therefore with God-befitting Authority and Splendour language befitting the human nature, He beguiles the weight of their wrath, saying more modestly and lowlily than was necessary, For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son too to have life in Himself. Marvel not (saith He) if I, Who am now as you, and am seen as a Man, promise to raise the dead, and threaten to bring them to judgement: the Father hath given Me Power to quicken, He hath given Me to judge with authority. But when He had hereby healed the readily-slipping ear of the Jews, He bestows zealous care for the profit too of what follows, and immediately explaining why He says that He hath received it, He alleges that human nature hath nothing of itself, saying, Because He is the Son of Man.

For that the Only Begotten is also Life by Nature, and not a partaker of life from another, and so quickeneth as doth the Father, I think it superfluous to say now, since no small discourse was expended hereupon in the beginning of the book, upon the words, In Him was Life.

He bore witness that life, to the fullest extent, is his gift from the living God. Now if the living Son was born from the living Father, that birth took place without a new nature coming into existence. Nothing new comes into existence when the living is begotten by the living, for life was not sought out from the nonexistent in order to receive birth. And life, which receives its birth from life, must—because of that unity of nature and because of the mysterious event of that perfect and ineffable birth—live always in [Christ], who lives and has the life of the living in himself.

"For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself."

Seest thou that this declareth a perfect likeness save in one point, which is the One being a Father, and the Other a Son? for the expression "hath given," merely introduceth this distinction, but declareth that all the rest is equal and exactly alike. Whence it is clear that the Son doeth all things with as much authority and power as the Father, and that He is not empowered from some other source, for He "hath life" so as the Father hath.

The Father, he says, gave him his same ability to raise [from the dead] and conferred on him the same power to judge. And, as far as saying these things about the man [Jesus], he is correct because in his union with the Word he received omnipotence like the Father has.

Then He adds also a rational proof of His words. "As," He says, "the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son to have life in Himself," so that He might give life to those who hear His voice.

Above, our Lord showed that he had the power to give life and to judge; and he explained each by its effect. Here he shows how each of these powers belongs to him. First, he shows this with respect to his life-giving power. Secondly, with respect to his power to judge (v 27).

So he says, first: I say that as the Father raises the dead, so I do also; and anyone who hears my word has eternal life. And I possess this because, just as the Father possesses life in himself, so he has given it to the Son to have life in himself.

Apropos of this, we should note that some who live do not have life in themselves: as Paul, "I am living by faith in the Son of God" (Gal 2:20); and again in the same place: "it is not I who now live, but Christ lives in me." Thus he lived, yet not in himself, but in another through whom he lived: as a body lives, although it does not have life in itself, but in a soul through which it lives. So that has life in itself which has an essential, non-participated life, i.e., that which is itself life. Now in every genus of things, that which is something through its essence is the cause of those things that are it by participation, as fire is the cause of all things afire. And so, that which is life through its essence, is the cause and principle of all life in living things. Accordingly, if something is to be a principle of life, it must be life through its essence. And so our Lord fittingly shows that he is the principle of all life by saying that he has life in himself, i.e., through his essence, when he says: just as the Father possesses life in himself, i.e., as he is living through his essence, so does the Son. Therefore, as the Father is the cause of life, so also is his Son.

Further, he shows the equality of the Son to the Father when he says, as the Father possesses life in himself; and he shows their distinction when he says, he has given it to the Son. For the Father and the Son are equal in life; but they are distinct, because the Father gives, and the Son receives. However, we should not understand this to mean that the Son receives life from the Father as if the Son first existed without having life, as in lower things a first matter, already existing, receives a form, and as a subject receives accidents: because in the Son there is nothing that exists prior to the reception of life. For as Hilary says: "the Son has nothing unless it is begotten," i.e., nothing but what he receives through his birth. And since the Father is life itself, the meaning of, he has given it to the Son to have life in himself, is that the Father produced the Son as living. As if one were to say: the mind gives life to the word, not as though the word existed and then receives life, but because the mind produces the word in the same life by which it lives.

According to Hilary, this passage destroys three heresies. First, that of the Arians, who said that the Son is inferior to the Father. They were forced by what was stated earlier, that is, "For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise" (5:19), to say that the Son is equal to the Father in power; but they still denied that the Son is equal to the Father in nature. But now, this too is refuted by this statement, namely, just as the Father possesses life in himself, so he has given it to the Son to have life in himself. For since life pertains to the nature, if the Son has life in himself as does the Father, it is clear that he has in himself, by his very origin, a nature indivisible from and equal to that of the Father.

The second error is also Arian: their denial that the Son is coeternal with the Father, when they say that the Son began to exist in time. This is destroyed when he says, the Son has life in himself. For in all living things whose generation occurs in time, it is always possible to find something that at some time or other was not living. But in the Son, whatever is, is life itself. Consequently, he so received life itself that he has life in himself, so as always to have been living.

Thirdly, by saying, he has given, he destroys the error of Sabellius, who denied the distinction of persons. For if the Father gave life to the Son, it is obvious that the Father, who gave it, is other than the Son, who received it.

Some think that it should read, "He gave him authority also to execute judgment because he is the Son of man." But this connection makes no sense, for he is not our judge "because he is the Son of man," but rather because he is the Son of God. That is why he is our judge.

And he has granted him power to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Therefore, that form will come for judgment. The form of a man will come for judgment; hence he says: He has granted him power to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. The judge here will be the Son of Man; that form will judge here which has been judged. Listen, and understand, this the Prophet had already said: They will look on the one they have pierced. They will see that very form, which they pierced with a lance. The judge will sit, who stood before the judge. He will condemn the true guilty, who was made a false guilty one. He himself will come, that form will come. You have this also in the Gospel: when, before the eyes of his disciples, he went into heaven, they were standing and watching, and an angelic voice sounded: Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking? etc. This same Jesus will come in the same way as you saw him going into heaven. What does it mean: he will come in the same way? He will come in the same form: For he has granted him power to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. See, however, in what way this was necessary, and it was right, that those to be judged should see the judge. For both the good and the bad were to be judged. But blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. It remains, then, that in judgment the form of a servant should be shown to both the good and the bad, the form of God should be reserved for the good alone.

Wherefore, keep not silent, O Lord, concerning the resurrection of the flesh; lest men believe it not, and we continue reasoners, not preachers. But "as the Father hath life in Himself, even so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself." Let them that hear, understand; let them believe that they may understand; let them obey that they may live. And that they may not suppose that the resurrection is finished here, let them hear this further: "and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also." Who hath given? The Father. To whom hath He given? To the Son; namely, to whom He gave to have life in Himself, to the same hath He given authority to execute judgment.

"Because He is the Son of man." For this is the Christ, both Son of God and Son of man. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God." Behold, how He hath given Him to have life in Himself! But because "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," was made man of the Virgin Mary, He is the Son of man. What, therefore, hath He received as Son of man? Authority to execute judgment. What judgment? That in the end of the world. Then also there will be a resurrection, but a resurrection of bodies. So, then, God raiseth up souls by Christ, the Son of God; bodies He raiseth up by the same Christ, the Son of man. "Hath given Him authority." He should not have this authority did He not receive it; and He should be a man without authority. But the same who is Son of God is also Son of man. For by adhering to the unity of person, the Son of man with the Son of God is made one person, and the Son of God is the same person which the Son of man is.

But what characteristic it has, and wherefore, must be distinguished. The Son of man has soul and body. The Son of God, which is the Word of God, has man, as the soul has body. And just as soul having body does not make two persons, but one man; so the Word, having man, maketh not two persons, but one Christ. What is man? A rational soul, having a body. What is Christ? The Word of God, having man. I see of what things I speak, who I the speaker am, and to whom I am speaking.

Now hear concerning the resurrection of bodies, not me, but the Lord about to speak, on account of those who have risen again by a resurrection from death, by cleaving to life. To what life? To a life which knows not death. Why knows not death? Because it knows not mutability. Why knows not mutability? Because it is life in itself. "And hath given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man." What judgment, what kind of judgment? "Marvel not at this" which I have said, - gave Him authority to execute judgment, - "for the hour is coming." He does not add, "and now is:" therefore He means to make known to us a certain hour in the end of the world.

The hour is now that the dead rise, the hour will be in the end of the world that the dead rise: but that they rise now in the mind, then in the flesh; that they rise now in the mind by the Word of God, the Son of God; then in the flesh by the Word of God made flesh, the Son of man. For it will not be the Father Himself that will come to judgment, notwithstanding the Father doth not withdraw Himself from the Son. How, then, is it that the Father Himself will not come? In that He will not be seen in the judgment. "They shall look on Him whom they pierced." That form which stood before the judge, will be Judge: that form will judge which was judged; for it was judged unjustly, it will judge justly.

There will come the form of a servant, and that same will be apparent. For how could the form of God be made apparent to the just and to the unjust? If the judgment were to be only among the just, then the form of God might appear as to the just. But because the judgment is to be of the just and of the unjust, and that it is not permitted to the wicked to see God, - for "blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," - such a Judge will appear as may be seen by those whom He is about to crown, and by those whom He is about to condemn. Hence the form of a servant will be seen, the form of God will be hid. The Son of God will be hid in the servant, and the Son of man will be manifest, since to Him "hath He given authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man."

And because He alone will appear in the form of a servant, but the Father not, since He has not taken upon Him the form of a servant; for that reason He saith above: "The Father judgeth not any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son." Rightly then had it been deferred, that the propounder might Himself be the interpreter. For before it was hidden; now, as I think, it is already manifest, that "He gave Him authority to execute judgment," that "the Father judgeth not any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son:" because the judgment is to be by that form which the Father hath not.

Afterwards, because He was made man, what gave He to Him? "And hath given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man." In that He is the Son of God, "As the Father hath life in Himself, so also hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself;" in that He is the Son of man, "He hath given Him authority of executing judgment." This is what I explained to you yesterday, my beloved, that in the judgment man will be seen, but God will not be seen; but after the judgment, God will be seen by those who have prevailed in the judgment, but by the wicked He will not be seen. Since, therefore, the man will be seen in the judgment in that form in which He will so come as He ascended, for that reason He had said above, "The Father judgeth not any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son."

He repeats the same thing also in this place, when He says, "And hath given Him authority of executing judgment, because He is the Son of man." As if thou wert to say, "hath given Him authority of executing judgment." In what way? When He had not that authority of executing judgment? Since "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;" since "all things were made by Him," did He not already have authority of executing judgment? Yes, but according to this, I say, "He gave Him authority of executing judgment, because He is the Son of man:" according to this, He received authority of judging "because He is the Son of man." For in that He is the Son of God, He always had this authority. He that was crucified, received; He who was in death, is in life: the Word of God never was in death, but is always in life.

(Tr. xxii. in Joan. s. 10, 11) Or thus: Inasmuch as the Word was in the beginning with God, the Father gave Him to have life in Himself; but inasmuch as the Word was made flesh of the Virgin Mary, being made man, He became the Son of man: and as the Son of man, He received power to execute judgment at the end of the world; at which time the bodies of the dead shall rise again. The souls then of the dead God raises by Christ the Son of God; their bodies by the same Christ, the Son of man. Wherefore He adds, Because He is the Son of man: for, as to the Son of God, He always had the power.

(de Ver. Dom. Ser. 64) At the judgment will appear the form of man, that form will judge, which was judged; He will sit a Judge Who stood before the judge; He will condemn the guilty, Who was condemned innocent. For it is proper that the judged should see their Judge. Now the judged consist of both good and bad; so that the form of the servant will be shown to good and bad alike; the form of God to the good only. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matt. 5:8)

He has declared his power in giving life; here he declares his power in judging: and indeed he does this in this order. For first he touches upon by what power he judges: second, whom he judges: third, how he judges, according to those three things according to which the power of giving life was described.

First, therefore, he determines by what power he judges, since by the power conferred upon him according to his humanity by the Father. Therefore he says: "And he gave him power," namely the Father to the Son, "to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man": therefore in his humanity, so that the reprobate may see him in judgment, who cannot see God: Revelation 1: "Every eye shall see him, and they who pierced him"; therefore in his humanity, because in his humanity he was judged: Job 36: "Your cause has been judged as that of the wicked; you shall receive judgment and cause."

It is asked here: according to which nature was the power of judging given to the Son? That it was according to the human nature, it seems: from the text: "And he gave him power to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man." Likewise, Augustine: "He gave him the power of judgment by sending him into the flesh." But to the contrary: Deuteronomy 32: "Vengeance is mine, and I will repay," says the Lord; therefore vengeance belongs to God alone; therefore if judgment is vengeance, it therefore belongs to the Son according to the divine nature. And this is shown from the text: "The Father has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father"; but the Son is not to be honored as the Father according to the human nature, but only according to the divine; therefore, etc.

I respond: It must be said that the power of judging is twofold, namely of authority and of ministry. The first belongs to the whole Trinity, but that of ministry belongs to the Son sitting and appearing in judgment, and this according to the human nature, and it is of this that he speaks here. Therefore, as to the objection: Vengeance is mine, etc., this does not exclude the incarnate Son, but a mere man. To the objection concerning honor, it must be said that the person of the Son seemed to have descended on account of the humiliation of the incarnation: therefore the Father willed that in the same humanity in which he appeared lowly, he should judge, so that no one would despise him incarnate, but would fear him as the Father, as one whose sentence remains inviolable: hence he makes judgment through his humanity to be feared through his divinity.

O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments, and unsearchable His ways! From which it is gathered that those things which pertain to divine wisdom are more comprehensible than the divine judgments; but in John 5 it is said that the Father has given all judgment to the Son, because He is the Son of man; from which it is gathered that the soul of Christ comprehends the divine judgments: therefore if those are less comprehensible than the others, much more strongly does He comprehend all the others.

To that which is objected, that the soul of Christ comprehends all the divine judgments: it can be said that those things are said of the assumed man on account of the communication of idioms; or certainly they are said of those things which are, were, and will be, which indeed can be comprehended by the soul of Christ; but it is not true with respect to all things that the divine wisdom understands, since it knows infinite things, as is clear from what has been determined above.

For the person of the receiver, is distinct from that of the giver: it being inconceivable that one and the same person, should give to and receive from Himself. He who lives of Himself is one person: He who acknowledges an Author of His life is another.

"Hath given Him authority to execute judgment also."

And wherefore doth He continually dwell upon "resurrection" and "judgment"? For He saith, "As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He will": and again, "the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son": and again, "As the Father hath life in Himself so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself"; and again, "They that have heard the Voice of the Son of God shall live"; and here again, "Hath given to Him authority to execute judgment." Wherefore doth He dwell on these things continually? I mean, on "judgment," and "life," and "resurrection"? It is because these subjects are able most of any to attract even the obstinate hearer. For the man who is persuaded that he shall both rise again and shall give account to Christ of his transgressions, even though he have seen no other sign, yet having admitted this, will surely run to Him to propitiate his Judge.

"That He is the Son of Man, marvel not at this."

Paul of Samosata rendereth it not so; but how? "Hath given Him authority to execute judgment, 'because' He is the Son of Man." Now the passage thus read is inconsequent, for He did not receive judgment "because" He was man, (since then what hindered all men from being judges,) but because He is the Son of that Ineffable Essence, therefore is He Judge. So we must read, "That He is the Son of Man, marvel not at this." For when what He said seemed to the hearers inconsistent, and they deemed Him nothing more than mere man, while His words were greater than suited man, yea, or even angel, and were proper to God only, to solve this objection He addeth, "Marvel not that He is the Son of Man, for the hour is coming in the which they that are in the tombs shall hear His voice and shall go forth, they that have done good to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil to the resurrection of judgment."

And wherefore said He not, "Marvel not that He is the Son of Man, for He is also the Son of God," but rather mentioned the "resurrection"? He did indeed put this above, by saying, "shall hear the Voice of the Son of God." And if here He is silent on the matter, wonder not; for after mentioning a work which was proper to God, He then permitteth His hearers to collect from it that He was God, and the Son of God. For had this been continually asserted by Himself, it would at that time have offended them, but when proved by the argument of miracles, it rendered His doctrine less burdensome.

(Hom. xxxix. s. 3) But why does He dwell so constantly on these subjects; judgment, resurrection, and life? Because these are the most powerful arguments for bringing men over to the faith, and the most likely ones to prevail with obstinate hearers. For one who is persuaded that he shall rise again, and be called by the Son to account for his misdeeds, will, though he know nothing more than this, be anxious to propitiate his Judge. It follows, Because He is the Son of man, marvel not at this. Paul of Samosata reads it, Hath given Him power to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man. But this connection has no meaning; for He does not receive the power to judge because He is man, (as, on this supposition, what would prevent all men from being judges:) but because He is the ineffable Son of God; therefore is He Judge. We must read it then, Because He is the Son of man, marvel not at this. As Christ's hearers thought him a mere man, and as what He asserted of Himself was too high to be true of men, or even angels, or any being short of God Himself, there was a strong obstacle in the way of their believing, which our Lord notices in order to remove it: Marvel not, He says, that He is the Son of man: and then adds the reason why they should not marvel: For the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And why did He not say, Marvel not that He is the Son of man: because in truth He is the Son of God? Because, having given out that it was He who should raise men from the dead, the resurrection being a strictly divine work, He leaves His hearers to infer that He is God, and the Son of God. Persons in arguing often do this. When they have brought out grounds amply sufficient to prove the conclusion they want, they do not draw that conclusion themselves; but, to make the victory greater, leave the opponent to draw it. In referring above to the resurrection of Lazarus and the rest, he said nothing about judgment, for Lazarus did not rise again for judgment; whereas now, that He is speaking of the general resurrection, He brings in the mention of the judgment: And (they) shall come forth, He says, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. Having said above, He that heareth My words, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life; that men might not suppose from this, that belief was sufficient for salvation, He proceeds to speak of works: And they that have done good,—and they that have done evil.

And He gave Him authority not only to give life, but also to execute judgment, that is, to punish and deliver to torments. He frequently introduces the subject of judgment in order to draw His listeners to Himself. For whoever is convinced that he will rise again and will have to give an account to Him for his transgressions will, without a doubt, hasten to Him in order to propitiate Him as his future Judge. "Do not marvel that He is the Son of Man." Although He is the Son of Man, He is at the same time also God. Therefore He rightly has the authority of judgment as the Son of God. Although He appears to be a man, do not marvel. It is necessary to know that Paul of Samosata, presenting the Lord as a mere man, read this passage thus: "and gave Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is a son of man." Placing a stop here, he read with a new beginning: "Marvel not at this." Such a reading is completely unreasonable. For the Father gave judgment to the Son not because He is the Son of Man, but because He is God. But he, not tolerating calling Christ God, but calling Him the Son of Man, understood it so that He is judge not as God, but as a son of man. We, however, understand it as it is stated.

The Father granted the Son power not only to give life, but also to execute judgment. And hath given Him authority to execute judgment.

Then, he makes it clear that he has the power to judge. First, he reveals his judiciary power. Secondly, he gives a reason for what he has said (v 30). As to the first he does two things. First, he indicates the origin of his judiciary power. Secondly, he shows that his judgment is just (v 29).

With regard to the first, we should note that his statement, he [the Father] gave him the power, can be understood in two ways. One way is that of Augustine; the other is that of Chrysostom.

If we understand it as Chrysostom does, then this section is divided into two parts. First, he reveals the origin of his judiciary power. Secondly, he settles a difficulty (v 27b).

Chrysostom punctuates this section in the following way. He gave him the power to pass judgment. And then a new sentence begins: Because he is the Son of Man, do not be surprised at this. The reason for this punctuation is that Paul of Samosata, an early heretic, who like Photius said that Christ was only a man and took his origin from the Virgin, punctuated it as: He gave him the power to pass judgment because he is the Son of Man. And then he began a new sentence: Do not be surprised at this, since the hour is coming. It was as if he thought that it was necessary for judiciary power to be given to Christ because he is the Son of Man, that is, a mere man, who, of himself, cannot judge men. And so, if Christ is to judge others, he must be given the power to judge.

But this, according to Chrysostom, cannot stand, because it is not at all in agreement with what is stated. For if it is because he is a man that he receives judiciary power, then for the same reason, since it would belong to every man to have judiciary power in virtue of his human nature, it would not belong to Christ any more than to other men. So we should not understand it this way. Rather, we should say that because Christ is the ineffable Son of God, he is on that account also judge. And this is what he says: The Father not only gave him the power to give life, but also he gave him the power, through eternal generation, to pass judgment, just as he gave him, through eternal generation, to have life in himself: "He is the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and of the dead," as we read in Acts (10:42).

Augustine punctuates this passage in the following way. And he gave him the power to pass judgment because he is the Son of Man. And then a new sentence follows: Do not be surprised at this. In this interpretation there are two parts. The first concerns the power to judge granted to the Son of Man. In the second, the granting of an even greater power is made clear, at Do not be surprised at this.

As to the first we should note that, according to the mind of Augustine, he spoke above of the resurrection of souls, which is accomplished through the Son of God, but here he is speaking of the resurrection of bodies, which is accomplished through the Son of Man. And because the general resurrection of bodies will take place at the time of judgment, he mentions the judgment first, in saying, And he [the Father] gave him, i.e., Christ, the power to pass judgment, and this, because he is the Son of Man, i.e., according to his human nature. Thus it is also after the resurrection that he says in Matthew (28:18): "All power has been given to me, in heaven and on earth."

There are three reasons why judiciary power has been given to Christ as man. First, in order that he might be seen by all: for it is necessary that a judge be seen by all who are to be judged. Now both the good and the wicked will be judged. And the good will see Christ in his divinity and in his humanity; while the wicked will not be able to see him in his divinity, because this vision is the happiness of the saints and is seen only by the pure in heart: "Happy are the pure in heart, for they will see God" (Mt 5:8). And so, in order that Christ can be seen at the judgment not only by the good, but also by the wicked, he will judge in human form: "Every eye will see him, and all who pierced him" (Rv 1:7).

Secondly, the power to judge was given to Christ as man because by the self-abasement of his passion he merited the glory of an exaltation. Thus, just as he who died arose, so that [human] form which was judged, will judge, and he who stood before a human judge will preside at the judgment of men. He who was falsely found guilty will condemn the truly guilty, as Augustine remarks in his work, The Sayings of the Lord. "Your cause has been judged as that of the wicked; but cause and judgment you will recover" (Jb 36:17).

Thirdly, Christ as man was given judiciary power to suggest the compassion of the judge. For it is very terrifying for a man to be judged by God: "It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb 10:31); but it produces confidence for a man to have another man as his judge. Accordingly, so you can experience the compassion of your judge, you will have a man as judge: "We do not have a high priest who cannot have compassion on our weakness" (Heb 4:15).

Thus, he gave him, Christ, the power to pass judgment because he is the Son of Man.

Now, therefore, as to a resurrection, perhaps some one of us was saying: Behold, we have risen; he who hears Christ, and believes, and is passed from death to life, also will not come into judgment. The hour cometh, and now is, that whoso heareth the voice of the Son of God shall live: he was dead, he has heard; behold, he doth rise. What is this that is said, that there is to be a resurrection afterwards? Spare thyself, do not hasten the sentence, lest thou hurry after it. There is, indeed, this resurrection which comes to pass now; unbelievers were dead, the unrighteous were dead; the righteous live, they pass from the death of unbelief to the life of faith. But do not thence believe that there will not be a resurrection afterwards of the body; believe that there will be a resurrection of the body also.

For hear what follows after the declaration of this resurrection which is by faith, lest any should think this to be the only resurrection, or fall into that desperation and error of men who perverted the thoughts of others, "saying that the resurrection is past already," of whom the apostle saith, "and they overthrow the faith of some." For I believe that they were saying to them such words as these: "Behold, when the Lord saith, 'And he that believeth in me is passed from death unto life;' the resurrection has already taken place in believing men, who were before unbelievers: how can a second resurrection be meant?" Thanks to our Lord God, He supports the wavering, directs the perplexed, confirms the doubting.

Hear what follows, now that thou hast not whereof to make to thyself the darkness of death. If thou hast believed, believe the whole. What whole, sayest thou, am I to believe? Hear what He saith: "Marvel not at this," namely, that He gave to the Son authority of making judgment. I say, in the end of the world, saith He. How in the end? "Do not marvel at this; for the hour cometh." Here He has not said, "and now is." In reference to that resurrection of faith, what did He say? "The hour cometh, and now is." In reference to that resurrection which He intimates there will be of dead bodies, He said, "The hour cometh;" He has not said, "and now is," because it is to come in the end of the world.

And whence, sayest thou, dost thou prove to me that He spoke about the resurrection itself? If thou hear patiently, thou wilt presently prove it to thyself. Let us go on then: "Marvel not at this; for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the graves." What more evident than this resurrection? A while ago, He had not said, "they that are in the graves," but, "The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live." He has not said, some shall live, others shall be damned; because all who believe shall live. But what does He say concerning the graves? "All that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth." He said not, "shall hear and live." For if they have lived wickedly, and lay in the graves, they shall rise to death, not to life.

Let us see, then, who shall come forth. Although, a little before, the dead by hearing and believing did live, there was no distinction there made: it was not said, The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and when they shall have heard, some shall live, and some shall be damned; but, "all that hear shall live:" because they that believe shall live, they that have charity shall live, and none of them shall die. But concerning the graves, "They shall hear His voice, and come forth: they that have done well, to the resurrection of life; they that have done ill, to the resurrection of judgment." This is the judgment, that punishment of which He had said a while before, "Whoso believeth in me is passed from death to life," and shall not come into judgment.

And what kind of judgment? "Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming:" not that which now is, for the souls to rise; but that which is to be, for the bodies to rise. Let Him declare this more distinctly, that the heretical denier of the resurrection of the body may not find a pretext for sophistical cavil, although the meaning already shines out clearly. When it was said above, "The hour is coming," He added, "and now is;" but just now, "The hour is coming," He has not added, "and now is."

Let Him, however, by the open truth, burst asunder all handles, all loops and pegs of sophistical attack, all the nooses of ensnaring objections. "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves." What more evident? what more distinct? Bodies are in the graves; souls are not in the graves, either of just or of unjust. The soul of the just man was in the bosom of Abraham; the unjust man's soul was in hell, tormented: neither the one nor the other was in the grave.

Above, when He saith, "The hour is coming, and now is," I beseech you give earnest heed. Ye know, brethren, that we get the bread of the belly with toil; with how much greater toil the bread of the mind! With labor you stand and hear, but with greater we stand and speak. If we labor for your sake, you ought to labor with us for your own sake. Above, then, when He said, "The hour is coming," and added, "and now is," what did He subjoin? "When the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." He did not say, "All the dead shall hear, and they that hear shall live;" for He meant the unrighteous to be understood. And is it so, that all the unrighteous obey the gospel? The apostle says openly, "But not all obey the gospel." But they that hear shall live, because all that obey the gospel shall pass to eternal life by faith: yet all do not obey; and this is now.

But certainly, in the end, "All that are in the graves," both the just and the unjust, "shall hear His voice, and come forth." How is it He would not say, "and shall live"? All, indeed, will come forth, but all will not live. For in that which He said above, "And they that hear shall live," He meant it to be understood that there is in that very hearing and obeying an eternal and blessed life, which not all that shall come forth from the graves will have. Here, then, both in the mention of graves, and by the expression of a "coming forth" from the graves, we openly understand a resurrection of bodies.

"All shall hear His voice, and shall come forth." And where is judgment, if all shall hear and all shall come forth? It is as if all were confusion; I see no distinguishing. Certainly Thou hast received authority to judge, because Thou art the Son of man: behold, Thou wilt be present in the judgment; the bodies will rise again; but tell us something of the judgment itself, that is, of the separation of the evil and the good. Hear this further, then: "They that have done good into the resurrection of life; they that have done evil into the resurrection of judgment."

When above He spoke of a resurrection of minds and souls, did He make any distinction? No, for all "that hear shall live;" because by hearing, viz. by obeying, shall they live. But certainly not all will go to eternal life by rising and coming forth from the graves, - only they that have done well; and they that have done ill, to judgment. For here He has put judgment for punishment. There will also be a separation, not such as there is now. For now we are separated, not by place, but by character, affections, desires, faith, hope, charity. Now we live together with the unjust, though the life of all is not the same: in secret we are distinguished, in secret we are separated; as grain on the floor, not as grain in the granary. On the floor, grain is both separated and mixed: separated, because severed from the chaff; mixed, because not yet winnowed. Then there will be an open separation; a distinguishing of life just as of the character, a separation as there is in wisdom, so also will there be in bodies.

They that have done well will go to live with the angels of God; they that have done evil, to be tormented with the devil and his angels. And the form of a servant will pass away. For to this end He had manifested Himself, that He might execute judgment. After the judgment, He shall go hence, will lead with Him the body of which He is the head, and deliver up the kingdom of God. Then will openly be seen that form of God which could not be seen by the wicked, to whose vision the form of a servant must be shown. He says also in another place on this wise: "These shall go away into everlasting burning" (speaking of certain on the left), "but the just into life eternal;" of which life He says in another place: "And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent."

Then will He be there manifested, "who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God." Then He will manifest Himself, as He has promised to manifest Himself to them that love Him. For "he that loveth me," saith He, "keepeth my commandments; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." He was present in person with those to whom He was speaking: but they saw the form of a servant, they did not see the form of God. They were being led on His own beast to His dwelling to be healed; but now being healed, they will see, because, saith He, "I will manifest myself to him." How is He shown equal to the Father? When He says to Philip, "He that seeth me seeth my Father also."

(Tr. xix. s. 14) None if the founders of false religious sects have been able to deny the resurrection of the soul, but many have denied the resurrection of the body; and, unless Thou, Lord Jesus, hadst declared it, what answer could we give the gainsayer? To set forth this truth, He says, Marvel not at this; (i. e. that He hath given power to the Son of man to execute judgment,) for the hour is coming, &c.

(de Ver. Dom. Ser. 64) He does not add, And now is, here; because this hour would be at the end of the world. Marvel not, i. e. marvel not, men will all be judged by a man. But what men? Not those only, whom He will find alive, For the hour cometh, in which all that are in their graves shall hear His voice.

(Sup. Joan. Tr. xix. s. 17, 18) What can be plainer? Men's bodies are in their graves, not their souls. Above when He said, The hour cometh, and added, and now is; He proceeds, When the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. He does not say, All the dead; for by the dead are meant the wicked, and the wicked have not all been brought to obey the Gospel. But in the end of the world all that are in their graves shall hear His voice, and come forth. He does not say, Shall live, as He said above, when He spoke of the eternal and blessed life; which all will not have, who shall come forth from their graves. This judgment was committed to Him because He was the Son of man. But what takes place in this judgment? They that have done good shall go unto the resurrection of life, i. e. to live with the Angels of God; they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment. Judgment here meaning damnation.

"Do not marvel at this." The second point is touched upon here, namely whom he judges: because, although he must raise all, he will nevertheless not judge all, but the wicked; whence he says: "Do not marvel at this," namely at what has been said, that he gave him power to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man; "because the hour comes," namely the end of the age: Job 14: "Man, when he has fallen asleep, shall not rise again until the heavens are worn away"; "in which all who are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of God." If the dead shall hear, it is established that they shall rise at his voice; 1 Thessalonians 4: "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a command and with the voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead who are in Christ shall rise first." And although all shall rise, nevertheless not all shall be judged.

He signifies by these words the time of the resurrection of all, when, as the Divine Paul wrote to us, The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a summons, with the voice of the Archangel, with the trump of God, to judge the world in righteousness, and render to every man according to his works. He leads therefore by repetition of the same things the most unlearned understanding of the Jews, to be able clearly to understand, that He will be a Worker of greater deeds than those in which the paralytic was concerned, and that He will be revealed as a Judge of the world: and by profitably contrasting the healing of one sick person with the resurrection of the dead, He shows that greater and more noteworthy is the operation that undoes death and destroys the corruption of all, and reasonably and of necessity says, in respect of the lesser iracle, Marvel not at this. And let us not at all suppose that by these words He means to find fault with the glory of His own works, or to enjoin the hearers that they ought not to hold worthy of wonder, those things whereat one may reasonably wonder, but He wishes those who were astonished at that to know and believe that the subject of wonder as yet was small. For He raiseth by a word and God-befitting Operation not only the sick from little diseases, but those also who have been already submerged by death and overcome by invincible corruption. And hence introducing the greater, He says, The hour is coming in which all that are in their graves shall hear His Voice. For He who by a Word brought into being things that were not, how should He not be able to win back into being that which was already created? For thus each will be the effect of the same Operation, and the glorious production of one Authority. And profitably does He subjoin that they shall come forth of their graves, they that were holden of base deeds and that lived in wickedness to undergo endless punishment, the illustrious in virtue to receive the reward of their religiousness, eternal life: at once (as we said above) introducing Himself as the Dispenser of what belongs to each, in these words of His; and persuading them, either from fear of suffering dreadful punishments, to forego evil and to hasten to elect to live more soberly, or pricked with desire after some sort for eternal life, make more zealous and eager haste after good.

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 carried 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."

Not all men, however, shall then be judged by God, but those only who have been exercised in the religion of God. For they who have not known God, since sentence cannot be passed upon them for their acquittal, are already judged and condemned, since the Holy Scriptures testify that the wicked shall not arise to judgment. Therefore they who have known God shall be judged, and their deeds, that is, their evil works, shall be compared and weighed against their good ones: so that if those which are good and just are more and weighty, they may be given to a life of blessedness; but if the evil exceed, they may be condemned to punishment.

None will, after such words, be able to interpret the dead "that are in the graves" as any other than the bodies of the flesh, because the graves themselves are nothing but the resting place of corpses. It is incontestable that even those who partake of "the old man," that is to say, sinful people—in other words, those who are dead through their ignorance of God (whom our heretics foolishly insist on understanding by the word graves)—are plainly here spoken of as having to come from their graves for judgment. But how are graves to come forth from graves?After the Lord's words, what are we to think of the purport of his actions when he raises dead persons from their biers and their graves? To what end did he do so? If it was only for the mere exhibition of his power or to afford the temporary favor of restoration to life, it was really no great matter for him to raise people to die over again. If, however, as was the truth, it was rather to put in secure keeping people's belief in a future resurrection, then it must follow from the particular form of his own examples that the resurrection mentioned will be a bodily one.

Now, what is "the dead" but the flesh? and what is "the voice of God" but the Word? and what is the Word but the Spirit, who shall justly raise the flesh which He had once Himself become, and that too from death, which He Himself suffered, and from the grave, which He Himself once entered? Then again, when He says, "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and shall come forth; they that have done good, to the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation," -none will after such words be able to interpret the dead "that are in the graves" as any other than the bodies of the flesh, because the graves themselves are nothing but the resting-place of corpses: for it is incontestable that even those who partake of "the old man," that is to say, sinful men-in other words, those who are dead through their ignorance of God (whom our heretics, forsooth, foolishly insist on understanding by the word "graves" )-are plainly here spoken of as having to come from their graves for judgment.

But when he realized that such a lofty speech was quite above his visible nature, he added, "Do not be astonished at this." … By considering this visible nature, he says, have no doubts about what I said, that is, about the hour that is coming, when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out. There will be division among them, and each will have his retribution according to his merit.

Having spoken about the partial resurrection, that is, of Lazarus and others who had died before, He now speaks about the general resurrection: "the hour is coming, when those who are in the graves shall hear the voice" of God. Here He speaks about the general resurrection.

He settles a difficulty when he says, Do not be surprised at this. First, he mentions the difficulty. Secondly, he clears it up.

The difficulty arose in the minds of the Jews and they were surprised because while they thought that Christ was no more than a man, he was saying things about himself that surpassed man and even the angels. So he says, Do not be surprised at this, that is, that I have said that the Son gives life to the dead and has the power to judge precisely because he is the Son of Man. They were surprised because, although they thought he was only a man, they saw that he accomplished divine effects: "What kind of man is this, for the sea and winds obey him?" (Mt 8:27). And he gives a reason why they should not be surprised, which is, because he who is the Son of Man is the Son of God. Although, as Chrysostom says, it is not said explicitly that the Son of Man is the Son of God, our Lord lays down the premises from which this statement necessarily follows: just as we notice that those who use syllogisms in their teaching do not express their main conclusion, but only that from which it follows with necessity. So our Lord does not say that he is the Son of God, but that the Son of Man is such that at his voice all the dead will rise. From this it necessarily follows that he is the Son of God: for it is a proper effect of God to raise the dead. Thus he says, Do not be surprised at this, since the hour is coming when all those buried in tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God. But he does not say of this hour, as he said above, "and is now here" (5:25). Again, here he says, all, which he did not say above: because at the first resurrection he raised only some, as Lazarus, the widow's son and the young girl; but at the future resurrection, at the time of judgment, all will hear the voice of the Son of God, and will rise. "I will open your graves, and lead you out of your tombs" (Ez 37:12).

Do not be surprised at this, for he has given him a greater power, that is, the power to raise the dead. Thus he says, since the hour is coming, that is, the last hour at the end of the world: "The time has come, the day of slaughter is near" (Ez 7:7), when all those buried in tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God. Above he did not say "all," because there he was speaking of the spiritual resurrection, in which all did not rise at his first coming, for we read: "All do not have faith" (2 Thes 3:2). But here he is speaking of the resurrection of the body, and all will rise in this way, as we read in 1 Corinthians (15:20). He adds, those buried in tombs, which he had not mentioned above, because only bodies, not souls, are in tombs, and it is the resurrection of bodies that will then take place.

All those buried in tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God. This voice will be a sense perceptible sign of the Son of God, at whose sound all will be raised: "The Lord will come with the cry of the archangel and with the trumpet of God" (1 Thes 4:15); we find the same in 1 Corinthians (15:52) and in Matthew (25:6): "There was a cry at midnight." This voice will derive its power from the divinity of Christ: "He will make his voice a powerful voice," as the Psalm (67:34) says.

As we saw, Augustine says that the resurrection of the body will be accomplished through the Word made flesh, but the resurrection of the soul is accomplished through the Word. One may wonder how to understand this: whether we are talking about a first cause or a meritorious cause. If we are referring to a first cause, then it is clear that the divinity of Christ is the cause of the corporal and spiritual resurrection, i.e., of the resurrection of bodies and of souls, according to: "I will kill, and I will bring to life again" (Dt 32:39). But if we are referring to a meritorious cause, then it is the humanity of Christ which is the cause of both resurrections: because through the mysteries accomplished in the flesh of Christ we are restored not only to an incorruptible life in our bodies, but also to a spiritual life in our souls: "He was put to death on account of our sins, and he rose for our justification" (Rom 4:25). Accordingly, what Augustine says does not seem to be true.

I answer that Augustine is speaking of the exemplary cause and of that cause by which that which is brought to life is made conformable to that which brings it to life: for everything that lives through another is conformed to that through which it lives. Now the resurrection of souls does not consist in souls being conformed to the humanity of Christ, but to the Word, because the life of the soul is through the Word alone; and so he says that the resurrection of souls takes place through the Word. But the resurrection of the body will consist in our bodies being conformed to the body of Christ through the life of glory, that is, through the glory of our bodies, according to: "He will change our lowly body so it is like his glorious body" (Phil 3:21). And it is from this point of view that he says that the resurrection of the body will take place through the Word made flesh.

The apostle answers you and says: I know what I am talking about. You say the pagans are delivered from the body of this death, because the last day of this life is coming, and they will be released in due time from the body of this death. The day is also coming "when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice, and those who have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life." There you have the ones delivered from the body of this death. But he also says, "Those who have done evil will come to the resurrection of judgment." See, they will return to the body of this death. The body of this death is coming back to the wicked. They will never be released from it. Then it will not be eternal life but eternal death, because it is eternal punishment.

Think again of your last day.… The distress, the gasping for breath, the hour of death, the imminent sentence of God, the angels hastening on their way, the soul fearfully dismayed and lashed to agony by the consciousness of sin, turning itself piteously to things of this life and to the inevitable necessity of that long life to be lived elsewhere. Picture to me, as it rises in your imagination, the conclusion of all human life, when the Son of God shall come in his glory with his angels … when he shall come to judge the quick and dead to give to everyone according to what they have done.

"And they who have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life": because they shall be raised for this purpose, that they may live; "but those who have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment," that is, of damnation; these, namely, the Lord shall judge; 2 Maccabees 7: "It is better, being put to death by men, to await hope from God, to be raised again by him; but for you there shall be no resurrection unto life"; this is said to Antiochus; not unto life, but unto judgment; 1 Corinthians 5: "Those who are outside, God shall judge," who are outside through an evil life; Daniel 12: "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some unto eternal life, and others unto reproach."

It is further asked concerning those to be judged, namely who will be judged. That only the wicked, seems clear from the text: "He does not come into judgment, but passes over"; and above in chapter three: "He who believes in him is not judged." To the contrary: 2 Corinthians 5: "We shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ." I respond: It must be said that the judgment of determination is taken commonly, and thus it comprehends the sentence of salvation and of punishment, and thus all will be judged: it is taken properly for damnation, and thus it is taken here: "Those who have done evil shall come forth to the resurrection of judgment," that is, of damnation: similarly above in chapter three.

Those who have done good shall go into the resurrection of life, now hidden in Christ and to be manifested hereafter with him. And those who have done evil shall go into the resurrection of judgment to which those who have not believed have been condemned already by the word, which judges them. Some will be welcomed by the unspeakable light and the vision of the holy and royal Trinity, which now shines on them with greater brilliancy and purity and unites itself wholly to the whole soul.… The others … must endure the being outcast from God and the shame of conscience which has no limit.

When therefore He mentioned the resurrection of Lazarus, He spake not of the Judgment (for it was not for this that Lazarus arose); but when He spake generally He also added, that "they that have done good shall go forth unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment." Thus also John led on his hearers by speaking of the Judgment, and that "he that believeth not on the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him": so too Himself led on Nicodemus: "He that believeth on the Son," He said to him, "is not judged, but he that believeth not is judged already"; and so here He mentioneth the Judgment-seat and the punishment which shall follow upon evil deeds. For because He had said above, "He that heareth My words and believeth on Him that sent Me," "is not judged," lest any one should imagine that this alone is sufficient for salvation, He addeth also the result of man's life, declaring that "they which have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment."

Man, therefore, was made from different and opposite substances, as the world itself was made from light and darkness, from life and death; and he has admonished us that these two things contend against each other in man: so that if the soul, which has its origin from God, gains the mastery, it is immortal, and lives in perpetual light; if, on the other hand, the body shall overpower the soul, and subject it to its dominion, it is in everlasting darkness and death. And the force of this is not that it altogether annihilates the souls of the unrighteous, but subjects them to everlasting punishment.

For it is not the resurrection that is directly denied to flesh and blood, but the kingdom of God, which is incidental to the resurrection (for there is a resurrection of judgment also); and there is even a confirmation of the general resurrection of the flesh, whenever a special one is excepted.

Since He said above that the believer does not come to judgment, lest we think that faith alone is sufficient for salvation, He says that "those who have done evil will rise to the resurrection of condemnation, while those who have done good will rise to the resurrection of life." Therefore, faith alone without works does not justify, but one must also have works; for only then is faith truly genuine. Look how the teaching is tempered with fear and mercy. For the thought that those who did evil will be condemned instills fear, while the thought that those who did good will rise to life encourages with mercy.

Then, he shows the justness of his judgment: because the good will be rewarded, and so he says, And those who have done well will come forth to a resurrection of life, i.e., to living in eternal glory; but the wicked will be damned, and so he says, those who have done evil will come forth to a resurrection of judgment [i.e., condemnation], i.e., they will rise for condemnation: "These," the wicked, "will go into everlasting punishment; but the just will go to eternal life" (Mt 25:46); "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to an everlasting life, and others to everlasting shame" (Dn 12:2).

Note that when he was speaking above of the resurrection of souls, he said, "those who hear it," the voice of the Son of God, "will live" (5:25); but here he says, will come forth. He says this because of the wicked, who will be condemned: for their life should not be called a life, but rather an eternal death. Again, above he mentioned only faith, saying, "Whoever hears my voice and believes in him who sent me, possesses eternal life; and he will not encounter judgment" (5:24). But here he mentions works, so that we do not think that faith alone, without works, is sufficient for salvation, saying: And those who have done well will come forth to a resurrection of life. As if to say: Those will come forth to a resurrection of life who do not just believe, but who have accomplished good works along with their faith: "Faith without works is dead," as we see from James (2:26).

"I cannot of myself do anything: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just." Else we might have said to Him, "Thou wilt judge, and the Father will not judge, for 'all judgment hath He given to the Son;' It is not, therefore, according to the Father that Thou wilt judge." Hence He added, "I cannot of myself do anything: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not my own will, but the will of Him that sent me."

Undoubtedly the Son quickeneth whom He will. He seeketh not His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him. Not my own, my proper will; not mine, not the Son of man's; not mine to resist God. For men do their own will, not God's, when they do what they list, not what God commands; but when they do what they list, so as yet to follow God's will, they do not their own will, notwithstanding they do what they list to do. Do what thou art bidden willingly, and thus shalt thou both do what thou wiliest, and also not do thine own will, but His that biddeth.

"I cannot of myself do anything; as I hear I judge, and my judgment is just." If as Thou hearest Thou judgest, of whom dost Thou hear? If of the Father, yet surely "the Father judgeth not any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son." When dost Thou, being in a manner the Father's herald, declare what Thou hearest? I speak what I hear, because what the Father is, that I am: for, indeed, speaking is my function; because I am the Father's Word.

For this Christ says to thee. Thereupon, of thine. What is "As I hear I judge," but "As I am"? For in what manner does Christ hear? Let us inquire, brethren, I beg of you. Does Christ hear of the Father? How doth the Father speak to Him? Undoubtedly, if He speaks to Him, He uses words to Him; for every one who says something to any one, says it by a word. How doth the Father speak to the Son, seeing that the Son is the Father's Word? Whatever the Father says to us, He says it by His Word: the Word of the Father is the Son; by what other word, then, doth He speak to the Word Himself? God is one, has one Word, contains all things in one Word. What does that mean, then, "As I hear, I judge"? Just as I am of the Father, so I judge. Therefore "my judgment is just."

"Because I seek not my own will, but the will of Him that sent me." The Only Son saith, "I seek not my own will," and yet men desire to do their own will! To such a degree does He who is equal to the Father humble Himself; and to such a degree does He extol Himself, who lies in the lowest depth, and cannot rise except a hand is reached to Him! Let us then do the will of the Father, the will of the Son, the will of the Holy Ghost; because of this Trinity there is one will, one power, one majesty. Yet for that reason saith the Son, "I came not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me;" because Christ is not of Himself, but of the Father. But what He had that He might appear as a man, He assumed of the creature which He himself formed.

(Tr. xix. s. 19) We were about to ask Christ, Thou wilt judge, and the Father not judge: wilt not Thou then judge according to the Father? He anticipates us by saying, I can of Mine own Self do nothing.

(Tr. xxiii. s. 15) When He spoke of the resurrection of the soul, He did not say, Hear, but, See. (v. 19) Hear implies a command issuing from the Father. He speaks as man, who is inferior to the Father.

(Serm. contr. Arrian. c. 9. [xiv.]) As I hear, I judge, is said with reference either to His human subordination, as the Son of man, or to that immutable and simple nature of the Sonship derived from the Father; in which nature hearing and seeing is identical with being. (ut sup. c. xvii.). Wherefore as He hears, He judges. The Word is begotten one with the Father, and therefore judges according to truth. (c. xviii). It follows, And My judgment is just, because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me. This is intended to take us back to that man (sc. Adam.) who, by seeking his own will, not the will of Him who made him, did not judge himself justly, but had a just judgment pronounced upon him. He did not believe that, by doing his own will, not God's, he should die. So he did his own will, and died; because the judgment of God is just, which judgment the Son of God executes, by not seeking His own will, i. e. His will as being the Son of man. Not that He has no will in judging, but His will is not His own in such sense, as to be different from the Father's.

(Tr. xix. 19.) I seek not then Mine own will, i. e. the will of the Son of man, in opposition to God: for men do their own will, not God's, when, to do what they wish, they violate God's commands. But when they so do what they wish, as at the same time to follow the will of God, they do not their own will. Or, I seek not Mine own will: i. e. because I am not of myself, but of the Father.

(Tr. xxi) The only Son says, I seek not Mine own will: and yet men wish to do their own will. Let us do the will of the Father, Christ, and Holy Ghost: for these have one will, power, and majesty.

"I cannot of myself do anything." Here the third point is touched upon, namely how he judges: because justly, not according to his own will by declining from the will of God, as men do who pervert judgment. Therefore he says: "I cannot of myself do anything," and thus neither judge; but "as I hear, I judge," that is, as I receive from the Father, and from this it follows that he judges justly. Therefore he says: "And my judgment is just," because it does not decline from the rule of justice through discord of will; and this is: "Because I do not seek my own will," in judging, namely, "but the will of him who sent me," that is, of God the Father, who is just; whence below in chapter 8: "He who sent me is truthful"; and afterward: "I always do the things that are pleasing to him"; and therefore justly, because, Deuteronomy 32: "God is faithful and without any iniquity, just and right"; in the Psalm: "The Lord is just in all his ways," etc.

Likewise, concerning the manner of judging: that he judges as he hears. Against: Isaiah 11: "He shall not judge according to the hearing of the ears." Likewise he says that not according to his own will, but God's: therefore his will is discordant from the will of God. I respond to the first: He does not judge according to exterior hearing and report, but according to interior hearing and paternal illumination. To the second it must be said that this has two grounds of truth: "I do not seek my own" singular will, either because he has it but does not seek it, or because he does not have it nor does he seek it: and he speaks in this latter sense, while the objector objects in the first sense.

CHAPTER IX. That the Son is in nothing inferior to God the Father, but is of Equal Might in Operation unto all things as God of God.

Give more exact heed again to the things said, and receive the force of its thought with intelligence. For the Jews not knowing the deep Mystery of the economy of flesh, nor yet acknowledging the Word of God indwelling in the Temple of the Virgin, were often excited by zeal, mistaken and not according to knowledge, as Paul saith, to savageness of manners and fierce anger: and indeed were attempting to stone Him, for that He, being a Man, was making Himself God, and again because He said that God was His Father, making Himself Equal with God. But since they were thus hard of understanding and utterly unable to endure God-befitting words, but both thought and spake meanly of Him, the Saviour by an economy acts the child with them, and made His explanation a mixed one, neither wholly foregoing words befitting God, nor altogether rejecting human language: but having said something worthy of His Divine Authority, He forthwith represses the untutored mind of the hearers, by bringing in something human also; and again having said something human by reason of the economy, He suffers not what belongs to Him to be seen in mean estate only, showing often by His Superhuman Might and Words that He is by Nature God. Some such contrivance will you find now too in the passage at present before us. For what did He say before? For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, so the Son too quickeneth whom He will, next again, For the hour is coming in the which all that are in their graves shall hear His Voice; and besides, that they shall also come forth to be judged and to receive their reward according to their works. But He That saith He can quicken whom He will, and in like manner as the Father: how shall He not be conceived of as clothed with Might befitting God? He Who openly says that He will be Judge of all, how shall He not with justice terrify those who deem that He is yet bare Man? For it was like that they being Hebrews and instructed in the Sacred Writings, should not be entirely ignorant that God should be Judge of the world, since they too sang often, Arise, O God, judge the earth, and again, For God is the Judge.

Since then He knew that the ignorant people of the Jews were vexed at these things, He rids them of their accustomed anger by saying in more human language, I can of Mine Own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge. As far then as one can say, taking the words superficially, He derides the understanding of the Jews. For the form of expression gives the idea of a sort of weakness, and of authority not altogether free; but it is not so in truth, since the Son being Equal in all things to the Father, hath by Nature the same Operation and Authority in respect to all things. But He saith that He can do nothing of Himself, but as He heareth, so He judgeth: in another way again showing Himself Equal in Mind and Power to God the Father.

For neither will the Father be conceived of as doing anything without the Son, Alone and by Himself, seeing He hath Him as His Might and Power (therefore all things were made by Him, and without Him was not made any one thing) nor will the Son again do ought of Himself, the Father not co-with Him. Therefore He saith also, Of Myself I do nothing; but the Father That dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works. And we shall not suppose that the Son is strengthened by the Father, as though weak, and again that authority over all things is given Him: for then |276 would He be no longer God by Nature, as having the glory of the Godhead bestowed; but neither would the Father Himself still exist in unimpaired excellency of good things, if He had the Word, the Impress of His Nature, such as to require Power and Authority from another. For a giver of the things spoken of will be sought for analogously for the Image and Archetype, and thus in short our argument will go forth into boundless controversy, and will run out into the deep sea of blasphemy. But since the Son being of the Essence of the Father takes to Himself by Nature all the Properties of Him who begat Him, and Essentially attains to one Godhead with Him, by reason of Identity of Nature, He is in the Father, and hath again the Father in Himself: wherefore He frequently, Unblamed and Truly, attributes to the Father the Power of His Own Works, not excluding Himself from the power of doing them but attributing all things to the Operation of the One Godhead: for One is the Godhead in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

And that the Son is not inferior to the Father either in Power or Operation unto ought, but is Like in all things and of Equal Might, has been demonstrated by us elsewhere, on the words, The Son can do nothing of Himself but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these doeth the Son too likewise. But since I think it just and becoming, to display the most devoted zeal in Divine doctrines; come let us after the custom of sailors on the sea wind back anew (as a cable) the whole argument of the chapter. For in this way one may see, that the Son does not accuse His Own Nature by saying that He can do nothing of Himself, but rather exposes the folly of the Jews, and plainly shows that they trample on the law of Moses. For in that to the words, I can do nothing of Myself, is immediately subjoined, As I hear, I judge, it frees the Son from all reproach of not being able to act of His Own Power: rather it shows clearly that He is in all things Filial and Consentient with Him Who begat Him. For if as though impotent He were borrowing His Power of the Father, as not having sufficient of Himself: how ought He not rather to say, I can of Mine Own Self do nothing, I receive the power of my Father? But now as He does not say this, but rather adds to the being able to do nothing of Himself, that He so judges as He hears, it is evident that not in respect of weakness of operation as to ought, does He put that He cannot, but by reason of impossibility of transgressing in anything the Will of the Father. For since One Godhead is conceived of in the Father and the Son, the Will too (I suppose) will be surely the Same; and neither in the Father, nor yet in the Son or the Holy Ghost will the Divine Nature be conceived of as at variance with Itself; but whatsoever seemeth good to the Father (for example), this is the Will of the Whole Godhead.

Needs therefore does the Son introduce Himself as co-approving and consenting to the Father in whatever seemeth good to Him, explaining that He cannot do anything which is not altogether according to the Mind of the Father, for this is the meaning of Of Myself . Just as if He should say that He cannot commit sin, He would not rightly seem to any to incur the charge of weakness, but rather to set forth a wondrous and God-befitting Property of His Own Nature (for He gives to understand that He is Immoveable and Unchangeable): so when He acknowledges that He can do nothing of Himself, we shall rather be awestruck as seeing Unchangeableness the fruit of the Unchangeable Nature, than unseasonably account the not being able to be a mark of weakness.

Let these things be said by us conformably to our own ability, and let the lover of learning search out for better: but we will not shrink from interpreting the saying in another way too, lowering our manner of speech a little from the bounds of the Godhead and the Excellence of the Only-Begotten: and since the Son truly was and was called Man, translating the force of the passage to the economy with Flesh, and showing that what follows is akin and connected with what preceded. Therefore He clearly testified that all that are in the graves shall hear His Voice, and that they shall come forth to be judged. When He has once begun on the subject of His judging the world, He not only promises to be a righteous Judge at that time, in which He says the Resurrection of the dead will take place, but also declares that even now He judges rightly and justly of matters in this life. What was the question and of what the discourse, hear. For our sakes was He born of a woman: for as Paul saith, He taketh not hold of angels, but of the seed of Abraham, wherefore it behoved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren. But since He was made Man and in servant's form, He the Law-giver as God and Lord is made under the Law also. He speaks then sometimes as under the Law, sometimes again as above the Law, and hath undisputed authority for both. But He is discoursing now with the Jews as Law-keeper and Man, as not able to transgress the commands ordered from above, nor venturing to do ought of His Own Mind, which does not agree with the Divine Law. Wherefore He says, I can of Mine own self do nothing; as I hear, I judge. By testifying to Himself that He can do nothing of Himself, which is not wholly in accordance with the Law, and that He judges and gives sentence in matters, according as He hears, to wit by declaration of the Law, He exposes the unbelief of the Jews, and lays bare their headstrong habit. For this too the words I can of Mine own self do nothing, well hint at, as contrasting with, YE recklessly transgress the commandments given you, ye were bold to do all things of yourselves, fearlessly, and in every matter are ye zealous to give judgments not consonant to the Divine decrees. For ye teach for doctrines the commandments of men, and make your own will a law.

What then is the aim of this way of speaking, or how He introduces Himself as judging justly, and they not, shall be told next. He had healed the paralytic on the Sabbath day, He compassionated a man who had spent long time in sickness, showing forth right and good judgment upon him. For it was right to pity the sick man even on the sabbath day, and by no means to shut up His compassion from reverence for the sabbath day, practising a most vain piety. As the Father too works even on the sabbath day in regard of His economy towards His creatures, and that surely through the Son, so doth Himself also. For neither did He think that a man who needed compassion on the sabbath day ought to be deprived of it, by reason of the Sabbath, since He knew that the Son of Man was Lord of the sabbath. For not man was made for the sabbath, but the sabbath for man. Therefore righteous herein and good is the judgment of the Saviour, not restraining by reason of the sabbath His Loving-Kindness to the prostrate, but that which as God He knows how to perform (for the Divine Nature is the Fountain of Goodness), this He did even on the sabbath day: but the judgment of the Jews upon Him in that they were vexed on account of the sabbath, and therefore desired to kill Him Who had done them no wrong, how is not this exceedingly dissonant to the Divine Laws (for it is written, The innocent and righteous slay thou not) and the invention rather of their cruelty, and not of the holy Scriptures?

Understand then that Jesus says with a kind of emphasis to those who were angry at His deeds of good and found fault with His holy judgments, following only their own imaginations, and so to speak defining as law that which seemed to them to be right even though it be contrary to the Law:---- I can of Mine Own Self do nothing, i. e., I do all things according to the Law set forth by Moses, I endure not to do anything of Myself, as I hear, I judge. For what willeth the Law? Ye shall not respect persons in judgment, for the judgment is God's. why then (saith He) are ye angry at Me because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day, and condemn not Moses who decreed that children should be circumcised even on the sabbath. Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the Law of Moses should not be broken, thus without due cause are ye vexed at seeing a man every whit healed on the sabbath day? I therefore judged justly, but ye by no means so, for ye do all things of yourselves. But I can of Mine Own Self do nothing; as I hear, I judge, and My Judgment is just, because I seek not Mine Own Will, as ye do, but the Will of the Father Which sent Me.

What manner of sending this is, and the mode of the being sent, we having before spoken of at length, will refrain from speaking any more thereof. But we must observe for profit's sake that He says that the Law is the Will of God the Father.

Since the Son is of one essence with the Father, by his nature he possesses all the characteristics of him who begat him and essentially attains to one Godhead with him by reason of [his] nature. He is in the Father, and likewise he has the Father in himself. Thus, he [properly] attributes to the Father the power of his own works, not excluding himself from the power of doing them but attributing all things to the operation of the one Godhead. For there is one Godhead in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.… Since he was made man and in the form of a servant he, who as God and Lord is the lawgiver, is himself also made under the law. Therefore, sometimes he exists as though under the law and sometimes as though above the law—and has undisputed authority for both. But, he is speaking now with the Jews as a law-abiding man, as one who is not able to transgress the commands ordered from above or venturing to do anything of his own mind that is contrary to the divine law. This is why he says, "I can do nothing on my own authority; as I hear, I judge."

As therefore the Lord does nothing without the Father, for says He, "I can of mine own self do nothing," so do ye, neither presbyter, nor deacon, nor layman, do anything without the bishop. Nor let anything appear commendable to you which is destitute of his approval. For every such thing is sinful, and opposed [to the will of] God. Do ye all come together into the same place for prayer. Let there be one common supplication, one mind, one hope, with faith unblameable in Christ Jesus, than which nothing is more excellent. Do ye all, as one man, run together into the temple of God, as unto one altar, to one Jesus Christ, the High Priest of the unbegotten God.

For as we do direct our faith towards the Son, so also should we possess a firm and immoveable love towards the Father. In his book against Marcion, Justin does well say: "I would not have believed the Lord Himself, if He had announced any other than He who is our framer, maker, and nourisher. But because the only-begotten Son came to us from the one God, who both made this world and formed us, and contains and administers all things, summing up His own handiwork in Himself, my faith towards Him is steadfast, and my love to the Father immoveable, God bestowing both upon us."

"I can of Mine own self do nothing; as I hear I judge, and My judgment is just, because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of Him which sent Me."

For since He appeared to make some assertions strange and varying from those of the Prophets, (for they said that it is God who judgeth all the earth, that is, the human race; and this truth David everywhere loudly proclaimed, "He shall judge the people in righteousness," and, "God is a righteous Judge, strong and patient"; as did all the Prophets and Moses; but Christ said, "The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son": an expression which was sufficient to perplex a Jew who heard it, and to make him in turn suspect Christ of being an enemy of God,) He here greatly condescendeth in His speech, and as far as their infirmity requireth, in order to pluck up by the roots this pernicious opinion, and saith, "I can of Myself do nothing"; that is, "nothing strange, or unlike, or what the Father desireth not will ye see done or hear said by Me."

As then when He said above, "We speak that we have heard, and testify that we have seen"; and when John said, "What He hath seen He testifieth, and no man receiveth His testimony"; both expressions are used respecting exact knowledge, not concerning hearing and seeing merely; so in this place when He speaketh of "hearing," He declareth nothing else than that it is impossible for Him to desire anything, save what the Father desireth. Still He said not so plainly, (for they would not as yet have at once received it on hearing it thus asserted;) and how? in a manner very condescending and befitting a mere man, "As I hear I judge." Again He useth these words in this place, not with reference to "instruction," (for He said not, "as I am taught," but "as I hear";) nor as though He needed to listen, (for not only did He not require to be taught, but He needed not even to listen;) but it was to declare the Unanimity and Identity of His and the Father's decision, as though He had said, "So I judge, as if it were the Father Himself that judged." Then He addeth, "and I know that My judgment is just, because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me." What sayest Thou? Hast Thou a will different from that of the Father? Yet in another place He saith, "As I and Thou are One," (speaking of will and unanimity,) "grant to these also that they may be one in Us"; that is, "in faith concerning Us." Seest thou that the words which seem most humble are those which conceal a high meaning? For what He implieth is of this kind: not that the will of the Father is one, and His own another; but that, "as one will in one mind, so is Mine own will and My Father's."

And marvel not that He hath asserted so close a conjunction; for with reference to the Spirit also Paul hath used this illustration: "What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." Thus Christ's meaning is no other than this: "I have not a will different and apart from that of the Father, but if He desireth anything, then I also; if I, then He also. As therefore none could object to the Father judging, so neither may any to Me, for the sentence of Each is given from the same Mind." And if He uttereth these words rather as a man, marvel not, seeing that they still deemed Him to be mere man. Therefore in passages like these it is necessary not merely to enquire into the meaning of the words, but also to take into account the suspicion of the hearers, and listen to what is said as being addressed to that suspicion. Otherwise many difficulties will follow.

"I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. And I did not come down from heaven to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me." These things were spoken when He was fulfilling within Himself perfection, in order that spiritual beings who are outside the world might understand that not only to natural parents should they not be obedient and keep in subjection unto them, but also that they should not be persuaded by their own will, neither by their own wants and pleasures in any thing, but that they should deny themselves, even as it was said by the Redeemer, "Whosoever denieth not himself cannot be My disciple."

These words: "I can do nothing of Myself" and others like them, as was said above, point to the equality of the Son with the Father. I can do nothing new or foreign from the Father; for I have neither a will nor a power distinct from the Father's. "As I hear" from the Father, "so I judge," that is, as the Father Himself judges, so do I. He says this, as we have often said, in order to show impartiality both in deeds, and in words, and in judgments. Lest some, seeing Him as a Man, should be scandalized — how can one who appears as a Man render righteous judgment, when, in the words of David, "every man is a liar" (Ps. 116:2) — He said beforehand: "Do not marvel at this, that I am the Son of Man." And now He says: "My judgment is righteous, because I judge as I hear from My Father, who judges." "For I seek not My own will, but the will of the Father." He who desires to establish his own will may be suspected of violating justice, but he who does not have himself in view — what motive would he have to pronounce an unrighteous judgment? And I do not seek My own will, for I do not even have a will of My own, but what the Father wills, that I also desire.

Then when he says, I cannot do anything of myself, he gives the reason for what he has just said. Now he had spoken of two things: the origin of his power, and the justness of his judgment. Consequently, he mentions the reason for each.

The first point, when he says, I cannot do anything of myself, can be understood in two ways, even according to Augustine. First, as referring to the Son of Man in this manner: You say that you have the power to raise the dead because you are the Son of Man. But do you have this power precisely because you are the Son of Man? No, because I cannot do anything of myself, but I judge only as I hear it. He does not say, "as I see," as he said above; "The Son cannot do anything of himself, but only what he sees the Father doing" (5:19). But he does say, as I hear it: for in this context "to hear" is the same as "to obey." Now to obey belongs to one who receives a command, while to command pertains to one who is superior. Accordingly, because Christ, as man, is inferior to the Father, he says, as I hear it, i.e., as infused into my soul by God. We read of this kind of hearing in Psalm 84 (v 9): "I will hear what the Lord God says in me." But above he said "sees," because he was then speaking of himself as the Word of God.

Then when he says, and my judgment is just, he shows the justness of his judgment. For he had said: "Those who have done well will come forth to a resurrection of life." But some might say: Will he be partial and uneven when he punishes and rewards? So he answers: No, saying: my judgment is just; and the reason is because I am not seeking my own will, but the will of him who sent me. For there are two wills in our Lord Jesus Christ: one is a divine will, which is the same as the will of the Father; the other is a human will, which is proper to himself, just as it is proper to him to be a man. A human will is borne to its own good; but in Christ it was ruled and regulated by right reason, so that it would always be conformed in all things to the divine will. Accordingly he says: I am not seeking my own will, which as such is inclined to its own good, but the will of him who sent me, that is, the Father: "I have desired to do your will, my God" (Ps 39:9); "Not as I will, but as you will" (Mt 26:39).

If this is carefully considered, the Lord is assigning the true nature of a just judgment, saying: because I am not seeking my own will. For one's judgment is just when it is passed according to the norm of law. But the divine will is the norm and the law of the created will. And so, the created will, and the reason, which is regulated according to the norm of the divine will, is just, and its judgment is just.

Secondly, it is explained as referring to the Son of God; and then the aforesaid division still remains the same. Thus Christ, as the Divine Word showing the origin of his power, says: I cannot do anything of myself, in the way he said above, "the Son cannot do anything of himself" (5:19). For his very doing and his power are his being (esse); but being (esse) in him is from another, that is, from his Father. And so, just as he is not of himself (a se), so of himself he cannot do anything: "I do nothing of myself" (below 8:28).

His statement, I judge only as I hear it, is explained as his previous statement, "only what he sees the Father doing" (above 5:19). For we acquire science or any knowledge through sight and hearing (for these two senses are those most used in learning). But because sight and hearing are different in us, we acquire knowledge in one way through sight, that is, by discovering things, and in a different way through hearing, that is, by being taught. But in the Son of God, sight and hearing are the same; thus, when he says either "sees" or "hears," the meaning is the same so far as the acquisition of knowledge is concerned. And because judgment in any intellectual nature comes from knowledge, he says significantly, I judge only as I hear it, i.e., as I have acquired knowledge together with being from the Father, so I judge: "Everything I have heard from my Father I have made known to you" (below 15:15).

Showing the justness of his judgment he says: and my judgment is just: the reason being, because I am not seeking my own will. But do not the Father and the Son have the same will? I answer that the Father and the Son do have the same will, but the Father does not have his will from another, whereas the Son does have his will from another, i.e., from the Father. Thus the Son accomplishes his own will as from another, i.e., as having it from another; but the Father accomplishes his will as his own, i.e., not having it from another. Thus he says: I am not seeking my own will, that is, such as would be mine if it originated from myself, but my will, as being from another, that is from the Father.