John § 42ctr

"Now is my soul troubled." Whence, Lord, was Thy soul troubled? He had, indeed, said a little before, "He that hateth his life [soul] in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." Dost thou then love thy life in this world, and is thy soul troubled as the hour approacheth when thou shalt leave this world? Who would dare affirm this of the soul [life] of the Lord? We rather it was whom He transferred unto Himself; He took us into His own person as our Head, and assumed the feelings of His members; and so it was not by any others He was troubled, but, as was said of Him when He raised Lazarus, "He was troubled in Himself." For it behoved the one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, just as He has lifted us up to the heights of heaven, to descend with us also into the lowest depths of suffering.

I hear Him saying a little before, "The hour cometh that the Son of man should be glorified: if a corn of wheat die, it bringeth forth much fruit." I hear this also, "He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." And now, again, it is my Lord Himself, who by such words has suddenly transported me from the weakness that was mine to the strength that was His, that I hear saying, "Now is my soul troubled." What does it mean? How biddest Thou my soul follow Thee if I behold Thine own troubled? How shall I endure what is felt to be heavy by strength so great? What is the kind of foundation I can seek if the Rock is giving way? But me-thinks I hear in my own thoughts the Lord giving me an answer, saying, Thou shall follow me the better, because it is to aid thy power of endurance that I thus interpose. Thou hast heard, as addressed to thyself, the voice of my fortitude hear in me the voice of thy infirmity: I supply strength for thy running, and I check not thy hastening, but I transfer to myself thy causes for trembling, and I pave the way for thy marching along. O Lord our Mediator, God above us, man for us, I own Thy mercy For because Thou, who art so great, art troubled through the good will of Thy love, Thou preservest, by the richness of Thy comfort, the many in Thy body who are troubled by the continual experience of their own weakness, from perishing utterly in their despair.

In a word, let the man who would follow learn the road by which he must travel. Perhaps an hour of terrible trial has come, and the choice is set before thee either to do iniquity or endure suffering; the weak soul is troubled, on whose behalf the invincible soul [of Jesus] was voluntarily troubled; set then the will of God before thine own. For notice what is immediately subjoined by thy Creator and thy Master, by Him who made thee, and became Himself for thy teaching that which He made; for He who made man was made man, but He remained still the unchangeable God, and transplanted manhood into a better condition. Listen, then, to what He adds to the words, "Now is my soul troubled." "And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy name." He has taught thee here what to think of, what to say, on whom to call, in whom to hope, and whose will, as sure and divine, to prefer to thine own, which is human and weak.

And when He here said, "Now is my soul troubled;" and also when He says, "My soul is sorrowful, even unto death;" and "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me;" He assumed the infirmity of man, to teach him, when thereby saddened and troubled, to say what follows: "Nevertheless, Father, not as I will, but as Thou wilt." For thus it is that man is turned from the human to the divine, when the will of God is preferred to his own. But to what do the words "Glorify Thy name" refer, but to His own passion and resurrection? For what else can it mean, but that the Father should thus glorify the Son, who in like manner glorifieth His own name in the similar sufferings of His servants?

"Then came there a voice from heaven, [saying], I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." "I have both glorified it," before I created the world, "and I will glorify it again," when He shall rise from the dead and ascend into heaven. It may also be otherwise understood. "I have both glorified it," when He was born of the Virgin, when He exercised miraculous powers; when the Magi, guided by a star in the heavens, bowed in adoration before Him; when He was recognized by saints filled with the Holy Spirit; when He was openly proclaimed by the descent of the Spirit in the form of a dove, and pointed out by the voice that sounded from heaven; when He was transfigured on the mount; when He wrought many miracles, cured and cleansed multitudes, fed so vast a number with a very few loaves, commanded the winds and the waves, and raised the dead; "and I will glorify it again;" when He shall rise from the dead; when death shall have no longer dominion over Him; and when He shall be exalted over the heavens as God, and His glory over all the earth.

"The people therefore that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to Him. Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes." He thereby showed that the voice made no intimation to Him of what He already knew, but to those who needed the information. And just as that voice was uttered by God, not on His account, but on that of others, so His soul was troubled, not on His own account, but voluntarily for the sake of others.

(Tr. lii. 2) I hear Him say, He that hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal; and I am ravished, I despise the world; the whole of this life, however long, is but a vapour in My sight; all temporal things are vile, in comparison with eternal. And again I hear Him say, Now is My soul troubled. Thou biddest my soul follow Thee; but I see Thy soul troubled. What foundation shall I seek, if the Rock gives way? Lord, I acknowledge Thy mercy. Thou of Thy love wast of Thine own will troubled, to console those who are troubled through the infirmity of nature; that the members of Thy body perish not in despair. The Head took upon Himself the affections of His members. He was not troubled by any thing, but, as was said above, He troubled Himself. (c. 11:33)

(Tr. lii) Lastly, let the man who would follow Him, hear at what hour he should follow. A fearful hour has perhaps come: a choice is offered, either to do wrong, or suffer: the weak soul is troubled. Hear our Lord. What shall I say?

(Tr. lii. 3) He teaches thee Whom thou shouldest call on, whose will prefer to thine own. Let Him not seem to fall from His greatness, because He wishes thee to rise from thy meanness. He took upon Him man's infirmity, that He might teach the afflicted to say, Not what I will, but what Thou wilt. Wherefore He adds, But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy name: i. e. in My passion and resurrection.

(Tr. lii. 4) I have glorified it, i. e. before I made the world; and will glorify it again, i. e. when Thou shalt rise from the dead. Or, I have glorified it, when Thou wast born of a Virgin, didst work miracles, wast made manifest by the Holy Ghost descending in the shape of a dove; and will glorify it again, when Thou shalt rise from the dead, and, as God, be exalted above the heavens, and Thy glory above all the earth. The people therefore that stood by and heard it, said that it thundered.

"Now is My soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour." "But surely this is not the expression of one urging them to go even to death." Nay, it is that of one greatly so urging them. For lest they should say, that "He being exempt from mortal pains easily philosophizes on death, and exhorts us being himself in no danger," He showeth, that although feeling its agony, on account of its profitableness He declineth it not. But these things belong to the Dispensation, not the Godhead. Wherefore He saith, "Now is My soul troubled"; since if this be not the case, What connection hath that which was spoken, and His saying, "Father, save Me from this hour"? And so troubled, that He even sought deliverance from death, if at least it were possible to escape. These were the infirmities of His human nature.

"For for this cause came I unto this hour." As though He had said, "Though we be confounded, though we be troubled, let us not fly from death, since even now I though troubled do not speak of flying; for it behooveth to bear what is coming on. I say not, Deliver Me from this hour," but what? "Father, glorify Thy Name." "Although My trouble urges Me to say this, yet I say the opposite, 'Glorify Thy Name,' that is, Lead Me henceforth to the Cross"; which greatly shows His humanity, and a nature unwilling to die, but clinging to the present life, proving that He was not exempt from human feelings.

For as it is no blame to be hungry, or to sleep, so neither is it to desire the present life; and Christ indeed had a body pure from sin, yet not free from natural wants, for then it would not have been a body. By these words also He taught something else. Of what kind is that? That if ever we be in agony and dread, we even then start not back from that which is set before us; and by saying, "Glorify Thy Name" He showeth that He dieth for the truth calling the action, "glory to God." And this fell out after the Crucifixion. The world was about to be converted, to acknowledge the Name of God, and to serve Him, not the Name of the Father only, but also that of the Son; yet still as to this He is silent.

"There came therefore a Voice from Heaven, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again." When had He "glorified it"? By what had been done before; and "I will glorify it again" after the Cross.

It was not the utterance in the voice of the Father to the Son, since divinity is beyond all voice, but it was sent from heaven from the face of the Father to the Son as a sound for human beings to hear, in order that those who heard it might contemplate Christ all the more and come to know his divinity beyond his humanity. Glory is not added to the Father, since he has always had it, but it is added in so far as it radiates and is made known so that human beings are aware of it. Likewise, one must not conclude that the Son would be glorified from a state of disgrace, but rather he is glorified in so far as he who had formerly been hidden was made manifest in the flesh to the eyes of people. Moreover, it was not so much the voice that captivated the ears of those present, but rather how it took place that another glorified him. There was an established teaching among them from the fathers that utterances that were heard could not be borne directly from the mouth of God, since also Moses and all the rest who had spoken of the words they had heard from God, wrote down for humanity, while also saying that the manner of the discourse was that of an angel. If then we also posit that it was an angel who emitted the voice, it would be good that the Father's voice, which was spoken from above to people, be heard through an angel. Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not take place for my sake." He who knew the Father and the Father's matters did not need anything. Thus he does not allow us to think little of him at all or to regard him as one would only be regarded as a prophet. Rather, this helps us to know who he was in relation to God. See whether or not "glorify your name" is the same as imposing on the Savior the name of God, since he is the Word of God. So also the "name" is that of the Father, but "name" does not refer to that which is composed of syllables or uttered with human voices, but rather whatever reveals the nature of the Father. One can understand the "name of God" also in the same way as well as the phrase in the psalms: "I will proclaim your name to my brothers." How else can one understand that the name of God can be told?

Father, glorify your name: and this is to ask that the name of God be made known to the nations through the passion. He prays for us, for whom he also offers himself: whence in Hebrews 5 it is said of Christ: "In the days of his flesh, offering prayers and supplications to God, who was able to save him from death, with a strong cry and tears, he was heard because of his reverence."

A voice therefore came from heaven. Here the last point is touched upon, namely the hearing, as a sign of which he says: A voice came from heaven, saying: I have both glorified, namely through miraculous works, and I will glorify again, through yet more wondrous works, such as our redemption and Christ's exaltation to the heavens. The glorification was accomplished by the Father: whence in Hebrews 5: "Christ did not glorify himself to be made high priest, but he who spoke to him: You are my Son, today I have begotten you." Whence this voice is attributed to the Father, as in Matthew 3 at the baptism, in Matthew 17 at the transfiguration, and now. Whence the voice bore testimony to Christ at his coming or incarnation, at his passion, and at his resurrection.

Nor let anything now be revolved in your hearts and minds besides the divine precepts and heavenly commands, with which the Holy Spirit has ever animated you to the endurance of suffering. Let no one think of death, but of immortality; nor of temporary punishment, but of eternal glory; since it is written, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints; " and again, "A broken spirit is a sacrifice to God: a contrite and humble heart God doth not despise." And again, where the sacred Scripture speaks of the tortures which consecrate God's martyrs, and sanctify them in the very trial of suffering: "And if they have suffered torments in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality; and having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy of Himself. As gold in the furnace hath He tried them, and received them as a sacrifice of a burnt-offering, and in due time regard shall be had unto them. The righteous shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the stubble. They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people; and their Lord shall reign for ever." When, therefore, you reflect that you shall judge and reign with Christ the Lord, you must needs exult and tread under foot present sufferings, in the joy of what is to come; knowing that from the beginning of the world it has been so appointed that righteousness should suffer there in the conflict of the world, since in the beginning, even at the first, the righteous Abel was slain, and thereafter all righteous men, and prophets, and apostles who were sent. To all of whom the Lord also in Himself has appointed an example, teaching that none shall attain to His kingdom but those who have followed Him in His own way, saying, "He that loveth his life in this world shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." And again: "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Paul also exhorts us that we who desire to attain to the Lord's promises ought to imitate the Lord in all things. "We are," says he, "the sons of God: but if sons, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together." Moreover, he added the comparison of the present time and of the future glory, saying, "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory which shall be revealed in us." Of which brightness, when we consider the glory, it behoves us to bear all afflictions and persecutions; because, although many are the afflictions of the righteous, yet those are delivered from them all who trust in God.

There came therefore a voice out of heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

The Evangelist did not say that it was the Father Who uttered the voice from above, but that the voice came from heaven; in order that no heretics, because they heard that the Father spake, might attempt to say that also the Divine Nature, to wit, the Father, is encompassed with a gross body. Wherefore he speaks indeed of the harmonious voice, but how the voice was brought to pass it is not in our power to say. But what the interpretation of its words signifies is this: The Son was conspicuous by many signs, the Father withal working the miracles along with Him; and inasmuch as He was Fellow-worker with Him in all things which He did, He says now that He has glorified [His Name,] and freely promises that He will also glorify it again, through the sign at His Death. For inasmuch as the Son is both God of God, and Life born of That which is by nature Life, He raised Himself from the dead; but inasmuch as He is regarded as a Man like us, albeit without sin, He is not regarded as having raised Himself, but as risen by the power of the Father.

Father, glorify Thy name.

He then makes a request of His Father and exhibits the outward appearance of prayer, not as being weak in respect of that Nature which is Almighty, but in respect of His Manhood, ascribing to the Divine Nature those attributes that are superhuman; not implying that the Divine Nature was something external to Himself, since He calls God His own Father, but in full consciousness that universal power and glory would be the lot of both Father and Son. And whether the text has: Glorify Thy Son, or: Glorify Thy Name, makes no difference in the exact significance of the ideas conveyed. Christ however, despising death and the shame of suffering, looking only to the objects to be achieved by the suffering, and almost beholding the death of all mankind already passing out of sight as an effect of the death of His Own Flesh; knowing that the power of corruption was on the point of being for ever destroyed, and that the nature of man would be thenceforth transformed to a newness of life: He all but says something of this sort to God the Father: "The body, O Father, shrinks from encountering the suffering, and dreads that death which is unnatural to it; nay more, it seems a thing not to be endured that One Who is enthroned with Thee and Who possesses Almighty power should be grossly outraged by the audacious insults of the Jews; but since this is the cause for which I have come, glorify Thy Son, that is, prevent Me not from encountering death, but grant this favour to Thy Son for the good of all mankind." And that the Evangelist in some other places also speaks of the Cross under the name of "glory," thou mayest learn from what he says: For the Holy Spirit was not yet [given]; because Jesus was not yet glorified. For in his wisdom he in these words speaks of being "crucified" as being "glorified:" and the Cross is a glory. For although at the season of His Passion, Christ willingly and patiently endured many contumelies, and moreover underwent voluntarily for our sake sufferings which He might have refused to suffer; surely the undergoing this for the benefit of others is a characteristic of excessive compassion and of supreme glory. And the Son became glorious also in another way. For from the fact that He overpowered death, we recognise Him to be Life and Son of the Living God. And the Father is glorified, when He is seen to have such a Son begotten of Himself, of the same Nature as Himself. And He is Good, Light, Life, and superior to death, and One Who does whatsoever He will. And when He says: Glorify Thy Son, He means this: "Give Thy consent to Me in My willingness to suffer." For the Father gave up the Son to death, not without taking counsel, but in willingness for the life of the world: therefore the Father's consent is spoken, of as a bestowal of blessings upon us; for instead of "suffering" He spake of "glory." And this also He says as a Pattern for us: for while on the one hand we ought to pray that we fall not into temptation, yet on the other hand if we should be so tried we ought to bear it nobly and not to rush away from it, but to pray that we may be saved unto God. But Glorify Thy Name. For if through our dangers it comes to pass that God is glorified, let all things be accounted secondary to that end.

Moreover, just as death was brought to naught in no other way than by the Death of the Saviour, so also with regard to each of the sufferings of the flesh: for unless He had felt dread, human nature could not have become free from dread; unless He had experienced grief, there could never have been any deliverance from grief; unless He had been troubled and alarmed, no escape from these feelings could have been found. And with regard to every one of the affections to which human nature is liable, thou wilt find exactly the corresponding thing in Christ. The affections of His Flesh were aroused, not that they might have the upper hand as they do indeed in us, but in order that when aroused they might be thoroughly subdued by the power of the Word dwelling in the flesh, the nature of man thus undergoing a change for the better.

Since therefore that which is the outcome of thoughts could not truly happen to inanimate flesh, but on the contrary is suitable to a human and rational soul; how can it be improper to imagine that we think rightly in assigning the suffering to it [i. e. the human soul,] rather than in casting it upon the Nature of the Godhead, [as we must do] by forcible and inevitable reasoning, if truly (in accordance with their doctrine) the Divine Nature dwelling in Christ's body occupied the place of the soul?

Whether the Gospel has "glorify your Son" or "glorify your name" makes no difference to the interpretation of its precise meaning. Christ, however, despising death and the shame that comes from suffering, focused only on the achievements resulting from the suffering. And immediately seeing the death of all of us departing from our midst as a result of the death of his own flesh, and the power of decay about to be completely destroyed and human nature already formed anew in anticipation of newness of life, he all but says to God the Father something along the following lines: "The body, O Father, shrinks from suffering and is afraid of a death that violates nature. Indeed, it seems scarcely endurable that he who is enthroned with you and has power over all things should be subjected to such outrageous treatment. But since I have come for this purpose, glorify your Son, that is, do not stop him from going to his death, but give your consent to your offspring for the good of all." The Evangelist even calls the cross glory elsewhere. … It is clear that in this passage, "glorified" means "crucified." "Glory" is equivalent to "the cross." In fact, his acceptance of suffering for the good of others is a sign of extraordinary compassion and the highest kind of glory. The glorification of the Son also took place in another way. Through his victory over death we recognize him to be life and the Son of the living God. The Father is glorified then when he is shown to have such a Son begotten from himself and with the same attributes as himself.

(Moral. xxviii.) When God speaks audibly, as He does here, but no visible appearance is seen, He speaks through the medium of a rational creature: i. e. by the voice of an Angel.

So, again, in that asseveration, "I have both glorified, and will glorify again," how many Persons do you discover, obstinate Praxeas? Are there not as many as there are voices? You have the Son on earth, you have the Father in heaven.

"I am come," saith He, "in the Father's name; " and again, "Father, glorify Thy name; " and more openly, "I have manifested Thy name to men.

"Father! glorify Your name," that is, grant Me to take up the cross and death for the salvation of all. See: He called death for truth the glory of God. Therefore the Father also says: "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." "I have glorified it" by those miracles which You performed before the Cross in My name; "and will glorify it again," by working miracles through You upon the Cross itself; and after the burial I will make even more glorious both My name and You, by raising You and sending down the Spirit.

Now his reason proposes its own petition when he says, Father, glorify thy name. Thy name can be understood in two ways. First, it can mean the Son himself. For a name (nomen) - which comes from the word for knowledge or being known (notitia) - is like a sign (notamen). Thus a name is what manifests a thing. Now the Son manifests the Father: "Father, I have manifested thy name" (17:6). We read of this name: "Behold, the name of the Lord comes from far" (Is 30:27). So the meaning is this: Father, glorify thy name, that is, your Son: "And now, Father, glorify thou me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made" (17:5). Or, the name of the Lord indicates the knowledge which men have of the Father, then the meaning is, Father, glorify thy name, that is, do what is for the glory of your name. Yet it comes to the same thing, because when the Son is glorified the name of the Father is glorified. He says this because the Son was going to be glorified by his passion: "He became obedient," to the Father, "unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him" (Phil 2:8).

He is saying here in effect: By the desire of nature I ask to be saved, but my reason asks that your name be glorified, that is, that the Son suffer, because it was by the passion of Christ that men were to receive their knowledge of God and glorify him. For before the passion God was known only in Judea, and his name was great in Israel; but after the passion, God's name was glorified even among the Gentiles.

Then when the Evangelist says, Then a voice came from heaven, the promise of glory is given. First, the voice promising glory is heard; secondly, the crowd expresses its opinion (v 29); lastly, the meaning of the voice is explained (v 30).

With regard to the first, he says, Then a voice came from heaven. This is the voice of God the Father. It was the same voice that was heard when Christ was baptized, "This is my beloved Son" (Mt 3:17), and at his transfiguration (Mt 17:5). Although every voice of this kind was formed by the power of the entire Trinity, this was specifically formed to represent the person of the Father; thus it is referred to as the voice of the Father. In a similar manner the dove was formed by the entire Trinity to signify the person of the Holy Spirit. And again, the body of Christ was formed by the entire Trinity, but specifically assumed by the person of the Word because it had been formed to be united to him.

This voice, then, does two things. First, it reveals the past, when saying, I have glorified it, that is, I have begotten you as glorious from all eternity, because the Son is a certain glory and splendor of the Father: "For she (Wisdom) is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God" (Wis 7:26); "He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature" (Heb 1:3). Or, I have glorified it at your birth, when the angels sang: "Glory to God in the highest" (Lk 2:14) and in the miracles the Father performed through him.

Secondly, the voice foretells what is to come: and I will glorify it again, in the passion, in which Christ triumphed over the devil, and in the resurrection and the ascension, and in the conversion of all the world: "The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his Son Jesus" (Acts 3:13).

(Tr. lii. 5) i. e. It did not come to tell Him what He knew already, but them what they ought to know. And as that voice did not come for His sake, but for theirs, so His soul was not troubled for His sake, but for theirs.

Jesus answered and said. The second point is touched upon here, namely the explanation of that voice, because they themselves did not know either why it had been made or what it signified; therefore he says why it was made: This voice came not for my sake, but for yours, because not for my instruction, but for yours; therefore he gives the understanding of the voice.

Jesus answered and said unto them, This voice hath not come for My sake, but for your sakes.

The Father replied aloud----after what manner He only knows----unto His own Son, manifesting His own purpose with intent to rouse the zeal of the hearers, that they might believe without any doubt that He is by Nature the Son of God the Father. But the multitude were perplexed and divided unto different surmisings, without understanding. For they ought to have apprehended that it was the Father that gave answer, unto Whom the Son had addressed His words. For the Son asked not for thunder to come, nor for an angel to utter a voice, nevertheless He saith: The Voice hath not come for My sake, but for your sakes. For He knew the purpose of Him Who begat Him, even if no word had been uttered, for that He was and is the Wisdom and Word of the Father. For your sakes therefore, He says, the Voice hath come; in order that ye may receive Me as Son of God, Whom the Father knoweth to be by Nature His own Son. Now the Lord says that the Voice hath come; yet He adds not that it was the Father's Voice, nor how it came: for this is a superfluous matter. He affirmed however that although they had even heard a Voice as from heaven, they persisted none the less in their impiety.

We remember, indeed, that a voice was sometimes uttered from heaven for us so that the power of the Father's words might confirm for us the mystery of the Son.… But the divine nature can dispense with the various combinations necessary for human functions, the motion of the tongue, the adjustment of the mouth, the forcing of the breath and the vibration of the air. God is a simple being: we must understand him by devotion and confess him by reverence. He is to be worshiped, not pursued by our senses, for a conditioned and weak nature cannot grasp with the guesses of its imagination the mystery of an infinite and omnipotent nature.

"This Voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes." They thought that it thundered, or that an Angel spake to Him. And how did they think this? Was not the voice clear and distinct? It was, but it quickly flew away from them as being of the grosser sort, carnal and slothful. And some of them caught the sound only, others knew that the voice was articulate, but what it meant, knew not. What saith Christ? "This Voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes." "Not that I may learn by it anything of which I am ignorant, (for I know all that belongeth to the Father,) but for your sakes." For when they said, "An Angel hath spoken unto Him," or "It hath thundered," and gave not heed to Him, He saith, "it was for your sakes," that even so ye might be led to enquire what the words meant.

Why, then, do you make liars of both the Father and the Son? If either the Father spake from heaven to the Son when He Himself was the Son on earth, or the Son prayed to the Father when He was Himself the Son in heaven, how happens it that the Son made a request of His own very self, by asking it of the Father, since the Son was the Father? Or, on the other hand, how is it that the Father made a promise to Himself, by making it to the Son, since the Father was the Son? Were we even to maintain that they are two separate gods, as you are so fond of throwing out against us, it would be a more tolerable assertion than the maintenance of so versatile and changeful a God as yours! Therefore it was that in the passage before us the Lord declared to the people present: "Not on my own account has this voice addressed me, but for your sakes," that these likewise may believe both in the Father and in the Son, severally, in their own names and persons and positions.

But Jesus says: "This voice came not for Me, but for you. I had no need to be taught that the Father glorified and will yet glorify His name. But you needed to be taught that I am not an adversary of God, but act for the glory of the name of God. For if through Me the name of God is glorified, how then am I an adversary of God?" So this voice came for you, that you might learn that I act for the glory of God, and if you cannot learn this on your own, then through inquiry you might learn what you do not know.

The voice is explained when he says, Jesus answered. First, he explains the voice; secondly, he mentions the answer given by the people (v 34); and thirdly, our Lord's answer (v 35). He does two things about the first: first he mentions the reason for the voice; and secondly, he adds its meaning (v 31).

It should be noted in regard to the first that they had said, An angel has spoken to him. Now an angel speaks by revealing something that will profit the one to whom he speaks, as is clear in Revelation (ch 1) and in Ezekiel (ch 1). And so to show that he did not need this voice or any revelation from an angel, our Lord says, This voice has come for your sake, not for mine, that is, it has not come to instruct me. For this voice mentioned nothing he did not know before, because "in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge" (Col 2:2), so that he knew all that the Father knew. But it has come for your sake, that is, for your instruction. From this we can understand that many things relating to Christ were, in God's plan, allowed to take place not because Christ needed them, but for our sakes: "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction" (Rom 15:4).

As if in a court of law, it is said to the devil, "Granted, you have killed everyone else in the human race because they were sinners. But why did you kill the Lord?" The time of sojourning on earth is the "judgment of the world," since Christ is about to justify humanity and to remove the arrogance of the devil. The judgment he speaks of here then is not the condemnation of the human race. Rather, Christ's death justifies all humanity against the devil, who is the one who is under judgment because he had wronged the world.

Look at what follows: "Now," He says, "is the judgment of the world." What, then, are we to expect at the end of time? But the judgment that is looked for in the end will be the judging of the living and the dead, the awarding of eternal rewards and punishment. Of what sort, then, is the judgment now? I have already, in former lessons, as far as I could, put you in mind, beloved, that there is a judgment spoken of, not of condemnation, but of discrimination; as it is written, "Judge me, O God, and plead [discern, discriminate] my cause against an unholy nation." And many are the judgments of God; as it is said in the psalm. "Thy judgments are a great deep."

And the apostle also says, "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments!" To such judgments does that spoken of here by the Lord also belong, "Now is the judgment of this world;" while that judgment in the end is reserved, when the living and the dead shall at last be judged. The devil, therefore, had possession of the human race, and held them by the written bond of their sins as criminals amenable to punishment; he ruled in the hearts of unbelievers, and, deceiving and enslaving them, seduced them to forsake the Creator and give worship to the creature; but by faith in Christ, which was confirmed by His death and resurrection, and, by His blood, which was shed for the remission of sins, thousands of believers are delivered from the dominion of the devil, are united to the body of Christ, and under this great head are made by His one Spirit to spring up into new life as His faithful members. This it was that He called the judgment, this righteous separation, this expulsion of the devil from His own redeemed.

Attend, in short, to His own words. For just as if we had been inquiring what He meant by saying, "Now is the judgment of the world," He proceeded to explain it when He says, "Now shall the prince of this world be cast out." What we have thus heard was the kind of judgment He meant. Not that one, therefore, which is yet to come in the end, when the living and dead shall be judged, some of them set apart on His right hand, and the others on His left; but that judgment by which "the prince of this world shall be cast out." In what sense, then, was he within, and whither did He mean that he was to be cast out? For it is not this: That he was in the world and was cast forth beyond its boundaries. The Lord, therefore, foretold what He knew, that after His own passion and glorification, many nations throughout the whole world, in whose hearts the devil was an inmate, would become believers, and the devil, when thus renounced by faith, is cast out.

On the other hand, let us be far from supposing that the devil is called in any such way the prince of the world, as that we should believe him possessed of power to rule over the heaven and the earth. The world is so spoken of in respect of wicked men, who have overspread the whole earth; just as a house is spoken of in respect to its inhabitants, and we accordingly say, It is a good house, or a bad house; not as finding fault with, or approving of, the erection of walls and roofs, but the morals either of the good or the bad within it. In a similar way, therefore, it is said, "The prince of this world;" that is, the prince of all the wicked who inhabit this world. The world is also spoken of in respect to the good, who in like manner have overspread the whole earth; and hence the apostle says, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself." These are they out of whose hearts the prince of this world is ejected.

(Tr. lii. 6) The judgment at the end of the world will be of eternal rewards and punishments. But there is another judgment, not of condemnation, but of selection, which is the one meant here; the selection of His own redeemed, and their deliverance from the power of the devil: Now shall the prince of this world be cast out. The devil is not called the prince of this world, in the sense of being lord over heaven and earth; God forbid. The world here stands for the wicked dispersed over all the world. In this sense the devil is the prince of the world, i. e. of all the wicked men who live in the world. The world also sometimes stands for the good dispersed throughout the world: God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. (2 Cor. 5:19) These are they from whose hearts the prince of this world shall be cast out. Our Lord foresaw that after His passion and glorifying, great nations all over the world would be converted, in whom the devil was then, but from whose hearts, on their truly renouncing him, he would be cast out. But was he not cast out of the hearts of righteous men of old? Why is it, Now shall be cast out? Because that which once took place in a very few persons, was now to take place in whole nations. What then, does the devil not tempt at all the minds of believers? Yea, he never ceases to tempt them. But it is one thing to reign within, another to lay siege from without.

Now is the judgment of the world, namely in the passion; now the prince of this world shall be cast out, namely he who is believed to be the prince, because he was worshipped by many nations; rather he is to be regarded as the most wicked demon. Luke eleven: "When a strong man armed guards his court, if one stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him, he will take away all his armor in which he trusted, and will distribute his spoils." And he himself conquered the world with its prince; whence below in chapter sixteen: "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." And he says the manner of casting out the prince is through the passion.

Question I. But there is a question about what he says: Now is the judgment of the world: because it was said that he judges no one and did not come to judge.

I respond: There is a judgment of condemnation and of discernment; by this judgment the world is judged in the passion of Christ, through which the sheep are discerned from the wolves, not by the first judgment.

Question II. But there is a question about what he says, that the prince of this world shall be cast out. Who is this prince?

If the devil is prince: therefore it seems that this sensible world pertains to the dominion of the devil; and then the impiety of the Manichaeans would be true.

I respond: It must be said that by world here are meant those devoted to the world through friendship. The prince of these is the devil, not with respect to nature, but with respect to pre-eminence in fault, because he is the king over all the children of pride, Job 41.

Question III. Likewise, inquiry is made concerning what he says, that he will be cast out; because this does not seem to be the case: for he still rules over those who are devoted to the world, and presses harder, because they sin more gravely.

I respond: It must be said that the devil is said to be cast out of the world, not that he does not tempt, but that he does not reign interiorly; nor is he said to be cast out in the sense that he reigns interiorly in absolutely no one, but that he does not in so many; nor does he reign so authoritatively, because his drawing hand has been cut off, on account of the fact that the handwriting that was against us was blotted out in the Passion and nailed to the cross. His impelling hand has been weakened, our hand for resisting has been strengthened through faith: 1 Peter, last chapter: Resist him, steadfast in faith.

There was, perhaps, no necessity for such an excess of the sexual impulse: the Lord of this world thought of it as a response to carnivorousness--a double scheme for securing the maximum amount of torture. If it offends less, you may say that the "life-force" is corrupted, where I say that living creatures were corrupted by an evil angelic being. We mean the same thing: but I find it easier to believe in a myth of gods and demons than in one of hypostatised abstract nouns. And after all, our mythology may be much nearer to literal truth than we suppose. Let us not forget that Our Lord, on one occasion, attributes human disease not to God's wrath, nor to nature, but quite explicitly to Satan.

Christians, then, believe that an evil power has made himself for the present the Prince of this World. And, of course, that raises problems. Is this state of affairs in accordance with God's will, or not? If it is, He is a strange God, you will say: and if it is not, how can anything happen contrary to the will of a being with absolute power?

But anyone who has been in authority knows how a thing can be in accordance with your will in one way and not in another. It may be quite sensible for a mother to say to the children, 'I'm not going to go and make you tidy the school-room every night. You've got to learn to keep it tidy on your own.' Then she goes up one night and finds the Teddy bear and the ink and the French Grammar all lying in the grate. That is against her will. She would prefer the children to be tidy. But on the other hand, it is her will which has left the children free to be untidy. The same thing arises in any regiment, or trade union, or school. You make a thing voluntary and then half the people do not do it. That is not what you willed, but your will has made it possible.

This sore-yearned-for time of the Saviour's sojourn upon earth showed that the judgment and justice for the Gentiles was already come. For they were about to be delivered from the arrogant usurpation of the devil, and the Holy and Righteous Judge was portioning out most righteous mercy to them. For I think we ought not to suppose that the world was even now being condemned, when the moment of its justification was come; but judgment, in the sense of vengeance, shall come upon the world hereafter. Again: the prince of this world shall be cast out. There shall be, He says, judgment against him that wronged the world, and not against the world that endured the wrong. For truly, as Christ Himself said: God sent not His Son to judge the world, but to save the world. This then He says will be the character of the impending judgment, that the prince of this world shall be cast out. And cast out whence? Manifestly, from the dominion that hath been gained by him through violence, and from the kingdom that in no wise belongs to him. And "out" indicates the punishment of Hades and the passage to it.

I know certain men for whom the king of Nineveh, (who is the last to hear the proclamation and who descends from his throne, and forgoes the ornaments of his former vices and dressed in sackcloth sits on the ground, he is not content with his own conversion, preaches penitence to others with his leaders, saying, "let the men and beasts, big and small of size, be tortured by hunger, let them put on sackcloth, condemn their former sins and betake themselves without reservation to penitence!) is the symbol of the devil, who at the end of the world, (because no spiritual creature that is made reasoning by God will perish), will descend from his pride and do penitence and will be restored to his former position. To support this opinion they use this example of Daniel in which Nebuchadnezzar after seven years of penitence is returned to his former reign. [Dan. 4:24, 29, 33] But because this idea is not in the Holy Scripture and since it completely destroys the fear of God, (for men will slide easily into vices if they believe that even the devil, the creator of wickedness and the source of all sins, can be saved if he does penitence), we must eradicate this from our spirits. Let us remember though that the sinners in the Gospel are sent to the eternal fire [Mt. 25:41], which is prepared for the devil and his angels, about whom is said, "their worm will not die and their fire will not be extinguished" [Is. 66:24]... Moreover if all spiritual creatures are equal and if they raise themselves up by their virtues to heaven, or by their vices take themselves to the depths, then after a long circuit and infinite centuries, if all are returned to their original state with the same worthiness to all conflicting, what difference will there be between the virgin and the prostitute? What distinction will there be between the mother of the Lord and (it is wicked to say) the victims of public pleasures? Will Gabriel be like the devil? Will the apostles be as demons? Will the prophets be as pseudoprophets? Martyrs as their persecutors? Imagine all that you will, increase by two-fold the years and the time, take infinite time for torture: if the end for all is the same, all the past is then nothing, for what is of importance to us is not what we are at any given moment, but what we will be forever more.

"Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast down." What connection hath this with, "I have glorified, and will glorify"? Much, and closely harmonizing. For when God saith, "I will glorify," He showeth the manner of the glorifying. What is it? That one should be cast down. But what is, "the judgment of this world"? It is as though He said, "there shall be a tribunal and a retribution." How and in what way? "He slew the first man, having found him guilty of sin, (for 'by sin death entered'-Rom. v. 12;) but in Me this he found not. Why then did he spring upon Me and give Me over to death? Why did he put into the mind of Judas to destroy Me?" (Tell me not that it was God's dispensation, for this belongeth not to the devil, but His wisdom; for the present let the disposition of that evil one be enquired into.) "How then is the world judged in Me?" It shall be said, as if a court of justice were sitting, to Satan, "Well, thou hast slain all men, because thou didst find them guilty of sin. But why didst thou slay Christ? Is it not clear that thou didst it wrongfully?" Therefore in Him the whole world shall be avenged.

But, that this may be still more clear, I will make it plain by an example. Suppose there is some cruel tyrant, bringing ten thousand evils on all those who fall into his hands. If such a one engaging with a king, or a king's son, slay him unjustly, his death will have power to get revenge for the others also. Suppose there is one who demands payment of his debtors, that he beats them and casts them into prison; then from the same recklessness that he leads to the same dungeon one who owes him nothing: such a man shall suffer punishment for what he hath done to the others. For that one shall destroy him. So also it is in the case of the Son; for of those things which the devil hath done against us, of these shall the penalty be required by means of what he hath dared against Christ. And to show that He implieth this, hear what He saith; "Now shall the prince of this world be cast down," "by My Death."

And our Lord Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, for no other reason than that He might destroy the begetting by lawless desire, and might show to the ruler that the formation of man was possible to God without human intervention. And when He had been born, and had submitted to the other conditions of the flesh,-I mean food, drink, and clothing,-this one condition only of discharging the sexual function He did not submit to; for, regarding the desires of the flesh, He accepted some as necessary, while others, which were unnecessary, He did not submit to. For if the flesh were deprived of food, drink, and clothing, it would be destroyed; but being deprived of lawless desire, it suffers no harm. And at the same time He foretold that, in the future world, sexual intercourse should be done away with; as He says, "The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage; but the children of the world to come neither marry nor are given in marriage, but shall be like the angels in heaven." Let not, then, those that are unbelieving marvel, if in the world to come He do away with those acts of our fleshly members which even in this present life are abolished.

What happens, [Jesus says,] now takes place on behalf of the world. For the whole world is judged in me now. You see, the first man, having been condemned to death on account of disobedience, became subject to the devil. Likewise all after him, becoming evil, brought on themselves the devil to be an exceedingly heavy tyrant over them, and because of this they were even more impious, making the kingdom of death worse for themselves. Therefore, because no one was able to wage war against it, Christ, being God, able to do everything, gave himself up on behalf of all people, the ones of old and those who are living now.The world, therefore, is judged in me and through me. For, having committed no sin but having accomplished every kind of virtue and in no way found worthy of death, I accept death unjustly, so that in this way I may make my case against the devil, the one who himself killed me and was condemned. Having been freed from the bonds of death, I will rise, but I will also raise with me the common race of humanity by the case I make, and all will be acquitted of the verdict. He, on the other hand, who wickedly controlled the people in this life will be deposed from power. And the bonds of death, with which he surrounded people and was easily controlling them, will be taken away. These are the same bonds that caused them to sin all the more, as the devil attained a greater mastery over them.

The words "now is the judgment of this world" seem to have no connection with what precedes them. For what relation do they have to the words "and I have glorified it and will glorify it again"? But there is, without doubt, a connection. Since the Father said from above "I will glorify," the Lord shows us the manner of the glorification. What exactly? That the prince of this world will be cast out and defeated, and for the world there will be judgment, that is, vengeance. These words have the following meaning: "Now judgment and vengeance are being carried out for this world. Since the devil subjected this world to death, having made all people guilty of sin, but having attacked Me and not found sin in Me, brought Me too under death equally with the rest, he will be condemned by Me, and thus I will avenge the world. Let him have inflicted death on the rest for sin; but what did he find in Me similar to the rest, so as to put Me also to death? Therefore, now by Me the judgment of this world is being carried out, that is, vengeance for it. For having put to death the one who put all to death, who then attacked Me as well, an innocent one, I will be the avenger for all those slain by him, and the cruel ruler (tyrant), condemned by My death, will be cast out." The expression "cast out" is used by comparison with how in courts the condemned are pushed out of the tribunal. "Will be cast out" can also be understood as meaning that he will be cast out into the outer darkness. He will lose his dominion over people and will not, as before, reign in them, both in their souls and in their mortal bodies.

He says, Now is the judgment of this world, he states the meaning of this voice. First, he mentions the judgment by which he would be glorified; secondly, the effect of this judgment; and thirdly, the way he will be glorified (v 32).

He says, Now is the judgment of this world. But if this is true, why do we expect that our Lord will come again to judge? The answer is that now he comes to judge with a judgment of distinction or discernment, by which he discerns his own from those who are not his: "For judgment I came into this world" (9:39). This is what he is speaking of when he says, Now is the judgment of this world. But he will come again to judge with the judgment of condemnation, for which he did not come the first time: "For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him" (3:17).

Or, we might say that there are two kinds of judgment. One is that which condemns the world; and this is not referred to here. The other is the judgment which will be in favor of the world, insofar as the world is set free from servitude to the devil. This is the way the Psalm is understood: "O Lord! Judge those who wrong me; overthrow those who fight against me" (Ps 34:1). But this judgment and the judgment of distinction are the same, because by the very fact that the judgment is in favor of the world by casting out the devil, the good are distinguished from the wicked.

The effect of this judgment is the casting out of the devil. So he says, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out, by the power of the passion of Christ. Thus the passion of Christ is his glorification; and this explains what he had said, I will glorify it, insofar as the ruler of this world shall be cast out, since Christ has the victory over the devil by his passion. "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil" (1 Jn 3:8).

A difficulty arises here on three points. First, because he says that the devil is the ruler or prince of this world. It was this that led the Manicheans to call him the creator and lord of everything that was visible. The answer is that the devil is called the ruler of this world not by a natural right, but by usurpation, insofar as worldly people, rejecting the true Lord, subject themselves to him: "The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers" (2 Cor 4:4). Thus, he is the ruler of this world insofar as he rules those who are worldly, as St. Augustine says, and these are spread throughout the entire world. For the word "world" is sometimes taken in a pejorative sense to mean those who love the world: "The world knew him not" (1:10). Yet sometimes it is taken in a good sense to indicate those who are good and live in the world in such a way that they are citizens of heaven: "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself" (2 Cor 5:19).

The second difficulty concerns the fact that the ruler of this world is said to be cast out. For if he had truly been cast out, he would no longer tempt us now as he did before; yet he continues to tempt us. Therefore, he was not cast out. Augustine answers this by saying that although the devil may tempt those who have ceased to be of the world, he does not tempt them in the same way as he did before. For before he tempted and ruled them from within, but now he does so only from without. For as long as men are in sin, he rules and tempts them from within: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions" (Rom 6:12). And so he was cast out because the effect of sin in man is not now from within but from without.

Thirdly, there is a difficulty from the fact that he says, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out. For it seems to follow from this that he had not been cast out before the passion of Christ, and consequently, if he is cast out only when men are set free from sin, it seems that Abraham, Isaac and the other men of the Old Testament were not set free from sin. The answer, according to Augustine, is that before the passion of Christ he had been cast out of individual persons, but not from the world, as he was to be later. For what formerly took place in only a few men, but now happens in many Jews and Gentiles who have converted to Christ, is recognized to have been accomplished by the passion of Christ.

Or, it might be said that the devil is cast out by the fact that men are set free from sin; but before the passion of Christ all the just had been set free from sin, although not entirely, because they were still kept from entering the kingdom. In this respect, therefore, the devil had some right over them which was entirely taken away by the passion of Christ, when the fiery sword was removed, when Christ said to the man: "Today you will be with me in Paradise" (Lk 23:43).

For it is only on the cross that a man dies with his hands spread out. And so it was fitting for the Lord to bear this also and to spread out his hands, that with the one he might draw the ancient people and with the other those from the Gentiles and unite both in himself. For this is what he himself has said, signifying by what manner of death he was to ransom all: "I, when I am lifted up," he says, "shall draw all unto me."

Accordingly, after saying, "Now shall the prince of this world be cast out," He added, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things after me." And what "all" is that, but those out of which the other is ejected? But He did not say, All men, but "all things;" for all men have not faith. And, therefore, He did not allude to the totality of men, but to the creature in its personal integrity, that is, to spirit, and soul, and body; or all that which makes us the intelligent, living, visible, and palpable beings we are. For He who said, "Not a hair of your head shall perish," is He who draweth all things after Him. Or if by "all things" it is men that are to be understood, we can speak of all things that are foreordained to salvation: of all which He declared, when previously speaking of His sheep, that not one of them would be lost. And of a certainty all classes of men, both of every language and every age, and all grades of rank, and all diversities of talents, and all the professions of lawful and useful arts, and all else that can be named in accordance with the innumerable differences by which men, save in sin alone, are mutually separated, from the highest to the lowest, and from the king to the beggar, "all," He says, "will I draw after me;" that He may be their head, and they His members. But this will be, He adds, "if I be lifted up from the earth," that is, when I am lifted up; for He has no doubt of the future accomplishment of that which He came to fulfill. He here alludes to what He said before: "But if the corn of wheat die, it bringeth forth much fruit." For what else did He signify by His lifting up, than His suffering on the cross, an explanation which the evangelist himself has not omitted; for he has appended the words, "And this He said signifying what death He should die."

(Tr. lii. 11) What is this all that He draweth, but that from which the devil is cast out? He does not say, All men, but, All things; for all men have not faith. He does not mean then all mankind, but the whole of a man, i. e. spirit, soul, and body; by which respectively we understand, and live, and are visible. Or, if all means all men, it means those who are predestined to salvation: or all kinds of men, all varieties of character, excepting in the article of sin.

(Tr. lii. 11) If I be lifted up from the earth, He says, i. e. when I shall be lifted up. He does not doubt that the work will be accomplished which He came to do. By His being lifted up, He means His passion on the cross, as the Evangelist adds: This He said, signifying by what death He should die.

When the devil saw Christ suffering, he believed His argument had little weight. But Christ ridiculed him. Christ considered the argument most powerful: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself."

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, through the passion of the cross, I will draw all things to myself, through faith and love. Song of Songs one: "Draw me after you"; below in chapter twenty-one: "Simon Peter drew the net to land, full of great fishes," etc.; above in chapter three: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up."

Question IV. Likewise, inquiry is made concerning what he says, that he will draw all things to himself; because not all, nor the greater part, have been converted to the faith; indeed, there are more wicked than good.

I respond: It must be said that, as Augustine says, those who tend toward non-being ought not to be counted; and such are the wicked. Hence by the word all things no distribution is made except for the elect, who were sons of God by election; and these he drew to himself and gathered into one.

Or: I will draw all things, that is, from every people and kingdom, not only Jews but also Gentiles, without distinction of nations.

Howbeit, after that Christ had given Himself unto the Father for our salvation as a Spotless Victim, and was now on the point of paying the penalties that He suffered on our behalf, we were ransomed from the accusations of sin. And so, when the beast has been removed from our midst, and the tyrant is deposed, then Christ brings unto Himself the race that had strayed away, calling not only Jews but all mankind as well unto salvation through the faith that is in Him. For whereas the calling through the Law was partial, that through Christ was universal. For Christ alone, as God, was able to procure all good things for us. And with exceeding good omen, He speaks of being "uplifted" instead of being "crucified." For He would keep the mystery invisible to those intent on killing Him; for they were not worthy to learn it: nevertheless, He allowed them that were wiser to understand that He would suffer because of all and on behalf of all. And especially I suppose any one might take it in this way, and very fitly; that the Death on the Cross was an exaltation which is ever associated in our thoughts with honour and glory. For on this account too Christ is glorified, forasmuch as the benefits He procured for humanity thereby are many. And by these He draws men unto Himself, and does not, like the disciples, lead them to another. He shows therefore that He is Himself by Nature God, in that He does not put the Father outside Himself. For it is through the Son that a man is drawn unto the knowledge of the Father.

He keeps the mystery invisible to those intent on killing him, for they were not worthy to learn it. Nevertheless, he allowed those who were wiser to understand that he would suffer because of all and on behalf of all. And it is probably even more the case that anyone might take it in this way, and very appropriately, that is, that the death on the cross was an exaltation that is always associated in our thoughts with honor and glory. For on this account too Christ is glorified, because the benefits he procured for humanity thereby are many.

From this solemnity indeed the example of resurrection was given to us, the hope of the heavenly homeland was opened, and the glory of the supernal kingdom was made something we might already anticipate. Through this, the elect, who although they were in the bosom of tranquility, were nevertheless held in the confines of hell, were led back to the delights of paradise. What the Lord said before His passion, He fulfilled in His resurrection: "If I am lifted up from the earth," He said, "I will draw all things to myself." For He drew all things, He who left none of His elect in the underworld. He took away all things—that is, all the elect. For He did not restore to pardon by rising again any unbelievers or those consigned to eternal punishments for their crimes; but He snatched from the confines of hell those whom He recognized as His own in faith and in deeds.

Nevertheless, I have heard of some who have passed on from this to you, having false doctrine, whom ye did not suffer to sow among you, but stopped your ears, that ye might not receive those things which were sown by them, as being stones of the temple of the Father, prepared for the building of God the Father, and drawn up on high by the instrument of Jesus Christ, which is the cross, making use of the Holy Spirit as a rope, while your faith was the means by which you ascended, and your love the way which led up to God.

Now, He suffered all these things for us; and He suffered them really, and not in appearance only, even as also He truly rose again. But not, as some of the unbelievers, who are ashamed of the formation of man, and the cross, and death itself, affirm, that in appearance only, and not in truth, He took a body of the Virgin, and suffered only in appearance, forgetting, as they do, Him who said, "The Word was made flesh;" and again, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up;" and once more, "If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto Me." The Word therefore did dwell in flesh, for "Wisdom built herself an house." The Word raised up again His own temple on the third day, when it had been destroyed by the Jews fighting against Christ. The Word, when His flesh was lifted up, after the manner of the brazen serpent in the wilderness, drew all men to Himself for their eternal salvation.

There is therefore, as I have pointed out, one God the Father, and one Christ Jesus, who came by means of the whole dispensational arrangements [connected with Him], and gathered together all things in Himself. But in every respect, too, He is man, the formation of God; and thus He took up man into Himself, the invisible becoming visible, the incomprehensible being made comprehensible, the impassible becoming capable of suffering, and the Word being made man, thus summing up all things in Himself: so that as in super-celestial, spiritual, and invisible things, the Word of God is supreme, so also in things visible and corporeal He might possess the supremacy, and, taking to Himself the pre-eminence, as well as constituting Himself Head of the Church, He might draw all things to Himself at the proper time.

"And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me." That is, "even those of the Gentiles." And that no one may ask, "How shall he be cast down, if he is stronger even than Thou art?" He saith, "He is not stronger; how can he be stronger than One who draweth others to Him?" And He speaketh not of the Resurrection, but of what is more than the Resurrection, "I will draw all men to Myself." For had He said, "I shall rise again," it was not yet clear that they would believe; but by His saying, "they shall believe," both are proved at once, both this, and also that He must rise again. For had He continued dead, and been a mere man, no one would have believed.

"I will draw all men to Myself." How then said He that the Father draweth? Because when the Son draweth, the Father draweth also. He saith, "I will draw them," as though they were detained by a tyrant, and unable of themselves alone to approach Him, and to escape the hands of him who keepeth hold of them. In another place He calleth this "spoiling; no man can spoil a strong man's goods, except he first bind the strong man, and then spoil his goods." (Matt. xii. 29.) This He said to prove His strength, and what there He calleth "spoiling," He hath here called "drawing."

But I will draw all people to Myself when I am lifted up on the cross. For all, including those from among the Gentiles, will be drawn to faith in Me. Since they themselves cannot come to Me, being held back by this ruler, I, having defeated him, cast him out, and severed the threads of his dominion over people, will draw them even against his will. This is what He called plundering in another place. "No one," He says, "can plunder the goods of the strong man, unless he first binds the strong man" (Mk. 3:27).

The form or manner of this passion would be by being lifted up; thus he says, and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. In regard to this, Chrysostom has the following example: If a tyrant, accustomed to oppress and rage against his subjects and cast them into chains, were in his madness to treat in the same way some one who was not subject to him and cast him into the same prison, then he would deserve that even his dominion over the others be taken from him. This is what Christ did against the devil. For the devil had some right over men because of the sin of the first parent; and so in some sense he could justly rage against them. But since he dared to try the same things with Christ, over whom he had no right, assailing him in whom he had no part, as the tempter, it was fitting that he be deprived of his dominion by the death of Christ. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself. First, he describes the manner of his death; secondly, the Evangelist explains it, saying, he said this to show by what death he was to die, for he would die by being lifted up on the wood of the cross.

Here we should note that there are two reasons why the Lord willed to die the death of the cross. First, because it is a shameful death: "Let us condemn him to a shameful death" (Wis 2:20). So Augustine says: "The Lord willed to die in this way so that not even a shameful death would keep a person from the perfection of righteousness."

Secondly, because such a death involves a lifting up; so our Lord says, when I am lifted up. Such a manner of death was in harmony with the fruit, the reason and the symbol of the passion. It was in harmony with its fruit, because it was by the passion that Christ was to be lifted up, exalted: "He became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him" (Phil 2:8). Thus the Psalmist said: "Be exalted, O Lord, in thy strength!" (Ps 2:8).

It harmonized with the reason for the passion, and in two ways: both with respect to men and with respect to the devil. With respect to men, because he died for their salvation. For they had perished, because they were cast down and sunk in earthly things: "they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth" (Ps 16:11). Thus he willed to die raised up in order to lift our hearts up to heavenly things. For in this way he is our way into heaven. With respect to the devils, it was fitting in the sense that those who exercised their principality and power in the air were trod under foot by him while he was raised in the air.

Finally, it harmonized with the symbol, because the Lord commanded that a bronze serpent be fashioned in the desert, as recorded in Numbers (21:9), and above: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up" (3:14). And so thus lifted up I will draw all things to myself, through love: "I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore have I drawn you, taking pity on you" (Jer 31:3).

Furthermore, the love of God for men appears most clearly in the fact that he condescended to die for them: "God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us," as we read in Romans (5:8). By doing this he fulfilled the request of the bride: "Draw me after you, and we will run to the aroma of your perfume" (Song 1:3).

Here we may note that the Father draws and the Son also draws: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him" (6:44). He says here, I will draw all things, in order to show that the same action belongs to both of them. And he says, all things, and not "all men," because not all men are drawn to the Son. I will draw all things, that is, the body and the soul; or all types of men, such as Gentiles and Jews, servants and freemen, male and female; or, all who are predestined to salvation.

Finally, we should note that to draw all things to himself is for Christ to cast out the prince of this world, for Christ has no fellowship with Belial, nor light with darkness (2 Cor 6:15).

"The people answered Him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest Thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? And who is this Son of man?" It had stuck to their memory that the Lord was constantly calling Himself the Son of man. For, in the passage before us, He does not say, If the Son of man be lifted up from the earth; but had called Himself so before, in the lesson which was read and expounded yesterday, when those Gentiles were announced who desired to see Him: "The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified." Retaining this, therefore, in their minds, and understanding what He now said, "When I am lifted up from the earth," of the death of the cross, they inquired of Him, and said, "We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever; and how sayest Thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?" For if it is Christ, He, they say, abideth for ever; and if He abideth for ever, how shall He be lifted up from the earth, that is, how shall He die through the suffering of the cross? For they understood Him to have spoken of what they themselves were meditating to do. And so He did not dissipate for them the obscurity of such words by imparting wisdom, but by stimulating their conscience.

(Tr. lii. 12) The Jews when they understood that our Lord spoke of His own death, asked how that could be: The people answered Him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest Thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man? Though our Lord did not call Himself the Son of man here, they remembered that He often called Himself so; as He had just before: The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. They remember this, and ask, If Christ abideth for ever, how will He be lifted up from the earth; i. e. how will He die upon the cross?

(Tr. lii. 12) Or they interpreted the word by their own intended act. It was not wisdom imparted, but conscience disturbed, which disclosed its meaning to them.

The crowd answered him. The third point is touched upon here, namely the doubt of the crowds, with respect to those who were instructed in the Law; because they had heard that Christ is immortal, and this man was saying that he was the Christ, and was saying that he would die. On account of which they say: We have heard from the Law that Christ abides forever.

But where had they heard this in the Law? It should be understood that the Law here includes the Prophets: and it is said in Micah 5: "His going forth is from the days of eternity," etc.; Daniel 7: "His power is an everlasting power, and his kingdom, which shall not be destroyed"; 2 Kings 7: "I will raise up your seed after you, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever."

And how do you say: The Son of Man must be exalted? Who is this Son of Man? Christ did not say this just now in this form, but above in chapter eight: "When you shall have exalted the Son of Man, then you will know." But now he says: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth." They were not asking about what they had heard, but about what they had previously conceived.

The blessed Hezekiah then, who was King of the Jews, and a very pious and virtuous man and an object of God's especial care, entertained the idea that the blessed David had spoken of him prophetically in many of the Psalms, such as the nineteenth, the twentieth, and many others besides, and having moreover applied to himself the prophecy which had once been made in his father's time by Isaiah: Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, he was uplifted in mind by the workings of human passion, and imagined himself to be the Christ who had been predicted. He was in consequence at first unwilling to take a part in the common offices of life, through the existence of another opinion among the Jews, that Christ when He comes, never dies, but abides for ever, as they also said in the Gospel: We have heard out of the Law that Christ abideth for ever. So Hezekiah being of this opinion abstained from taking a wife and providing for the succession of his line by having children, being under the belief that he would live always

And this they say, as we have remarked, understanding that being "lifted up" meant being crucified. For it was their wont to signify by more auspicious names things which pointed directly to sore disasters. They essay therefore by means of the Scripture to prove that Christ speaks falsehood. For the Scripture, says [one of them], denies that the Christ is but for a time, when it says concerning Him: Thou art a Priest for ever. How then sayest Thou: "I am the Christ," whereas Thou sayest that Thou wilt die? For, because they understand not, the Jews say that by reason of the Passion He cannot be Christ; and they deny that it was written that the Christ must suffer and rise again and ascend unto the Father, to be Minister of the Sanctuary and High Priest of our souls, when He should return to life, a Conqueror and Incorruptible. Albeit the Scripture foretells expressly, not only that He should come in this common fashion of a Man, but that He should die for the life of all men, and should return to life again after breaking asunder the bonds of death: whereby the saying that Christ abideth for ever is fully and fitly accomplished. For when He had shown Himself superior to death and corruption, He ascended unto the Father.

Deceit is a thing easily detected, and weak, though it be daubed outside with ten thousand colors. For as those who whitewash decayed walls, cannot by the plastering make them sound, so too those who lie are easily found out, as in fact was the case here with the Jews. For when Christ said to them, "If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto Me; We have heard," saith one of them, "out of the Law, that Christ remaineth forever; and how sayest thou, that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?" Even they then knew that Christ was some Immortal One, and had life without end. And therefore they also knew what He meant; for often in Scripture the Passion and the Resurrection are mentioned in the same place. Thus Isaiah puts them together, saying, "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter" (Isa. liii. 7), and all that follows. David also in the second Psalm, and in many other places, connects these two things. The Patriarch too after saying, "He lay down, He couched as a lion," addeth, "And as a lion's whelp, who shall raise Him up?" (Gen. xlix. 9.) He showeth at once the Passion and the Resurrection. But these men when they thought to silence Him, and to show that He was not the Christ, confessed by this very circumstance that the Christ remaineth forever. And observe their evil dealing; they said not, "We have heard that Christ neither suffereth nor is crucified," but that "He remaineth forever." Yet even this which has been mentioned, would have been no real objection, for the Passion was no hindrance to His Immortality. Hence we may see that they understood many of the doubtful points, and deliberately went wrong.

"Nevertheless, the truth everywhere prevailed; for, in proof that these things were done by divine power, we who had been very few became in the course of a few days, by the help of God, far more than they. So that the priests at one time were afraid, lest haply, by the providence of God, to their confusion, the whole of the people should come over to our faith. Therefore they often sent to us, and asked us to discourse to them concerning Jesus, whether He were the Prophet whom Moses foretold, who is the eternal Christ. [John 12:34] For on this point only does there seem to be any difference between us who believe in Jesus, and the unbelieving Jews. But while they often made such requests to us, and we sought for a fitting opportunity, a week of years was completed from the passion of the Lord, the Church of the Lord which was constituted in Jerusalem was most plentifully multiplied and grew, being governed with most righteous ordinances by James, who was ordained bishop in it by the Lord.

But when we twelve apostles, on the day of the passover, had come together with an immense multitude, and entered into the church of the brethren, each one of us, at the request of James, stated briefly, in the hearing of the people, what we had done in every place. While this was going on, Caiaphas, the high priest, sent priests to us, and asked us to come to him, that either we should prove to him that Jesus is the eternal Christ, or he to us that He is not, and that so all the people should agree upon the one faith or the other; and this he frequently entreated us to do. But we often put it off, always seeking for a more convenient time." Then I, Clement, answered to this: "I think that this very question, whether He is the Christ, is of great importance for the establishment of the faith; otherwise the high priest would not so frequently ask that he might either learn or teach concerning the Christ." Then Peter: "You have answered rightly, O Clement; for as no one can see without eyes, nor hear without ears, nor smell without nostrils, nor taste without a tongue, nor handle anything without hands, so it is impossible, without the true Prophet, to know what is pleasing to God." And I answered: "I have already learned from your instruction that this true prophet is the Christ; but I should wish to learn what the Christ means, or why He is so called, that a matter of so great importance may not be vague and uncertain to me."

This Spirit, (according to the apostle's showing, ) meant not that the service of these gifts should be in the body, nor did He place them in the human body); and on the subject of the superiority of love above all these gifts, He even taught the apostle that it was the chief commandment, just as Christ has shown it to be: "Thou shalt love the Lord with all thine heart and soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thine own self." When he mentions the fact that "it is written in the law," how that the Creator would speak with other tongues and other lips, whilst confirming indeed the gift of tongues by such a mention, he yet cannot be thought to have affirmed that the gift was that of another god by his reference to the Creator's prediction.

Thinking to expose the Lord and to confound Him as a false Christ, they say: "If Christ is immortal, and You say of Yourself that You will die, how shall we believe that You are truly the Christ?" They said this with malicious intent. For the Scripture, which they call the Law, mentions not only the resurrection but also the suffering. Thus, Isaiah points to both—to the suffering and death, when he says: "He was led... as a sheep... to the slaughter" (Isa. 53:7); to the resurrection, when he says: "The Lord wills to cleanse Him from His wound and to show Him as a light" (Isa. 53:11). David also mentions death and resurrection together. For he says: "You will not leave my soul in Hades" (Ps. 16:10). Likewise the patriarch, in blessing Judah, prophesies of Christ: "He crouched down, he lay down as a lion, and as a lion's whelp: who shall rouse Him?" (Gen. 49:9). Therefore, rejecting the sufferings of Christ and ascribing to Him the resurrection, they did this with malicious intent. We know from the Law, that is, from Scripture (for the Law, as we have often noted, refers to all of Scripture), that Christ abides forever. Rightly you know this, for He abides forever and, as God, abides also after the resurrection. But how did you not learn of the sufferings, when those very same Scriptures, as we have shown, teach both together? "How is it," they say, "that You say that the Son of Man must be lifted up?" You see, they understood much even from the Lord's parabolic sayings — for example, they understood that by the words "to be lifted up" He speaks of the Cross. Yes, they truly understood much, but out of their evil will they feigned ignorance. Note, then, what they say: "How do You say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?" Their speech is full of malice. They speak as if to say: "Although we do not know of whom You speak or who the Son of Man is, we nevertheless clearly understand the truth that whoever is lifted up, whoever he may be, is not the Christ — this is incompatible, for the Scriptures say that Christ is immortal."

Having mentioned the promised glorification of the Lord and explaining the voice, the Evangelist now describes the doubt which prevailed among the crowd. First, they introduce the authority of the Law; and secondly, they raise a problem based on it.

In regard to the first the Evangelist says, The crowd answered him, that is, the Lord, who was speaking of his death, We have heard from the law, and law is taken here for the entire Old Testament, that the Christ remains for ever. This can be gathered from many passages of the Old Testament, especially from Isaiah (9:7): "Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end"; and in Daniel (7:14): "His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed."

Basing themselves on this authority, they formulate two doubts: one concerns a fact, and the other the person. As concerns the fact, they say, How can you say that the Son of man must be lifted up? But since Christ did not say that "the Son of man must be lifted up," but "and I, when I am lifted up," why do the Jews say that "the Son of man" must be lifted up? The answer to this is that the Jews were now accustomed to our Lord's words; thus they remembered that he called himself the Son of man. And so when he said, "And I, when I am lifted up," they took it to mean, "If the Son of man is lifted up," as Augustine says. Or, one might answer that although Christ did not here mention the Son of man, yet earlier he had said: "The Son of man must be lifted up" (3:14).

Yet it seems that their statement, The Son of man must be lifted up, is in no way opposed to the statement that the Christ remains for ever. The answer is that since our Lord was accustomed to speak to them in figurative language, they understood much of what was said in that way. And so they also suspected that when our Lord spoke of being lifted up, he was referring to death on the cross: "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know," as we read above (8:28). Or, it could be said that they understood it in this sense because they had already thought of doing that very thing. Thus it was not the sharpness of their understanding that gave them this interpretation of these words, but an awareness of their own wickedness.

Note their wickedness, for they do not say: "We have heard from the law that the Christ does not suffer," because in many places of the law reference is made to his passion and resurrection: as "Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter" (Is 53:7); "I have slept and taken my rest: and I have risen up" (Ps 3:7). Rather, they say, the Christ remains for ever. The reason for this is that the former would not have involved any opposition, since no obstacle to Christ's immortality arises from the mere fact of his suffering. In other words, as Chrysostom says, they wished to show that he was not the Christ for the reason that the Christ remains for ever.

They raise a question concerning his person when they say, Who is this Son of man? They ask this because it says in Daniel (7:13): "And behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days"; and by that Son of man they understood the Christ. It is as though they were saying: "You say the Son of man must be lifted up; yet the Son of man, whom we take to be the Christ, remains forever. So Who is this Son of man? If he does not remain for ever, neither is he the Christ." In this they deserve to be reprimanded for their dullness, because even though they had seen and heard so many great things, they still had doubts about his being the Christ: "He who tells a story to a fool tells it to a drowsy man" (Sir 22:9).

For in that servant form was the fullness of true light: and when he emptied himself, he was the light. Finally, he said: Walk while you have the light (John 12:35). And when he was in death, he was not in the shadow. Finally, even in hell, he poured out the light of eternal life. There the true light of wisdom shone, illuminating hell, but hell was not closed.

"Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little light is in you." And by this it is you understand that Christ abideth for ever. "Walk, then, while ye have the light, test darkness come upon you." Walk, draw near, come to the full understanding that Christ shall both die and shall live for ever; that He shall shed His blood to redeem us, and ascend on high to carry His redeemed along with Him. But darkness will come upon you, if your belief in Christ's eternity is of such a kind as to refuse to admit in His case the humiliation of death. "And he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth." So may he stumble on that stone of stumbling and rock of offence which the Lord Himself became to the blinded Jews: just as to those who believed, the stone which the builders despised was made the head of the corner. Hence, they thought Christ unworthy of their belief; because in their impiety they treated His dying with contempt, they ridiculed the idea of His being slain: and yet it was the very death of the grain of corn that was to lead to its own multiplication, and the lifting up of one who was drawing all things after Him.

(Tr. lii. 13) Yet a little while is the light with you. Hence it is that ye understand that Christ abideth for ever. Wherefore walk while ye have the light, approach, understand the whole, that Christ will both die, and live for ever: do this while ye have the light.

(Tr. lii. 13) i. e. if ye so believe in the eternity of Christ, as to deny His humiliation and death. For he that walketh in darkness, knoweth not whither he goeth.

Jesus therefore said to them. Here the fourth point is touched upon, namely the removal of that doubt: and the Lord shows that that doubt did not arise from a bad understanding, but from a deficiency of understanding, because Scripture says both things about Christ, both that he is eternal and that he is mortal. Therefore he says: Yet a little while the light is in you. It is light, because you believe Christ to be eternal; but little, because you do not believe him to be about to die. Therefore he exhorts them to advance in faith while they have time; on account of which he says: Walk while you have the light. That walking is to approach Christ through faith: Psalm: "Come to him, and be enlightened." And the reason is added: That the darkness may not overtake you, that is, the blindness of unbelief, concerning which above in chapter three: "The light came into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light." And it is dangerous to be overtaken by them, because he who walks in darkness does not know where he goes: Proverbs 4: "The way of the wicked is dark: they know not where they fall." And he explains what he had said by walk, which is believe.

But now, beloved brethren, lest any one should think that I have placed all salvation in no other condition than in martyrdom, let him first of all look especially at this, that it is not I who seem to speak, that am of so great importance, nor is the order of things so arranged that the promised hope of immortality should depend on the strength of a partial advocacy. But since the Lord has testified with His own mouth, that in the Father's possession are many dwellings, I have believed that there is nothing greater than that glory whereby those men are proved who are unworthy of this worldly life. Therefore, beloved brethren, striving with a religious rivalry, as if stirred up with some incentive of reward, let us submit to all the abundance and the endurance of strength. For things passing away ought not to move us, seeing that they are always being pressed forward to their own overthrow, not only by the law proposed to them, but even by the very end of time. John exclaims, and says, "Now is the axe laid to the root of the tree; " showing, to wit, and pointing out that it is the last old age of all things. Moreover, also, the Lord Himself says, "Walk while ye have the light, lest the darkness lay hold upon you." But if He has foretold that we must walk in that time, certainly He shows that we must at any rate walk.

To the Jews, without understanding and faithless as they were, the Christ does not clearly and at length declare the deep mystery of the saying. But He speeds on at once to utter another, at the same time both expounding what is profitable for them and showing them the cause wherefore they do not understand the things in the Scriptures, and that, if they believed not Him Who is Light, the darkness of ignorance would overtake them without fail, and they would forfeit the benefits that come of the Light. For inasmuch as their expectations were drawn from the Scripture, they looked for the Messiah as a Light. But when He came, all their hopes fell out contrariwise; for a darkness overtook them because of their unbelief. Recover yourselves therefore (saith He) speedily, while it is possible for you to win some small share in the radiance of the Divine Light, in order that the darkness of sin overtake you not. And right well He said that after the Light cometh the darkness. For the darkness presseth hard on the track of the departing light. But whereas He spake of "the Light," using the definite article, He signified Himself, for He alone is in truth The Light.

The one who is stupid looks downward and hands his soul over to pleasures of the body, as cattle to pasture, living only for the stomach and the organs nearby, being alienated from the life of God. He is a stranger to the promise of the covenants, considering nothing else to be good than pleasing the body. This one, and everyone like him, is the one making his way "in darkness," as the Scripture says.

"Yet a little while," He saith, "is the light with you." Signifying that His death was a removal; for the light of the sun is not destroyed, but having retired for a while appears again. "Walk while ye have the light." Of what season doth He here speak? Of the whole present life, or of the time before the Crucifixion? I for my part think of both, for on account of His unspeakable lovingkindness, many even after the Crucifixion believed. And He speaketh these things to urge them on to the faith, as He also did before, saying, "Yet a little while I am with you." (c. vii. 33.)

"He that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth." How many things, for instance, even now do the Jews, without knowing what they do, but walking as though they were in darkness? They think that they are going the right way, when they are taking the contrary; keeping the Sabbath, respecting the Law and the observances about meats, yet knowing not whither they walk.

What then does the Lord say? Stopping their mouths and showing that His sufferings in no way prevent Him from abiding forever, He says: "Yet a little while the Light is in you." By Light He referred to Himself. Just as the light of the sun does not completely disappear, but is hidden and shines forth again, so too My death is not destruction, but a setting and a departure, and through the resurrection I shall shine forth again. And since the sufferings in no way prevent Me from being eternal, and the Scriptures testify concerning Christ that He is eternal, then I am truly Christ, even though I shall endure sufferings. For I am the Light; I shall set and rise again.

Then when he says, Jesus said to them, our Lord somewhat settles their doubt. First, he commends the good they had; and secondly, he encourages them to make progress; thirdly, he explains his admonition (v 36).

Jesus said to them, The light is with you for a little longer. This can be understood in two ways. In one way, according to Augustine, so that "little" modifies "light." As if to say: "A little light is in you," insofar as it sees that the Christ remains for ever. For this is a truth, and every manifestation of the truth is a light infused by God. Yet this light which is in you is "little," because even though you recognize the eternity of the Christ, you do not believe in his death and resurrection. This shows that you do not have perfect faith. Thus, what was said to Peter applies also to them: "O man of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Mt 14:31).

It is understood in another way by Chrysostom, as meaning that the light is with you for a little longer time, that is, I, who am the light. It is the same as saying: I, the light, am among you for a brief time: "A little while, and you will see me no more" (16:16).

And so he exhorts them to make progress in good. First, he gives his exhortation; secondly, he shows the danger threatening them unless they do make progress.

He says: I say that you have a little light, but while you have it, walk, that is, move forward and make progress, so that you may understand that the Christ, in addition to his eternity, will also die and rise again. This is in keeping with the first explanation given above. Or, Walk while you have the light, that is, while I am among you, make progress and be concerned with possessing me in such a way as never to lose me: "Blessed are the people, O Lord, who walk in the light of thy countenance" (Ps 89:15).

And do this lest the darkness of unbelief, ignorance and eternal damnation overtake you and prevent you from going any further. For a person is overtaken by darkness when he is totally sunk in unbelief; and they would be this way if they believed in the eternity of the Christ in such a way as to deny the humiliation of his death: "A man whose way is hid" (Job 3:23); "We are wrapped up in darkness" (Job 37:19).

The danger threatening them unless they do progress is mentioned when he says, he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. For light, whether exterior or interior, directs man. Exterior light directs him as to external bodily acts, while the interior light directs his will. One, therefore, who does not walk in the light, not perfectly believing in Christ, but walks in the darkness, does not know where he goes, that is, to what goal he is being led. As we read in the Psalm (82:5): "They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness." This is what happened to the Jews because they did not know what they were doing, but as people who were walking in the darkness they thought they were on the right road. And so they displeased God in the very things in which they believed they were pleasing him. Similarly, in the very things in which erring heretics believe they merit the light of truth and grace is the source of their being deprived of it: "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death" (Prv 14:12).

"While ye have the light," He adds, "believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light." While you have possession of some truth that you have heard, believe in the truth, that you may be born again in the truth.

"These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide Himself from them." Not from those who had begun to believe and to love Him, nor from those who had come to meet Him with branches of palm trees and songs of praise; but from those who saw and hated Him, for they saw Him not, but only stumbled on that stone in their blindness. But when Jesus hid Himself from those who desired to slay Him, He had regard to our human weakness, but derogated not in aught from His own authority.

(Tr. lii) i. e. While ye have any truth, believe in the truth, that ye may be born again of the truth: That ye may be the children of the light.

(Tr. lii) Not from those which began to believe in and love Him, but from those who saw and envied Him. When He hid Himself, He consulted our weakness, He did not derogate from His own power.

While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be children of the light. The children of light are children of God, because he is "the true light"; and this comes about through faith: above in chapter one: "He gave them power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name." He answers most excellently, because they could not be freed from that doubt except by approaching him through faith: whence Augustine: "Come, understand the whole: both that Christ would die and that Christ would live forever and that he would shed his blood, by which he might redeem, and that he would ascend to the heights, to which he might lead you." This is to walk.

These things Jesus spoke. After the future calling of the Gentiles and the prediction and exposition of the future Passion have been described, here fourthly is indicated the future blinding of the Jews. And the declaration of this matter proceeds in this order. For first the blinding itself is indicated; second, the election of some; third, the strengthening of the weak among the elect takes place; fourth, a threat is brought against the blinded themselves.

The blinding of the Jews is indicated in the very action of the Lord, who hid himself from those same Jews who had begun to contradict him; on account of which he says: These things Jesus spoke and went away and hid himself from them. Augustine: "Not from those who came to meet him with palm branches, but from those who saw and envied"; Deuteronomy 32: "I will hide my face from them and I will consider their last end; for it is a perverse generation, and unfaithful children." And this bodily hiding was a sign of the spiritual hiding.

These things spake Jesus, and He departed and hid Himself from them.

After teaching them in few words what was profitable, once again by God-befitting power He betakes Himself from their midst, concealing Himself; and not permitting them to be roused to anger, but giving them opportunity to change their mind, with intent that they might do what was better. And He withdraws with a set purpose, His Passion being nigh; showing that it was not His will to be put to death by the Jews, notwithstanding that He willingly yielded Himself up to suffer, giving Himself a Ransom for our life; and accepted death, which men naturally liken unto sorrow, and changed the sorrow into gladness.

While ye have the Light, believe on the Light, that ye may become sons of Light.

He proved therefore that the faith which is in Him, through Whom a man comes to the knowledge also of the Father, is the way of salvation. And He names them sons of Light whether of Himself or of the Father, for He speaks of the Father as Light after having spoken of Himself as Light----in order to show that the Nature of Himself and of His Father is One: and we become sons of the Father, when, through the faith which is in Christ, we accept the Father Who is Light; for then shall we also be entitled children of God.

Jesus withdraws with a set purpose, his passion being close at hand, showing that it was not his will to be put to death by the Jews. Nevertheless, he willingly yielded himself up to suffer, giving himself as a ransom for our life and accepting death, which is cause for sadness. But he ends up changing sorrow into gladness.

"Walk in the light, that ye may become children of the light." That is, "My children." Yet in the beginning the Evangelist saith, "Were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God" (c. i. 13); that is, of the Father; while here Himself is said to beget them; that thou mayest understand that the operation of the Father and the Son is One. "Jesus having spoken these things," departed from them, and did hide Himself. Why doth He now "hide Himself"? They took not up stones against Him, nor did they blaspheme Him in any such manner as before; why then did He hide Himself? Walking in men's hearts, He knew that their wrath was fierce, though they said nothing; He knew it boiling and murderous, and waited not till it issued into action, but hid Himself, to allay their ill-will.

Let us see what idea we are to form from the language of Paul regarding Christ where he says that he is the "brightness of the glory of God and the representation of his being." According to John, "God is light." The only-begotten Son, therefore, is the glory of this light, proceeding inseparably from God himself, just as brightness proceeds from light and illuminates the whole creation.… Through this brightness, human beings understand and experience what light itself is. And this splendor presents itself gently and softly to the frail and weak eyes of mortals and gradually trains and accustoms them, as it were, to bear the brightness of the light. It removes from them every hindrance and obstruction to their vision, according to the Lord's own command to cast out the beam from your own eye. In this way, it renders them capable of enduring the splendor of the light and becomes, in this respect, also a kind of mediator between human beings and the light.

So then, while the Light is with you, walk, that is, believe in Me. What time is He speaking of here? He speaks of the time before the sufferings, or of the time after the sufferings, or of both together. So then, He says, walk and believe in Me both before My crucifixion and after it. He indicates this by the words "while the Light is with you," that is, while you can believe in Me; and to believe in Me, who am the Light, you can both before the sufferings and after them. But whoever walks in unbelief does not know where he is going. For whatever the Jews do now, they nevertheless do not know what they are doing, but walk as if in darkness; they think they are going on the straight path, but everything turns out the opposite for them, when they observe the Sabbath and circumcision. But those who have believed do not act this way. They walk in the light, doing everything that pertains to salvation. For they escaped the shadows of the law and the darkness of riddles, and came to the light that had been hidden in them but has now shone forth, and became sons of the Light, that is, of Christ. "That you may become," He says, "sons of the Light," that is, My sons. Although the Evangelist at the beginning of the Gospel says that some were born of God (John 1:13), here he calls them sons of the Light, that is, of Christ. Let Arius and Eunomius be put to shame. For here too it is shown that the Father and the Son have one operation. Why did the Lord hide from them? They had not now taken up stones against Him, nor spoken any blasphemy, as before. Why then did He hide? Although they said nothing, yet penetrating into their hearts, He saw that their fury was increasing. To subdue their hatred, He hides Himself.

Then when he says, While you have the light, believe in the light, he explains what he said, namely, what it means to walk. This is explained in two ways, according to the two explanations given above. According to the first explanation: While you have the light, that is, while you have some knowledge and light of the truth, believe in the light, that is, in the complete truth, that you may become sons of light, that is, that you may be reborn in the truth: "We are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not sleep" (1 Thess 5:6).

Or, according to the other explanation: While you have the light, that is, me who am the light - "He was the true light which enlightens every man who comes into the world" (1:9) - believe in the light, that is, in me. In other words, make progress in the knowledge of me, that you may become sons of light, because from the fact that you believe in me you will be the children of God: "But to all who receive him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God" (1:12).

When Jesus had said this, he departed and hid himself from them. Here the Evangelist tells what Jesus did, that he hid himself. When we read above (8:59) that Christ did this very thing, the reason was obvious, for they were taking stones to cast at him. But here there is no reason for his hiding given, such as that they took up stones or that they blasphemed him. Why then did he hide? The answer is that our Lord, seeing into their hearts, knew their rage and the evil they had planned, i.e., to kill him. And so in his desire to stop them he did not wait for them to act, but hid himself so their anger and envy would abate. In doing this he is an example to us that when the evil purposes of others are clear to us, we should flee before they can accomplish them. In addition, our Lord was showing by his actions what he had said by his words. For he just said, Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you. And by hiding himself he indicated what sort of darkness he means: "I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob" (Is 8:17).