Ammonius, Presbyter of Alexandria

^A First, he says that God is his supporter, then his glory, and finally he who exalts his head. He is a supporter, that he might be delivered from many who afflict and rise up against him. Next to being his supporter comes his glory; for God first supports, then glorifies, and next exalts the head of him whom He has glorified.

VERS. 7. «I will not fear ten thousands of people round about, set against me.»

For he considers the salvation of men a concern of his own, as a good Savior and a King who spares those subject to him.

VERS. 8. «For thou hast struck all those who are adversaries to me without cause.»

He struck the adversaries, but broke the teeth of the sinners—the former so that he might heal them again (for "I," he says, "will strike and will heal"), but the teeth of the sinners, that is to say, their wicked words and flesh-eating deeds, he broke, wishing to abolish them utterly. Perhaps he called the same people both adversaries and sinners; for all sinners are adversaries to Christ, but the children of the Jews are so to a special degree because of their unbelief, the teeth of whom he broke—those teeth of whom he said in another Psalm: "Who devour my people as food for bread, they have not called upon the Lord." For these teeth, that is to say, the deceitful words of the Jews, he broke utterly when he rose from the dead.

VERS. 9. «Salvation is of the Lord, and thy blessing is upon thy people.»

That which was his name, this also was his reality: "And you shall call his name Jesus."

FRAGMENTA IN DANIELEM

CAP. XIII. VERS. 1. «His name was Joakim.»

This man, being king of Judah, was taken captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.

VERS. 5. «Who were thought to govern.»

He rightly said "were thought," for they appeared to be governors, but in fact they plunged the souls of those who obeyed them into shipwrecks.

VERS. 6. «They remained in the house.»

Because they were in honor among the Jews, they did not depart from the house as some secular prefects might.

VERS. 8. «They were watching her.»

For the chaste woman did not flee from the elders.

VERS. 29. «The daughter of Chelcias, who is the wife of Joakim.»

Since they conducted themselves impudently toward everyone, they slandered both Joakim, a man celebrated among the Jews, and the just Chelcias, saying that they were held in honor undeservedly—this one for having such a wife, and that one for having such a daughter.

VERS. 50. «And there came,» etc.

For this reason, they all came, that they might bear witness that

^A a blameworthy word was never found concerning Susanna.

«They commanded her to be uncovered.» ^B If it had happened that Susanna had died, even so their desire would not have ceased, inasmuch as they honored her with an idolatrous cult; for where they were about to deliver her to death, they did not turn away, but were driven even more madly by her. She trusted in God, as one possessing a pure conscience; yet she wept, fearing death, even though the event procured for her the crowns of martyrdom. Thus it is the custom for false witnesses to mix falsehood with truth; and since the consistency of such schemes requires that the judge not attend even to what is said in truth, but regard everything as false. Even if heretics cannot grasp Christ, yet they seize pious men and forcibly deliver them to death.

«The assembly believed them.» ^C It is in such ways that the judgment of the people is subverted by those in authority, especially where there are hidden and profound mysteries which the common crowd does not understand. Thus the priests persuaded the people to crucify Jesus, the Lord of glory, saying, «This is not the Christ who is expected, but He casts out demons by Beelzebub»; and the people, as if they were dealing with those who knew the Scriptures precisely, were persuaded and sinned.

«God raised up.» ^D The Holy Spirit was in Daniel, which, having moved him, prepared him to speak; to respond to the judgment and to establish a courtroom setting, for the judge to sit and to judge clearly what was said by the witnesses, and not to be persuaded simply by what was spoken. For in what had preceded, they themselves were both judges and witnesses, and they had set up the indiscriminate multitude as judges, while they themselves performed the office of the witnesses; thus also those around Caiaphas, being both judges and witnesses, said, «What further need have we of witnesses? We ourselves, he says, hearing, bear witness that Jesus blasphemes, saying that He is God.»

«What is this word?» As if awakened from sleep, the people said these things to Daniel. As a prophet, Daniel teaches that one ought not to fall into the same example regarding Christ, nor follow the leaders with blind impulse and condemn the Lord to death; but to inquire precisely from the Scriptures and from the facts whether He is the Christ who is expected, and to inquire if the words agree with the works.

«God gave you the honor of old age.» Even if the elders said this ironically, mocking him as a youth, yet the truth was indeed so, according to what was said: «Instead of your fathers, sons have been born to you»; just as the Lord also said to the Jews, that «Your sons who have believed in me shall be your judges.» The just Judge thus receives two witnesses, not the two speaking at the same time, which is what the elders did, who, out of collusion, said one and the same word. For those who are established in a holy office are first separated into two

and then, as faithless, they are handed over entirely to hell, so that the grace of the Holy Spirit may not seem to be insulted by those who have made themselves unworthy of God’s gift. Thus, too, the Lord spoke in the Gospels; and thus it happens in secular courts. Daniel speaks with more reverence than the shameless and cruel elders; for when they said, "He lay with her," he called the matter "conversation," a word that vanishes into the air. By this statement, he hinted that the elders' speech was false and baseless.

^B “Thou hast lied.” The prophet indeed said that he lied; but this was for a time unknown to the people. For prophetic utterances are unknown to the multitude until people see the outcome of the events, and then they understand clearly what was prophesied. Israel signifies the ten tribes, a race prone to idolatry; but Judah is the tribe of Judah and Benjamin, where the temple and the legal rites were, which prefigured good things to come, and a law-abiding polity, and a sober life, and the punishments established against transgressors. From this he deduces the origin of Susanna. “To the end that the saying might be fulfilled, 'He that diggeth a pit for his neighbor shall fall into it.'” Therefore, we ought always to turn our attention, beloved, guarding against anyone ^C being caught in some transgression, and becoming guilty of his own soul, knowing that God is the avenger of all, being Himself all eye. Nothing of what happens in the world escapes Him. Wherefore, let us be always vigilant in mind and, living chastely, let us imitate Susanna.

As the history stands, it stands; but it is possible also to interpret the composition of the letter tropically. Thus, Chelcias is interpreted as "a turning toward God," or "praise of God"; Susanna as "their joy," or "the apostolic lily"; Joakim as "the preparation of the Lord," or "the praise of the Lord"; Daniel as "the judgment of God," or "God judging." When, therefore, the joy of the virtuous souls of the Church, which is the apostolic lily, the fragrant flower, the spiritual fragrance, the daughter of Chelcias, having learned from her own ancestors to lead a life according to the tradition of the prophets—which is the conversion and the lot of Israel—is united ^D to the spiritual bridegroom, Christ, who is Joakim, the spiritual bridegroom of the Church, who prepared the goods of the age to come for the faithful, and proclaimed the kingdom of heaven, and made the faithful partakers of the Holy Spirit, to be praised unto the ages, Amen: then the wicked judges of the people come upon her, and if they cannot corrupt her soul through perverse dogmas and kill it (for this is the death of the soul), then they hand over the body to the senseless and discerning-less crowd for slaughter. And if God permits the bride to undergo death, He adorns her with the crown of martyrdom; but if He rescues her from the hand of the enemies, He again honors her by keeping her near Himself. They, however, also consider the just judgment of God, which Daniel achieved, whose name signifies the judgment of God. But the elders lack a name, as the rich man in the Gospel of Luke, who did not deem Lazarus, covered with ulcers, worthy of compassion.

CHAPTER ONE

VERS. 17. ^A Daniel understood all visions and dreams. He announces the divine revelations and dreams which he saw and recorded as a prophet; and he does not hide the gifts of divine grace, as did he who buried his master’s talent in the earth.

VERS. 21. ^A Fuit, etc. Here, Daniel shows that he wrote this prophetic and historical book toward the end of his life.

CAP. II

VERS. 5. ^B Nisi indicaveritis mihi. By a correct conclusion, though contrary to custom, he said that he who does not know what he has seen in a dream is unable to solve it, even if he hears the dream. For behold, in the fifth vision he told them the dream of the tree, and they were unable to solve it.

VERS. 10. ^B Et dicunt: Non est homo. It was easier to lie. For Daniel, who was a man and on the earth, knew this, although it had been revealed to him by God.

^B Nullus rex vel princeps de hujusmodi re quærit. Where there are kings and princes, well-established laws flourish; where tyrants are, violence and injustice dominate. Therefore, since you are a king, you ought not to inquire so unjustly.

^C Incantatorem, magum, et Chaldæum. An enchanter is one who professes that he will do something by whispering, such as those who charm serpents; magi are those who are able to deceive by certain sophistries; Chaldeans are those who boast that they know all things through astronomy, and especially those things that are to come.

VERS. 16. ^C Rogavit, ut sibi tempus concederet. As a faithful man, he promised he would explain the dream, having received the grace through prayer and supplication from God.

VERS. 25. ^C Inveni virum ex filiis captivitatis. He indeed, as if disparaging Daniel, called him a captive. Now, if the faithful among the Jews were able to understand mysteries, although they were held in low esteem by the Gentiles, what shall we think of the more illustrious prophets?

VERS. 28. ^D Est Deus in cœlo. Daniel turns the king’s mind from earthly things to heavenly things, in order to lift him up to the true knowledge of God, which also happened for a time.

VERS. 30. ^D Ut interpretationem regi manifestam facerem. Daniel shows that Nebuchadnezzar saw the dream for the common utility of the world, and that Daniel knew its solution. It happened in the same way in the times of Pharaoh and Joseph. Therefore, we should neither concern ourselves with dreams that do not contribute to the common salvation, nor should we seek the solution to them from fraudulent men. For those things which profit the soul, the saints alone are capable of solving.

^A VERS. 45. ‹That thou didst see the iron mingled.› Some of the horns appear to be joined to one another by a sort of bond of friendship, but they do not by any means rightly agree with one another. VERS. 47. ‹In truth your God is himself the God of gods.› Since Ananias and his friends had joined him in spiritual matters, and together with him had invoked God for the knowledge of the dream, Daniel thought it just that they should become partakers of his honor, not because they sought after earthly glory, but that he might provoke the nations to true piety, seeing a God-fearing race honored by God and by human kings.

CAP. III

VERS. 41. ‹Now we follow and seek thy face.› ^C Since he said "we follow," he rightfully makes mention of the face; for he who has followed well will also be deemed worthy of the vision. For the sight of your face forthwith exhilarates the countenances of those who behold you, and does not put them to shame. The sense is: Let us not fall from the hope placed in you, but, according to your humanity, rescue us from the dangers, and miraculously deliver us from the evils that oppress us, so that everyone may praise you, because you do not desert those who trust in you. On the contrary, he says, cause those who inflict calamities upon us to fall from the confidence placed in men, so that it may appear that human power is vain. VERS. 50. ‹As a blowing wind of dew.› ^D

› The illuminating power of the fire of the furnace he did not take away, but he calmed the burning power. ^A VERS. 57. ‹Laudate, all the works of the Lord, the Lord.› Perhaps some of the uninitiated, upon hearing this doxology, will mock these holy and God-inspired men, saying that while the words, "Laudate the Lord, O angels of the Lord, and powers of the Lord, and sons of men, and priests of the Lord, and servants of the Lord, and spirits, and souls of the just, and holy and humble of heart," follow in order and are appropriate, the words "Laudate, heavens, and earth, and waters, and all things that are in them," for instance, the sun, the stars, the trees, are poorly said, since these lack mind and soul and sensation. For we should not believe those who say that the elements possess life and reason, even if the prophets ^B addressed their words to them as if they had life; for they speak to rational and irrational beings alike, saying, "Laudate, heavens," and "Laudate, angels." We must reply that, as long as creatures preserve their own order, they are said to laud God; but if they step beyond their own bounds, they seem in a way to indicate the anger of God. Thus, too, at that time the fire did not stand in its own proper order, because of the anger against the Babylonians, even though it resulted in the salvation of the three holy children. In like manner also in the time of Samuel during the summer, the clouds, bringing down rain contrary to their own custom, indicated the anger impending over Israel; and in the same way, whenever such a thing happens, men fear as if anger were impending. ^C Accordingly, the saints pray that the elements may preserve their own laws; for through this we learn that God is gracious to us. This must be said not only regarding the irrational, but also regarding the rational creation. For when a man preserves his own order—the innocence and uprightness which he had from the first creation—and the grace of the Holy Spirit, he laudably praises God; and in like manner, so do the angels. But if they turn away from the good, they are not considered to laud God. Therefore the Lord also says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the kingdom, but he who does the will of my Father." Similarly, those angels who were turned toward wickedness and became demons are not counted as praisers, even if they fall before Jesus as God and call Him the Son of God. For they spoke these things because of the anger ^D impending over them; for they were being tormented invisibly; wherefore they also said, "Have you come to torment us before the time?" VERS. 94. ‹The satraps are gathered.› As though observing a wondrous miracle, they hurried together; for this was almost greater than rising from the dead; for it seemed that they had even conquered death itself, as if they were clothed in immortal and incorruptible bodies, which was not the case; for being in mortal bodies they escaped destruction, not having experienced at all the heat of the fire. VERS. 95. ‹The smell of fire.› Signs have the power of persuasion; wherefore he who has faith on account of signs ought not to be esteemed as truly faithful; whence the Lord

^A said to the disciples: “You have seen and believed: blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed.”*

CAP. IV. VERS. 6. ‹Baltasar prince of the incantators.› Nabuchodonosor rebukes the magi as those who know nothing, and who uttered deceitful words regarding the dream of the statue, when they said: “Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation of it.” For behold, now, having heard the dream, they did not solve it.

VERS. 9. ‹Its fruit was abundant.› Though abundant, it was not sweet, on account of the prevailing idolatry. For it did not impart virtue, nor did it nourish the mind, but only those who lived after the manner of beasts. For such is external knowledge: pleasant to the sight, but bringing no utility to the mind. Hence, the irrational race of men, like wild beasts and cattle, rested in it; but not Israel, which is the mind seeing God, not a corporeal one.

VERS. 22. ‹Seven years shall be changed.› Three years and six months. For the Persians to this day divide the year into two parts, winter and summer, linking spring to winter and autumn to summer. Some interpret the word *eir* as "angel," others as "watcher."

VERS. 23. ‹The kingdom remains for you.› This is the prophetic custom: to speak harshly of the hardships that are to occur, but at the same time to suggest good hopes ^B to those who repent, in that the outcome lies within the power of men.

CAP. VII. VERS. 26. ‹To destroy even to the end.› For immediately after the Antichrist shall be the end. And the Jews err in vain when they say that they will reign with the Antichrist for a thousand years, since he shall reign for only three years and a half.

CAP. VIII. VERS. 3. ‹One higher than the other.› Because the Persians excelled the Medes in dignity.

CAP. IX. VERS. 21. ‹And behold, the man Gabriel flying.› Since Christ was to come in the last days, so that there might be a sacrifice for the salvation of the world, ^C reasonably and deservedly did Gabriel also appear to Daniel at that hour, as the messenger and herald of the incarnation of the Word.

VERS. 21. ‹To seal up sins.› Upon the advent of Christ, the sin of the world is loosed. For when Christ has arrived, they no longer walk according to the law and the prophets; for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.† Through the coming of the Spirit, Christians are sealed, being renewed into the image. Through the mystical water, sins are washed away. Through repentance, reconciliation and forgiveness of sins are recovered, and he who could not be justified by the works of the law is now justified by faith.

^A "Holy, holy is Christ, who was anointed according to the dispensation because of the flesh."

"The anointing shall be destroyed." ^A These things look toward the Antichrist, who, after the coming of Christ, at the end of the days, will no longer permit anyone to be baptized as a Christian.

"In a flood." By the flood, he means the multitude of the people who will be with the Antichrist, who will wage war against the saints until the consummation.

"He shall confirm a covenant with many for one week." This means that Enoch and those with him have many of the Jews and the faithful to persuade not to be convinced by the deceiver, but to be strengthened to stand against him. By one week, he means seven years, in which ^B Elijah and Enoch will come, and they will remain for three years and a half. And the Antichrist will come and will kill them, and he himself will also remain for another three years and a half. And then Christ will come, the age reaching its end. He speaks of Elijah and Enoch, concerning whom John also said in the Apocalypse, "And I will give to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."

CHAP. X

"I did not eat bread." ^C The prophet teaches that fasting and the endurance of evils, joined with prayer, are a great virtue, through which one is sometimes deemed worthy of visions.

"A man clothed in baddin." The baddin signifies a variegated tunic, such as are the faithful who distinguish themselves in the variety of virtues, whom Christ wears as a garment. Having clothed himself in the faithful, God girds them with the honored and pure Gospel, so that they might believe in the resurrection; for *Ophaz* is interpreted as "pure."

"His face as the appearance of lightning." ^D As a judge has a severe and almost lightning-like face; for he looks with a searing gaze against the adversary, or because, being full of the Holy Spirit, he sees what is in the heart. The arms signify the superior members, that is, the forefathers; but the legs, those who now believe; for the order of the forefathers and of those who now believe is one and the same.

"I have been left alone." For the unbelievers will not know Christ, but will flee; but the faithful will see him, being illuminated by him, just as the faithful Daniel did.

"Behold, a hand touching me." The hand signifies the partial knowledge of the truth, the evangelical knowledge. For he himself is Christ, who is to raise up the whole human race.

"Your words have been heard." Since your prayer has been heard, that the people might be sent away, a council was held concerning this. And when all were saying, "Let not the people be sent away," Michael alone stood against it, he who led you in the land of Egypt.

^A VERS. 16. *Ut similitudo Filii hominis.* He foresees the incarnation of the Only-Begotten, calling Him the Son of man who was to be born of holy Mary and to become man. *Conversa sunt viscera mea.* Since life is wont to be compared to a wheel, the man who lives among the saints—that is, the soul that revolves in this life—must leave evils on the earth, but must lift up the good things, namely good actions, from earthly to high and heavenly things.

VERS. 19. *Vires recepi.* For when the strength of our life fails, and we have abandoned all earthly glory—so that it is no longer of any use to us—then God supplies us with strength, and Christ reaches out His hand to us, saying: "Be comforted and be strong." ^B VERS. 20. *Qui Græcis præerat.* Every people had a guardian angel, so that they would suffer no harm from demons, according to that word: "He set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God" (Deut. 32). Therefore, the angel of the Greeks was present before God, so that he too might hear the prophecies to be uttered concerning Alexander and those after him, who were about to possess the empire of the world.

CAP. XI. VERS. 2. *Veritatem annuntiabo tibi.* That is: I foretell to you the things that have been determined by God, which you have to write down, for they shall truly be confirmed by their outcome.

CAP. XII. VERS. 2. *Resurgent hi ad vitam æternam.* In saying that both are to be eternal, he demonstrated that the punishment of the impious will never end; nor therefore is it restricted to a time, as some fable. For if that which is called eternal were to be limited by time, then the rewards of the saints would also at some point reach an end, which not even those who form wrong opinions concerning the judgment dare to say. ^C VERS. 3. *Ex justis multis.* Note that the glory of the saints is diverse; therefore, there are also diverse mansions, even if all enter into the kingdom.

VERS. 4. *Multiplicetur scientia.* Before Christ had come and taught these things to men, they were hidden to the multitude, and perhaps even to the prophets themselves in part. ^D VERS. 7. *In annum et annos et dimidium anni.* For at the coming of those with Enoch, which will be for three years and a half, many of the unbelieving Jews will recognize the truth and will resist the Antichrist, whom he will kill.

VERS. 10. *Sanctificentur multi.* He did not say "all," but "many"; for not all who are baptized are whitened, but those who believe rightly.

VERS. 11. *Dabitur abominatio desolationis.* The abomination of desolation in the universal sense is the Antichrist, but in a partial sense it is Antiochus, during whose reign the Maccabees and many other Jews suffered martyrdom.

were slaughtered, since they were prevented from observing the legal cult. VERS. 15. *And he shall revive.* There will therefore be a general resurrection at the end of days, and then Daniel also shall rise again.

FRAGMENTS ON MATTHEW

CAP. XVI. VERS. 25. *For whoever wishes to save his own soul shall lose it; but whoever shall lose his soul for my sake, shall find it.* ^A In this way, he may be blessed who dies laudably to all things: to sensible things, by the putting away of sensible activity; and to intellectual things, by the fruition of sensible movement. For the praiseworthy death of the mind is a birth into all things that are intellectual, which the life that comes through divine grace is accustomed to receive, taking up the Cause of all things instead of things themselves without speculation; because the Lord said, *Whoever wishes to save his soul shall lose it; but whoever shall lose it, shall save it.* He has posited salvation and perdition both there and here. For in order that no one might think this perdition and salvation to be equal to that, but might clearly understand that there is as much difference between the one and the other as there is between perdition and salvation, for this reason he adds: *For what does it profit a man,* etc. ^B

CAP. XXI. VERS. 16. *And seeing a fig tree by the way, he came to it and found nothing on it but leaves only. And he says to it, Never let fruit grow from you forever. And the fig tree withered immediately.* The law had a shadow of the truth. But the Word having become flesh, and leading nature to spiritual worship, did not wish, once the truth had appeared, that the shadow should have power—of which the fig tree was a type. ^C For this reason, he says, when he was going up from Bethany to Jerusalem, that is, after the typical and shadowy presence of himself that lay hidden in the law, he comes again to the nature of men through the flesh (for thus must that word "going up" be understood), and saw a fig tree by the way having leaves only, because of its passing and unstable nature. The Word, having seen the fig tree adorned as it were with leaves by the external coverings of the bodily observances of the law, and having found no fruit—that is, naturally, of righteousness—cursed it; or rather, he decreed that the truth, being subject to legal types, should no longer be covered ^D by them; which indeed was demonstrated to have been done by his works. *And it was not,* he says, *a time of figs*; that is, the time in which the law held sway over human nature was not one of the fruit of righteousness, but was a shadowing forth, and

^A a harbinger of the future grace, to which the ancient people, failing to arrive through unbelief, perished. For Israel, says the divine Apostle, *as he pursued the law of righteousness*—that is, the law in shadow and types—*did not reach the law of righteousness* which is in Spirit, namely, that which is perfected according to Christ. Or perhaps the fruitless fig tree is the conceit of the Scribes and Pharisees, which He, hungry for their deification, withers, so that, preferring to be just rather than to seem so, they might cast off the tunic of hypocritical moral display, and truly putting on the virtuous life, might piously offer their life to God, presenting to Him the disposition of the soul rather than an outward display of conduct. But if some of us Christians are such—preferring to display a reverence of conduct without the works of righteousness—we receive the Word as a benign one who hungers for our salvation, withering the seed of malice in the soul, that is, the empty opinion, so that it may no longer bear the fruit of corruption, the desire to please men. ^B

VERS. 21. *Jesus answering said to them: Amen I say to you, if you shall have faith, and stagger not, not only this of the fig tree shall you do, but also if you shall say to this mountain, Take up, and cast yourself into the sea, it shall be done.*

VERS. 22. *And all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.*

He who *staggereth not in his heart*, that is, in his mind he hath not doubted, or rather divided/cut asunder, the immediate union with God brought about through faith, shall say to this mountain, *Move*, and it shall move. In saying *to this mountain* demonstratively, He reveals the mindset and law of the flesh, which is truly heavy and difficult to move, or even immovable. For the power of the irrational has struck such deep roots in human nature through the senses, that many think man is nothing else but flesh and a force capable of sensory enjoyment for the sake of the fruition of this present life. For all ^C things are possible to the believer, who does not in his mind discern/separate the union with God brought about for him by faith, on account of the sensual attachment of the soul to the body. But, he says, all things whatsoever that alienate the mind from the world and the flesh, and join the perfected ones to God by virtues, these are possible to the believer. But what further is this, *All things whatsoever you shall ask praying, believing, you shall receive*? He clearly shows that only union is to be sought by believers, and that virtue which adorns this with works. Since, indeed, all things that believers seek are toward the knowledge of God and virtue—the liberation from passions, the endurance of temptations, the reasons for virtues, the modes of operations, the abdication of the passion-filled attachment toward the flesh, the alienation of the senses from those things which are sensible, the complete withdrawal of the mind ^D from all things that are created, and whatsoever else is simply appropriate for the abolition of malice and ignorance, and the amendment of cognition and

virtue; such things we shall obtain if we seek them with knowledge and faith. ^A

«The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner.» [Ps. CXVII, 20] ^B The Savior was rejected, being the elect stone, by those who ought to have benefited the Synagogue of the Jews. But He has become the head of the corner. By the "corner" the sacred Scripture signifies the connection of two peoples—I mean of Israel and of those from the nations. For the Savior built the two peoples into one new man. The matter is like a corner joining two walls. For just as a corner becomes the union of two walls, binding them to one another in an indissoluble bond, so also this corner, that is to say, the holy Church, has become the union of the two peoples, binding them to one another according to the one word of faith, and compressing them into one harmony, of which the cornerstone is Christ, as the head of the whole body.

CHAPTER XXIV.

«But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.» ^C It should be known that all other passions touch upon only the irascible part of the soul, or the concupiscible, or even the rational, just as ignorance also has been driven away. But acedia, seizing upon all the faculties of the soul, moves almost all the passions simultaneously; wherefore it is heavier than all other passions. Rightly, therefore, the Lord, having given the remedy against it, said: «In your patience you shall possess your souls,» and «he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.»

«For wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together.» ^D He states yet another sign, «Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together,» declaring the multitude of the angels, of the martyrs, of all the saints. These are the intelligible eagles, those who possess nothing of the death-dealing sin, nor are they stained by base, earthly things, but are high-fliers in virtue and in knowledge, having the eye of the soul pure, gazing harmlessly upon the ray of divine light, just like sensible eagles. Such ones, therefore, wherever the first-fruits of our body shall be gathered, will be gathered, and thus will always be with the Lord.

CHAPTER XXV.

«And he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and gained other five.» «And in like manner he that had received the two, gained also other two.» Rightly did he who doubled the five, and he who had the two, obtain the same acceptance. For since it was not the sloth of the one, nor the zeal of the other, but the quantity of the deposit—which the Master gave according to the capacity of those who labored—that brought this about, the praise is rightly the same, even if the yield of the goods, of which one belongs to God, is not the same.

^A He who has shared in any good things by the grace of God is obligated to share them freely with others. For "freely," he says, "you have received, freely give." But he who hides the talent—that is, the gift—under the earth like a fortune, slanders the Lord and spares his flesh, while destroying virtue.

CHAPTER XXVI

VERS. 20. ^B "Vespere autem facto, discumbebat cum discipulis suis." (And when evening had come, he reclined with his disciples.)

VERS. 21. "Et edentibus illis dixit: Amen dico vobis, quia unus vestrum me traditurus est." (And as they were eating, he said: Amen I say to you, that one of you will betray me.)

The preparation of the Passover has taken place, but it is supper, and not yet the eating of the Passover: for the manner is not that of those eating the Passover, but they reclined while dining. But how, if they ate the Passover, did they eat it contrary to the law? (For it was not right to eat while reclining.) What is to be said, then? That after they had eaten, they reclined, subsequently eating. Another evangelist says that on that evening, he did not only eat the Passover, but also said: "With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you," that is, in this year. Why, then? Because at that time the salvation of the world was about to come to pass, and the mysteries were to be handed down, and the sorrowful things were to be loosed through death. Thus the cross was pleasing to him according to his will.

VERS. 29. "Dico autem vobis: Non bibam amodo de hoc genimine vitis, usque in diem illum, cum illud bibam novum vobiscum in regno Patris mei." (I say to you: I will not drink from henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I shall drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father.)

The drinking of wine not only satisfies necessity, but ^C also brings all manner of pleasure to the senses. But after the resurrection from the dead, with the corruption of human bodies wiped away, the very nature of things will be transferred to newness, so that our rejoicing itself will also be new. ^D The symbol of rejoicing is the drinking of wine, which he says will also become new according to what results from it—that is, the rejoicing: for after the resurrection, human nature will depart from the earthly delight to which it is accustomed, and will move toward the newness of delights, the Savior of us all, Christ, pouring his own innate and genuine rejoicing into the souls of those who worship him piously and religiously, and distributing it according to the measure of each one. And that we shall be in intelligible rejoicings, the divine prophet David will assure us, saying: "They shall be inebriated with the plenty of thy house, and thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of thy pleasure." And Wisdom, again, mixing her own wine into the bowl and setting forth the breads, says: "Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mixed for you."

VERS. 54. "Quomodo ergo implebuntur Scripturæ, quia sic oportet fieri?" (How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that so it must be done?)

Incited by the spur of divine love, the blessed disciples drew swords to repel the attack. But Christ does not permit this to happen. He has also given us a model through this, in a certain manner...

regarding how we ought to maintain our love for him, and to what extent the zeal kindled in us for piety toward him ought to extend; for he does not wish us to use swords, but rather, using our minds and understanding, to shake off the adversaries with nobility. ^B

CHAP. XXVII

VERS. 44. “The robbers also, who were crucified with him, reviled him.”

A robber of good mind is one who, though established at this very end of his present life, when he has come to a sense of his sins, asks from the bottom of his heart for the remission of those things in which he has transgressed. An ungrateful robber, however, is one who at that very end of life, when the sentence of the separation of the soul from the body has been pronounced, accuses it as if it were not rightly given, on account of a love for life. And again, a robber of good mind is one who, through the total mortification of the passions, has been deemed worthy to be crucified with Christ, that is, to walk through every virtue with reason and knowledge; but an ungrateful one is he who deceitfully feigns a life according to virtue, while being crooked in his intention. It is necessary to stop the mouth of such a one; for perhaps he will cease, through his own conversion, to assail the reasoning of the one rebuking him through exhortation.

Again, within us, the law of the flesh is as an ungrateful robber, struggling against the reasoning of virtue; but the law of the spirit is as a robber of good mind, receiving the Word, the Savior, through the ways of the active life (even if they be laborious), with whom it enters rejoicing into the place of feast, the dwelling of all knowledge, being altogether delivered from the mindset according to the flesh. Let us strive, therefore, while we are here, to appease the Word who is crucified with us, if perchance he may display to us the present day of this age. “For today,” he says, “you will be with me in Paradise.” But tomorrow is of the future time, in which it is not permitted to attain any remission of sins.

VERS. 46. “Eli, Eli, lamasabachthani: that is, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

There are four general modes of abandonment. The one is dispensatory, as in the case of the Lord, so that through the apparent abandonment those who are abandoned might be saved; another is for the sake of probation, as in the case of Job and Joseph, so that the former might appear as a pillar of fortitude, and the latter as one of temperance; another is for paternal instruction, as happened with the Apostle, so that, by thinking humbly, he might guard the supereminence of grace; and another is by way of aversion, as in the case of the Jews, so that, being punished, they might be sent back toward repentance. And all these modes are salutary, and full of divine goodness and philanthropy.

CHAP. XXVIII

VERS. 20. “Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.”

All things whatsoever Christ has commanded must be observed by him who has been baptized into the Trinity. For the sake of this, the Lord has joined the observation of all the commandments to the right faith; as one who knew that it is altogether impossible for one...

[...cannot possibly be saved, if one part is severed from the other. To this end, David also, having the correct faith in God, said: "I directed myself toward all thy commandments; I hated every wicked way." For against every iniquity, all the commandments have been given to us by the Lord. And if one is neglected, it inevitably introduces the way of wickedness contrary to it. ^A

OF THE SAME AMMONIUS: EXPOSITION ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.

CHAPTER I.

The evangelical discourse acknowledges only one beginning, not two, as the Manichaeans assert; neither does it recognize any first cause and a second cause, as Plato, Basilides, Marcion, Arius, and Eunomius contend. For the Father is called a beginning, and the Son is a beginning, and the Holy Spirit is a beginning, on account of the co-eternity of the Trinity, not because there are three beginnings (since we also call the Father God, and the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God, and we do not worship three gods as if there were three entities without cause), but on account of the consubstantiality of the one Godhead subsisting in three hypostases. ^B

Through this he overturns the heresy of Sabellius, since he indicates the hypostases of the Father and the Son; for the Church does not celebrate "filiopaternity" (the idea that the Son is the Father), as that African fabulist once invented. Sabellius, Novatus, Paul of Samosata, and Marcellus affirm a single hypostasis in the Trinity. He was not merely spoken, but subsistent; and not only subsistent, but also God. Photinus says that the Word, like our own, proceeding from the Father without hypostasis, was transmuted into flesh. Since, therefore, some heretics, hearing that the Father begot the Son, are scandalized, imagining some flux or that the Father suffered human passions, such as are accustomed to happen to these gross bodies, the Evangelist, opposing their folly and madness, at the very beginning—once, twice, and a third time—called the Son the Word, in order to vindicate His generation from all passion. ^C For just as our own word is produced from the mind without flux, without diminution, and without passion (similar, likewise, is our spirit), so too is the birth of the Son; wherefore it was also said: "My heart hath poured forth a good word," ^D which is God, who alone is good.

EXPOSITIO IN EVANGELIUM S. JOANNEM

^A VERSE 2. "This was in the beginning with God." Since He was coeternal with the Father, He existed also in the nature of the Father, having the most ancient nature of the Begetter as His place. For this "Beginning" precedes all ages. For the Father is called the Beginning of the Son only in that He is the Source from whom He comes; for by reason of causality the Father is thought of as prior to the Son, yet He is not recognized as prior in existence. But everywhere He interposes the "was," referring the Son back to the Father, who is without beginning. For He did not say, "He had a beginning," but, "In the beginning He was."

VERSE 3. "All things were made by him, and without him was made nothing that was made." He refutes another heresy, teaching that all things that were made were created through the Son, and not through angels, whether good or evil, as some have wrongly supposed, among whom are Plato, Simon, Basilides, Nicolaus, Menander, the Borborians, Saturninus, and Cerinthus. On this occasion, some of them—such as Saturninus and the Apostolici—even brought in a prohibition against marriage and procreation.

This statement also has the power to show that not only the Son created all things, but also the Father and the Holy Spirit. For whatever the Father does, He works through the Son in the Holy Spirit; and when one person of the Holy Trinity is said to act, the remaining persons, who share the same nature, are also understood to perform that same act.

^B VERSE 4. "In him was life, and the life was the light of men." Whatever the Father created through the Son drew life from Him. And again, the Word did not become [or "come to be"] in a man, but in a certain manner, by overshadowing the Virgin through the Holy Spirit and dwelling in her womb, He became a foundation, and upon it He built up the flesh taken from Mary, united to Him, animated and rational, which is life. For as He Himself is life, so also is the flesh united to Him, of which those who partake are brought to life, freed from death and corruption, and sent forth to the enjoyment of the endless good things of the future age, which is truly life.

^C The incarnation of the Only-begotten holds forth a torch for men toward the true knowledge of God, and toward every kind of virtue, through which that vivification—which is the enjoyment of all good things—is acquired.

VERSE 5. "And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." "Darkness" is the whole world, when compared to that ineffable and unapproachable light. Furthermore, the Son illuminates the mind regarding things to be done, and truth always prevails; the lie is never able to overcome the truth. Therefore Christ also said: "I have overcome the world"—that is, "I have refuted every erroneous heresy, and I have overcome all the passions that were brought upon me (I do not say the natural and necessary ones, which He sustained voluntarily, that He might show the truth of His flesh, and ^D

^A that the natural and necessary things are not base. ^B For this reason He drew near to the flesh of the Word of God, not that it might be strengthened, but that in Him it might be abolished. For He did not sustain unbecoming passions even in imagination.

VERS. 6. ‹There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.›

John is said to be sent, as one having passed from the desert into the inhabited land, that he might preach Christ to the peoples. But the Lord is also called sent, not as though moving from place to place (for the Divine is immovable), but as one who, in a manner of speaking, was moved from the bosom of the Father and came down to our poverty, for which reason He is also said to have humbled Himself. When, therefore, Scripture uses words adapted to the divine dispensation, if it says that He emptied Himself, it signifies His lordship and royal majesty, that He willingly assumed flesh. But if it says that He was sent, it teaches that He did not assume flesh without the Father's will. We speak these things after the manner of men: for the will of the Father and the Son is one, even if we recognize a difference of the persons of the one Godhead and substance. For thus we say that the Son alone was incarnate, not the Father, nor the Holy Spirit.

VERS. 7. ‹This man came for a testimony, to bear witness of the light, that all men might believe through him.›

John is greater than the other prophets for this reason—that they preached the one who was expected; but he, having seen Him, and having been convinced through signs that this is He, came to bear witness of those things which he had heard and seen.

VERS. 8. ‹He was not that light, but was to bear witness of the light.›

Although John and the saints are light, yet they are not that which the Theologian speaks of here, which is Christ, the light by nature; for the saints received illumination by grace, wherefore he says concerning Christ: *He was the true light.*

VERS. 9. ‹He was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.›

The Lord illuminates His rational creatures by natural instinct, so that they might be persuaded that there is a God: collecting naturally from the beauty and order of His creatures the surpassing nature of His power. ^D

VERS. 10. ‹He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.›

God was in the world, essentially, but not according to foreknowledge. Again, he refutes the heresy of those who say that men, as well as other things, are not the creatures of God. Here he calls men the world, thus by a part of his

^A naming the world; or rather, those who mind the things of the world and are attached to it, who, through their excessive propensity toward earthly things, did not know him at all; such as were the idolaters and those who were slaves to their passions.

VERS. 11, 12. « In propria venit, et sui eum non receperunt. Quotquot autem receperunt eum, dedit eis potestatem filios Dei fieri, his qui credunt in nomine ejus. »

It is said that he came into his own, in that he was already incarnate and became known to the eyes of those beholding him; or because he came to his own people, who were thought to be his own, according to that from which Christ was, according to the flesh. He came, however, not for the sake of his own need (for the Divine is in want of nothing), but for the sake of the benefit of his own. And not even in this way did his own people receive him although he came for their own advantage, but rather they rejected him, and even cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

« In propria venit. » Whence comes he who fills all things and is present in all places? What place did ^B he vacate by his presence, he who holds and sustains all things by his hand? He changed no place—how could he?—but he accomplished this by his condescension toward us. For since he was present in the world but was not present, because he was unknown to us, later he manifested himself, having deigned to take on our flesh. This manifestation, therefore, and this condescension, he calls an advent.

VERS. 13. « Qui non ex sanguinibus, neque ex voluntate carnis, neque ex voluntate viri, sed ex Deo nati sunt. »

There is no longer any need for the sacrifices of oxen, as being pleasing to God according to the type of the Law, since the blood of Christ suffices for righteousness. ^C

« Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis. »

When the Word became flesh, he did not change his substance; but having become visible through the flesh, he remained having his own glory, as the only-begotten Son of God and the Father. For that which dwells [in another] is different in substance from the dwelling. He did not say "body," lest some should assert that he brought a heavenly body. Nor did he say "he became man," lest others might boast that he assumed only the inner man, and not the external. Nor did he say, "From the Word flesh was made," lest others might ^D say, "He was changed from..."

this to that." For flesh is indeed also called body; but not every body is named flesh. Therefore, the Lord also said, "He who eats my flesh." And elsewhere, "Handle me and see, for a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see me having." ^A

Ver. 14. "And we beheld his glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."

How did we behold him? Through the star of the Magi, through the angels, through the shepherds, through Anna, through Simeon, through Gabriel, through the birth from the Virgin, through the voice of the Father testifying to him, through the descent of the Spirit upon him, and through numberless divine signs and healings. ^B

If he was full of grace and truth, how then could the fullness make progress? Or what addition at all could it receive, beyond which there is nothing? Therefore, not the Word and God is said to make progress in the blessed Luke, but it is indicated that he was shown as increasingly admired and more pleasing to those who saw him through his deeds, while the disposition of those who admired him made progress (as it is more accurate to say), rather than he himself, already perfect as God, receiving any increase.

Ver. 16. "And from his fullness we have all received, and grace for grace." ^C

As the very root and fountain of all good things, he exists, and although he makes many partakers of his own goods, he is not in the least diminished; of which, indeed, he grants, and the creature receives—Christ, truly God.

Ver. 17. "Because the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

In place of the grace prepared for us in Adam, from which we fell, Christ has given us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit through the washing of baptism.

Ver. 18. "No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him." ^D

Not only is the Father invisible, but the Son is also. For even if he appeared in the flesh, it was not according to his substance, which not even the angels behold as it is. For many indeed know God, but no one has seen his substance. Nor is that which is a hidden body called invisible, but rather that which is incorporeal, such that it is not by nature visible, not even to the mind.

Through a person so worthy of belief, he establishes this high doctrine, which is above man. For who knows how to declare the things of God and the Father, unless the Son born from him, and his Holy Spirit, who also knows the deep things of God?

Since, therefore, he had brought forth these things by testifying, he...

^A added: *And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to him, to ask him: Who are you?*

*Vs. 24. And they who were sent were of the Pharisees.* They came as being more accurate in the knowledge of the Scriptures; John mildly convicted them of being ignorant and dull, as though they were unaware of the passage concerning himself which had been proclaimed by their own prophet.

*Vs. 25. And they asked him, and said to him: Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elias, nor the Prophet?* Rather, they had such traditions from their teachers, as if it were lawful only for Christ, or Elias, or the Prophet to baptize.

*Vs. 26. I baptize in water.* John himself is a trustworthy witness of his own self; since he spoke nothing great concerning himself, but rather much that was humble, calling his own baptism mere water.

*Midst you there has stood.* Until the time of grace, Christ, though present in the midst of all, was nevertheless unknown. He calls Christ “standing in the midst” and “unknown” on account of the covering of the flesh. ^B

*Vs. 29. The next day John sees Jesus coming to him, and says: Behold the Lamb of God, behold he who takes away the sin of the world.* He is the Lamb, in that he is given for the remission of the sins of those who are reborn through the laver of regeneration. But by saying “who takes away,” he shows that he is always taking it away.

*Vs. 30. This is he of whom I said: After me comes a man who is made before me, because he was before me.* Christ was made before John, inasmuch as he takes away the sin of the world and baptizes in the Holy Spirit, while John baptized only in bare water. But he is called a “man” because he was born of a woman according to the flesh, or because he was perfect in age, being around thirty years old; or because he was perfect in ^C every virtue, as much practical as contemplative; or because he is the bridegroom of every rational nature—that is, of the Church—with the Church holding the role of the woman, and Christ is called the “man” as one who weds the souls of the faithful.

This is said by way of dispensation; for the Son is inseparable from the Father. For it is impossible to perceive anything of the Trinity by the senses. He makes the testimony above suspicion here, showing that it was given not because of human friendship, but was obtained through divine revelation, so that it might be manifest to the children of Israel that for this reason he had come to baptize in water. Therefore, he himself had no need of baptism, nor did that laver exist for any other cause than to make ready the faith in Christ for all ^D others. For he did not say, “That I might cleanse those who are baptized,

nor that I might deliver them from sins,” but, “That he might be manifested to Israel.” ^A

That he had lived from an early age in the deserts demonstrated that his testimony was free from every suspicion and was drawn from revelation.

VER. 34. «And I have seen, and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.»

John baptized, indeed, that he might preach Christ and make him known to the people.

VER. 35. «The next day again John stood, and two of his disciples.»

This is found to be the third day from the time the Pharisees had approached John, asking him who he was.

VER. 36. «And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith: Behold the Lamb of God.»

He used the same words because of the slowness of his hearers. For it is a virtue of a teacher to repeat the same things at times, so that the words may be more firmly impressed upon the souls of the hearers. ^B

VER. 38. «And Jesus turning, and seeing them following him, saith to them: What seek you? Who said to him: Rabbi (which is interpreted, Master), where dwellest thou?»

Since those who follow Christ cannot reach him, he turns toward them with a certain condescension, showing his face to them, that they might know that he is the one who fulfills the Law and teaches the things contained in it. He does not ask this because he is ignorant, but to render them familiar to himself.

VER. 46. «And Nathanael said to him: Can anything of good come from Nazareth? Philip saith to him: Come and see.»

Whom you announce to me, he says, how can he be the Christ from Nazareth, when the Scripture says that he is to come from Bethlehem? Nevertheless, he was indeed born in Bethlehem, but Nazareth was also reckoned as his fatherland, because he had been brought up there and stayed there until he reached full maturity. ^C

VER. 47. «Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him: Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile.»

It is truly a great praise and a great glory to receive, from the Truth itself, which is Christ, a testimony of a pure heart, which contemplates God with the mind, and is guided toward the saving faith, coming to Christ without guile, not in the Jewish manner, or like Herod, who were full of deceit and plotting murder against Christ. ^D

VER. 49. «Nathanael answered him and said: Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel.»

Nathanael was entirely ready, so that, persuaded by this one mere word alone, he immediately confessed him to be the Christ, who is the Son of God by nature and in truth, and the King of those who are truly faithful. For, as still

^A he did not call him King of the entire universe, but only of Israel, according to that which is said: "The Lord's portion is his people Jacob, the cord of his inheritance Israel." Since Nathanael named Christ King of Israel alone, he instructs him through this, that Christ was not a mere man, since angels serve him. Through this he shows that he did not become man in appearance, but in truth, having been incarnate from Mary, who being alone sinless, preserved in himself that which is according to the image, which the first man, having been made according to the image and likeness of God, had received.

CHAPTER II.

VERS. 6. "And there were set there six water-pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece." A firkin measures one hundred and fifty ^B sextarii. Lest any should say that the gathering consisted of drunken men, and their perception was corrupted and not capable of discerning whether the drink was water or wine, for this reason he commands it to be given to the ruler of the feast, to the sober man; for those entrusted with such a service, as you know, are especially the sober ones, so that they may arrange all things with order and decorum.

VERS. 8. "And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the ruler of the feast. And they bare it." He who waters the vine with water, and makes it produce wine, is the very same who now turned the water into wine.

VERS. 11. "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana ^C of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him." Some indeed call this the first miracle in Cana, but not the first of all. Yet he opened to them the door of faith, revealing himself through these divine signs, that is, his glory and power. How, and in what manner? For not many attended to what was happening, but the servants, and the ruler of the feast, and the bridegroom. How then did he manifest his glory? Because, not indeed then, but afterward, all were going to hear of the miracle. That not all were aware of it on that day is manifest from what follows. For when he said, "He manifested forth his glory," he added, "and his disciples ^D believed on him."

VERS. 15. "And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables." He cast out the victims of the Law, that he might introduce in their stead spiritual worship. And Christ calls God his own Father...

^A, as He alone exists from Himself by nature.

VERS. 18. "Then answered the Jews, and said unto him: What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?"

Since, they say, as the Son of God thou castest out carnal things, persuade us by a sign that thou hast been sent from God.

VERS. 19. "Jesus answered and said unto them: Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

Therefore he said: "Destroy this temple," that he might show that he foreknew the things that would come to pass after this. For although at that time they were perplexed and doubted what this might signify, after the resurrection they understood.

VERS. 24. "But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men."

To such as these, deep dogmas should not be entrusted, as if they were already established in the faith. For those who believe only on account of signs are easily turned aside if someone should deceive them, arguing that the signs were not rightly performed.

CAP. III.

VERS. 1. "There was a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus by name, a ruler of the Jews."

Nicodemus is to be blamed here for wishing to be a secret believer.

VERS. 3. "Jesus answered and said unto him: Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Since Nicodemus approached him as if he were a mere man, wishing to draw him to himself, he speaks to him of things that surpass human understanding, as one who is above in the heavens, and knows the things that are done there, and how they are derived ^C from thence to men.

VERS. 4. "Nicodemus saith unto him: How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"

He who emulates the life above the angels and embraces the sublime dogmas learned through Christ is born again. He who undergoes the second generation, which is through the bath, he too is born again, and becomes a partaker of the Holy Spirit. The word "again" signifies the regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and shows that the Spirit is of the substance of the Father. For thus, by calling himself "from above," he declares that he exists from the substance of the Father.

VERS. 5. "Jesus answered: Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

Water indeed cleanses the body, but the Spirit sanctifies the invisible soul. The water is taken in the place of the mother, but the Spirit in the place of God the Creator. The sensible water is raised to a certain divine power and sanctifies those in whom it may occur; the water differs from the Spirit in name only, since it is the same in operation. Water is also a symbol of

^A burial and resurrection, and therefore it is necessarily adopted. And there are three immersions and three emersions, so that we may know that all things are fulfilled by the power of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

If Mary is an ensouled, rational flesh, then her fruit is also consubstantial with her, an ensouled, rational flesh, and not a phantasm, or something else other than the flesh that bore Him—the flesh of the Word, which possesses a rational soul, in which dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

"The Spirit breathes where it wills, and you hear His voice, but you do not know from where He comes, and where He goes; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

The Father is Spirit as God, and the Son is Spirit as God; therefore, the Spirit, who is God and Father, begets Spirit, who is the Son and God. Therefore, Christ is consubstantial with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with the Mother according to the flesh, even if Christ is one from both, unchangeably and unconfusedly; but according to the word now authoritatively set forth by the Lord, we are reformed through Christ, our intellect being transformed into a spiritual quality.

"If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?"

He calls baptism "earthly," although it is divine and spiritual, because it is performed upon the earth, for the sanctification of the humans who dwell on the earth.

"And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven."

After the hypostatic union, He makes common the things of the flesh and of the Godhead according to their energies, not by a conversion of those of which Christ is composed. Both the descent and the ascent relate to energies.

The body of the Lord ^B is not heavenly, inasmuch as it is subject to the passions. But because He is one with the flesh, He is called the Son of Man, naming Himself as a whole from the lower portion of the substance.

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up."

Just as the bronze serpent was not the venomous beast, but a likeness, so the flesh of the Lord was indeed flesh in truth, yet not flesh of sin, but the likeness of the flesh of sin. To be "lifted up" signifies that Christ became apparent and manifest.

"For God so loved the world, that ^C

^A He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Here He again makes all things common, acknowledging no separation after the union. For since the flesh was offered for the life of the world and given over to death, the Son is said to have been given over to death, even though He remained impassible as God, with only His own flesh enduring what was proper to it, when and as much as He permitted and willed.

The Arians say that the Son is called "only-begotten" for this reason, that He alone came into being from God. To whom it must be said that some call even the sun "only-begotten," in that it is the only sun; yet it is not therefore a Son.

If Christ had come to judge the world, He would have condemned all; but He came primarily to save the world. He judges unbelievers only by accident. He did not come as the Law of Moses to judge the world, but to save it.

"He who believes in Him is not judged; but he who does not believe is already judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God."

It is to be noted ^B then that, generally speaking, everyone who does not believe in Christ is condemned and destined to be given over to punishment. They are not, therefore, brought into judgment, being already condemned. The same is to be understood regarding the devil: for the prince of this world is already condemned, not only because he did not believe, but also because he tempted the Lord, and entered into Judas, that he might deliver Him to death.

"He who does not believe is already judged." How so? Because unbelief itself is a punishment. For to be outside the light has, by this very fact, the greatest penalty, and declares the future. For just as one who murders someone, even if he is not condemned by the verdict of a judge, is already condemned by the very deed, so too is the unbeliever. And Adam, on the day he ate of the tree, ^C died, though he still enjoyed life; yet by the sentence and by the nature of the matter, he was dead. He takes away all excuse from them by saying: "Because the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light." For who should pity one who does not wish to come from darkness to light?

Vers. 19. "And this is the judgment: that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light; for their works were evil."

The light came of its own accord, so that it could be easily found without labor. Wherefore they are devoid of all excuse, as many as have loved darkness over the light; since they do not reject faith in Christ out of ignorance, but because they have determined to act perversely, which the discipline of Christ by no means permits. When, therefore, we hear that they "could not believe," let us not conceive of a defect of nature, ^D or the power of anything else, but rather their own sovereign volition,

^A that which makes it subject to the servitude of disgraceful passions, and renders it unwilling to break with most wicked habits. For such persons know the light, but refuse to come to it, lest their hypocrisy be exposed—they who say they know God, but deny Him by their deeds.

VERS. 22. «Post haec venit Jesus, et discipuli ejus in terram Judaeam: et illic demorabatur cum eis, et baptizabat.»

He did not baptize himself, but his disciples did; for he, indeed, baptized in the Spirit. At that time, however, being before the Passion, it was not yet the time for the gift of the Spirit. But he was delivering the evangelical baptism, which was very different from the baptism of John. For Christ baptized through the hands of the apostles, as is clearly said in what follows.

VERS. 25. «Facta est autem quaestio ex discipulis Joannis cum Judaeis de purificatione.»

Neither the baptism of John, ^B nor that of his disciples, bestowed the Holy Spirit; but in order that they might not go about individually and preach Christ separately to each person, they instituted a baptism, so that they might lead the crowds who flocked to them unto Christ.

VERS. 26. «Et venerunt ad Joannem, et dixerunt ei: Rabbi, qui erat tecum trans Jordanem, cui tu testimonium perhibuisti, ecce hic baptizat, et omnes veniunt ad eum.»

The water of sprinkling, which contained the ashes of the heifer, used to effect a cleansing of involuntary sins, and it purified those from the touch of the dead; ^C but the baptism of John provided forgiveness of voluntary sins also to those who truly repented. But the baptism of Christ provided the forgiveness of absolutely all sins, and the Holy Spirit, and the dignity of adoption.

But this question occurred by divine dispensation, while John was yet alive, so that through his own voice the difference between the baptisms might be made manifest.

VERS. 29. «Qui habet sponsam, sponsus est: amicus autem sponsi, qui stat, et audit eum, gaudio gaudet propter vocem sponsi. Hoc ergo gaudium meum impletum est.»

Through baptism, Christ espouses to himself the Church that has been regenerated; and this spiritual union joins her to God through the word of doctrine. She is a virgin, and pure, and a bride because of the correctness of her dogmas; ^D she is also the wife of Christ, as she brings forth good deeds, not from herself, but through Christ who sows within her. No one among created beings can be her bridegroom, since to no creature does it appertain to be the primary giver of good things. Every rational nature, therefore, both of angels and of men, is a bride.

Christ is the bridegroom, and the Church is the bride, and the bridal chamber is the place of baptism, where this spiritual union comes to pass, since there all things are bright and full of joy and gladness. For what is more blessed than to be cleansed from sins, to be joined to God, and to become a partaker of the divine nature through the participation in the Holy Spirit? For these are the pledge—

^A of more perfect things in the future, when the bridegroom, returning again, shall lead with him the virginal souls. And the door of the bridal chamber shall be shut, and only those who are within shall enjoy the gladness. And no one at all shall enter there, until for each person either the day of the present age, or his own proper death, shall open the door of the bridal chamber to souls deserving to be wedded to Christ.

VERS. 30. *He must increase, but I must decrease.* Neither does Christ increase, nor does John decrease; but John is obscured by the intellectual sun just as the morning star is by the sun. And Christ indeed, as God, increases in that He is shown forth to an immeasurable degree, while I must remain within my own limits.

VERS. 31. *He that cometh from above is above all. He that is of the earth is of the earth, and speaks of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is above all.*

What is this that He said: *He that cometh from above is above all*? It signifies the supereminent excellence of Christ’s glory, which lacks nothing and is sufficient unto itself. He confesses these things concerning Christ. He says that he himself is of the earth and speaks of the earth; not that he speaks of earthly things, he says he speaks of the earth, but by debasing his own doctrine before the doctrine of Christ, he confesses that he teaches only small and humble and lowly things. ^B But by saying, *He that cometh*, he signifies a descent from the heights to the lower regions. But since He ever remains on high in the Father, He comes by way of condescension to those who are below. When, therefore, he says, *He that cometh* [in the present tense], he speaks as of God; but when he says [or implies in the past sense, He that came], he speaks as of a man, since the same one is both God and man.

He who possesses his origin naturally from the Father, also holds the rule over all created things of the Father, as God and their Creator.

VERS. 33. *He who receives His testimony has certified that God is true.* He has the manifestation and the sign in place of the testimony. ^C

VERS. 34. *For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God: for God does not give the Spirit by measure.* The Son is said to be sent by the Father, either on account of His presence in the flesh, or because the Father, having the Son in Himself, did not hide Him, but caused Him to shine forth from His own nature, as brightness from light. For the Son has gone forth into His own subsistence, even though He is in Him by nature. ^D As the fountain of the Holy Spirit, He bestows His operation. But, he says, the operation of the Spirit, which men receive by measure, He Himself possesses entirely and completely. For the Son possesses the whole Spirit substantially, and not in part as a creature. Therefore He Himself also gives it, but the others...

^A perform it through their intercession, so that Christ may bestow the Spirit by his grace.

VERS. 35. ‹ The Father loves the Son. › Although the Father loves the world as well, it is not as He loves the Son, whom He loves surpassingly because of his natural generation, as his own Word, and wisdom, and radiance, and in a singular manner entirely.

‹ And has given all things into his hand. › This will be fulfilled at that time, when at the season of the second coming every knee shall bow to Him, when all malice has already been cast away. He calls ‘the hand’ here the power which the Son possesses by nature, and not by participation, since all good things are contained substantially in the Father, and are understood to be in the Son by virtue of power. But He receives as a man the authority which He had as God even before the incarnation.

‹ The wrath of God remains upon him. › The wrath of God is to be in perpetual torments, which is more grievous than any kind of death.

CHAP. IV.

‹ When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus makes and baptizes more disciples than John, although Jesus Himself did not baptize, but his disciples; He left Judea, and departed again into Galilee. › He came there before the passion to benefit them through the evangelical preaching.

Even if He knew all things as God, yet this also belongs to the divine dispensation, to do something at the proper time, and to seem to learn then, when there is need.

Whatever subordinates do with the agreement of those presiding—while they witness it, and do not contradict or forbid—the leaders are said to do themselves. For having said first that Jesus baptized, here he says that Jesus did not baptize, attributing the work of the disciples to his power, even if He did not perform the baptism in act. And these things said are applicable to the deeds of the clergy, by bishops to councils, or synodal missions, or any other meetings of delegates whatsoever. For since the disciples of Eutyches, after the second council of Ephesus, were found speaking the erroneous dogmas of Eutyches again through excessive arrogance, Eutyches is most justly smitten with anathema, even though he himself appeared to have said nothing of the kind, inasmuch as he had been silent when he heard his own disciples speaking things that were not right. For those things which are said or done by disciples redound to the person of the teacher. ^D Thus also Eli, failing to restrain his own sons when they sinned, is charged with the crime.

‹ And He had to pass through Samaria. He comes therefore to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground which Jacob gave to Joseph his son. › The Samaritans were neighbors of the Jews, and for this reason they also drank from the well of Jacob. Now the Samaritans, being of the race of the Median and Persian nations,

^A claimed to be sons of Jacob. ^B But why does the evangelist speak so precisely about the place? It is so that when you hear the woman saying, "Jacob our father gave us this fountain," you may not be surprised. For that was the place where, because of Dinah, her brothers Levi and Simeon, filled with indignation, perpetrated that cruel slaughter.

VERS. 6. ‹ Erat autem ibi fons Jacob. Jesus ergo fatigatus ex itinere, sedebat sic supra fontem. Hora erat quasi sexta. ›

He calls the well a fountain because water bubbles up and springs forth within it. That it was a well, the Samaritan woman herself declares, addressing Christ with these words: "Thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep." Jacob had dug this. Therefore, Christ came here, casting aside a lazy and soft way of life, and introducing one that is laborious and earnest. For He did not use beasts of burden, but walked with such intensity that He became weary from the journey; for everywhere He teaches ^C self-sufficiency and simplicity, and to require few things, so that we might cut away even many of the necessary things themselves. Since the Word had become flesh, He was consequently weary from the intense journey performed at midday. Now, midday is the most luminous time of Christ's manifestation. For He possessed a body like ours, made of the same materials as ours, save for the concurrence of a man. Therefore, it was subject not only to fatigue, but also to thirst and wounds, since He allowed His body to remain within the natural limits of human nature, so that it might not be thought to be a phantom. Christ, since after the incarnation He was as one of us, made the affections of human nature His own, even though as God He remained impassible.

VERS. 7. ‹ Venit mulier de Samaria haurire aquam. Dicit ei Jesus: Da mihi bibere. ›

He asks the Samaritan woman for the shadow of the law, that He might give her the living water. As in all things, He demands faith, so that He might grant things that surpass reason. Through this He also teaches us not to esteem Jewish ceremonies highly, showing that what enters the mouth does not defile a man.

VERS. 10. ‹ Respondit Jesus, et dixit ei: Si scires donum Dei, et quis est qui dicit tibi: Da mihi bibere; tu forsitan petisses ab eo, et dedisset tibi aquam vivam. ›

The Lord's sayings are a drink of immortality, the life-giving gift of the Holy Spirit, through which men come back to life. But the grace of the Holy Spirit is sometimes called fire, at other times water; for these names signify not His substance, but His operation.

VERS. 13.-14. ‹ Respondit Jesus, et dixit ei: Omnis qui bibit ex aqua hac, sitiet iterum: qui autem

biberit ex aqua quam ego dabo ei, non sitiet in æternum. Sed aqua quam ego dabo ei, fiet in eo fons aquæ salientis in vitam æternam. › ^A The Old Scripture has need of the evangelical doctrine that succeeds it. For the New Testament has no successor, since the evangelical discipline ever flows, leading its drinker to life. It is, moreover, a pledge of the future resurrection, not allowing him who has drunk it to fall into sin that leads to death.

The Scripture calls the grace of the Holy Spirit sometimes fire, sometimes water, showing that these names are of operation, not of substance. For the Spirit does not consist of diverse substances, being invisible and uniform. And John says these things, that He baptizes us in the Holy Spirit and fire. Christ, however, says: "Rivers of living water shall flow from his belly." He says this, he notes, concerning the Spirit, which they were about to receive. Thus, also speaking to the woman, He called it the Spirit: by the name of fire, suggesting the warmth, the rekindled nature of grace, and its power to consume sins; by the name of water, indicating the purification that comes from it, and the great solace it brings to the mind that receives it. ^B

VERS. 21. ‹ Dicit ei Jesus: Mulier, crede mihi, quia venit hora, quando neque in monte hoc, neque in Jerosolymis adorabitis Patrem. › They say that Abraham brought his son Isaac to that mountain, which that Samaritan woman pointed out to the Lord; and as a prophet she asks where one ought to worship. Not because God was there alone, but so that everyone gathered there might harmoniously celebrate the appointed festivals and legitimate sacrifices. ^C He calls the "hour" His own advent, since God, being spirit, is not limited by place. Conveniently, however, each person worships from his own place.

VERS. 22. ‹ Vos adoratis quod nescitis: nos adoramus quod scimus, quia salus ex Judæis est. › He grants something more to the worship of the Jews. For the Samaritans worshiped God in a simple and unrefined way, while the Jews, through the Law and the prophets, receiving the knowledge of the One Who Is as far as they were able, were more intelligent than the Samaritans. But again, He places Himself among those who ^D worship God, as a man, He who, with God and the Father, is worshiped by us and by the holy angels. For since He clothed Himself in the form of a servant, He fulfills the ministry befitting a servant, never ceasing to be God and Lord and One to be worshiped; for He remains the same, even though He has become man. Therefore, He said this in accordance with the woman's opinion; for He was truly worshiped as God.

For it is surely because the Son of God assumed flesh from them, or because among them the true knowledge of the one God took its origin from the Law and the prophets. ^A

VERS. 23. “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore him.”

The true adorers offer spiritual sacrifices to God in every place, namely, virtue and piety. The Law, therefore, was established for the sake of the Gospel, and the dispensation of the shadow was granted because of the truth that was to come.

VERS. 24. “God is a spirit: and they that adore him, must adore him in spirit and in truth.”

When He said that God is a spirit, He signifies nothing else than that He is devoid of a body. Since, therefore, He is not a body, His worship also ^B must be incorporeal, and He must be worshipped by that part of us which is devoid of a body, that is, the soul, through the purity of the mind. For since both they and the Jews, neglecting the soul, focused much effort on the body, cleansing it in every way; for this reason He says that God, being incorporeal, is to be worshipped not by the ablution or cult of the body, but by our incorporeal part, that is, the mind. Wherefore, do not offer beasts or calves to God, but offer your whole self as a sacrifice: for this is a holocaust and a host to be offered to God. For those former things were a figure, namely, circumcision, holocausts, and incense: but now, it is not flesh, but wicked thoughts [that are] to be circumcised, and we must crucify ourselves, and remove and slay irrational desires. ^C

God is called a spirit, not as if He were wind, but as an incorporeal and life-giving substance. For just as we live by breathing the air, so we live when God supplies that which produces life.

He calls "spirit" the rational portion of man, which, being established before God by affection and desire, adores Him like the angels, not by local adoration, but in spirit and in truth.

VERS. 25. “The woman saith to him: I know that the Messias cometh (who is called Christ). When therefore he is come, he will tell us all things.”

But whence did the Samaritans expect the coming of Christ, when they received only Moses? From the very writings of Moses. For in the beginning He revealed the Son. For that which says, "Let us make man to our image and likeness," ^D was said to the Son. And the Son speaks to Abraham in the tent. And Jacob, prophesying about Him, said: "The sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh." And He Himself also says: "The Lord thy God will raise up to thee a prophet of thy brethren: him thou shalt hear." And those things regarding

the serpent, and the rod of Moses, and those regarding Isaac and the sheep, and many other things, it was permitted to those who wished to select, as they proclaimed His presence. But He did not move the woman by these things, but draws her by the water and by her own resolution, and through these brings her into the remembrance of Christ, and henceforth reveals Himself. From her intelligence, however, He said this; for, being a Samaritan, she did not know Christ. ^A

Jesus saith to her: "I am He, who speaketh with thee."

What He did not say to the Jews when they asked with guile, He revealed to the woman, she being more simple; and He proposed nothing to her concerning Moses, knowing her to be ignorant of the Scriptures, but persuaded her only from those things which she knew.

And upon this His disciples came; and they marveled that He was speaking with a woman.

Because He was speaking with a foreigner, they marveled at His humility, and that He was speaking with a poor Samaritan woman; for they knew that He did everything that He did with distinct understanding and piety.

"Come, see a man who told me all things whatsoever I have done. Is not this the Christ?" ^B

It is among the greatest absurdities not to make public those things that are for the common good. But she neither affirmed it clearly, nor was she silent; for she wished not to introduce Him by her own judgment alone, but also to bring them in as partners in this opinion, which also made her speech more acceptable. And she did not say, "Come, believe," but, "Come, see," which was easier, and drew them more readily. For she knew clearly that if they had but tasted, they would think the same things about Him as she herself did. ^C

Jesus saith to them: "My meat is, that I do the will of Him that sent Me, and finish His work."

As teachers of the world, He instructs the disciples to prefer the will of God to food. As one desires food, so I desire the salvation of men.

"And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth may rejoice together, and he that reapeth." ^D

The spiritual harvest, which is pious work, has indeed its deposit and treasure in heaven; but in the age to come it has an endless enjoyment, for this is the season of recompense.

"I have sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor: other men have labored, and ye are entered into their labors."

The Sower is Christ, who sowed the saving doctrines through the prophets; but the reapers are the apostles. The prophets, therefore, as they sowed, had much labor...

^A in casting the seeds of piety into the souls of men. For the disciples did not have to labor so much, since they persuaded men by the Scriptures. As for me, the seed being present, it was said through the prophets: "I have sent you to reap." For the disciples cut away the Gentiles from earthly things, and the Jews from the carnal observances of the Law, and gather them into the threshing floor, which is the Church, where the grain, being crushed, becomes the bread that gives life to the faithful.

VERS. 40. "And when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days."

The Samaritans request Christ to stay with them, although they were foreigners; yet his kinsmen according to the flesh, the Jews, persecuted him, ^B because "a man's foes shall be they of his own household."

VERS. 43. "Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee."

He did not depart as one greedy for honor, but sparing his fellow citizens. For when they saw him, they were angry, that he, being endowed with divine honor, should become incarnate and suffer the most ignominious death for our salvation.

VERS. 44. "For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country."

Here he calls himself the prophet, who had been proclaimed by Moses, and who had received the name of prophet by way of dispensation, though he himself was the dispenser of the Spirit, as God, through whom the prophets prophesied. ^C

VERS. 48. "Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe."

A wonder is that which occurs above nature, such as opening the eyes of the blind and raising the dead. But a sign is that which does not entirely exceed the limits of nature, such as healing the sick.

VERS. 53. "So the father knew that it was at the same hour, in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house."

At first he believed, but afterwards he discovered by the event itself what he had believed would come to pass. For faith avails much when it has God as its author and perfecter. ^D

CAP. V.

VERS. 2. "Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches."

It was called Probatica (the sheep pool), because the flocks destined to be slaughtered for the feast were gathered there, and their entrails were washed there.

VERS. 4. "For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water."

^A An angel descending into the water and troubling it would impart a healing power to them. But it is uncertain on what day the angel descended. It descended at Pentecost. But it remains uncertain at what hour. This was a type of the legal worship, which was given through angels to one nation only, and at one time only—at the end of the feast, which is at the latter times—the healing progressing and not extending to the one that follows.

VERS. 5. "And a certain man was there, who had an infirmity thirty and eight years."

Here the mystery of baptism was prefigured, in which every kind of sin is healed. In these there lay a great multitude, etc. The perseverance of the paralytic is admirable; he had it for thirty-eight years, and every year he waited, expecting to be freed from his disease, and he did not depart; for if the things that had not yet passed, ^B or at least the future ones, were not sufficient to lead him away from the place, nevertheless he did not despair nor lose hope.

"Wilt thou be made whole?"

He does not ask as one ignorant, but as one rousing him to a desire for being healed.

"And Jesus answered them: My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."

Of me alone, he says, He is Father, and of no other. Through whom, sustaining the creation, the sun, the heavens, and causing growth to the bodies, He works.

"He said that God was his Father, making himself equal to God."

The Son is for this reason especially said to be equal to the Father, because He is consubstantial. Therefore the impious Arians, who do not say that the Son is equal to the Father, are to be hissed away.

"And they that hear shall live."

Even if other animals that are endowed with reason have received life, they cannot give life. But the unbelievers are also recalled to life through faith in Christ.

"And they that have done good, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment."

Thus faith alone is not sufficient for salvation, if one does not also have good works.

"I can of my own self do nothing."

He uses condescension again because of the unbelievers, as if to say: Nothing is done by me that the Father does not also will, since in the Trinity there is not one will and another, but one. ^D The speech indeed bears the appearance of infirmity, but it contains none in reality, since He is equal to the Father, even if He speaks as a man established under the law.

"Ye sent unto John: and he bore witness unto the truth."

^A John's testimony is above all suspicion: for he did not come forward of his own accord to give his testimony.

VERS. 35. "He was a burning and a shining lamp: and ye were willing to rejoice for a season in his light." John is a lamp in relation to the polity of Christ, who is the Sun. John was indeed shining, but he was eclipsed by the superabundance of the glory of the solar light. For thus, in the regeneration, the sun and the moon will indeed shine, but they will be so mastered by the glory of the light of the saints that they will seem not to shine at all. He called John a lamp because he did not possess the light from himself, but from the grace of the Spirit; and because, when the sun has risen, the use of a lamp is superfluous.

VERS. 36. "For the works which the Father hath given me." He calls the Father's good pleasure and consent a "gift." Or he says this on account of the guise of humanity.

VERS. 38. "And his word ye have not abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not." Ye have trusted neither the prophets, he says, nor the voice brought down from above, nor the wonder-working of the events. It is a sign of a simpler mind to say that some have seen God. These are they who have neither seen the form of the Father, nor heard His voice, nor do they believe in Christ, who is the Word of the Father and His true image.

VERS. 40. "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." Even if Christ wishes the Jews to be persuaded by His own teaching, He nevertheless does not coerce the free will.

VERS. 45. "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive." Although He knows that they are not being persuaded, yet as God He acts in His own role, rebuking and instructing. The Antichrist promises the glory of life, and for this reason ye believe in him.

VERS. 45. "There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust." The writings of Moses, which have been recorded against you, will accuse you as one who is disbelieved by you. ^D

CHAP. VI.

VERS. 10. "Jesus therefore said: Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand." He counts only the men, according to the custom of the law, as those who have nothing childish or feminine, but thrive in prudent vigor, whom He feeds through the bread that strengthens the heart, and makes them rest with delight.

VERS. 11. "Jesus therefore took the loaves: and when he had given thanks, he distributed to them that were set down." He gives thanks for this reason, that he might not seem to be an adversary of God

and that he might teach us to give thanks while eating. ^A Yet even as a man he gives thanks, so that he might remain hidden from the prince of this world until the time of his passion.

"Then they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten."

Christ feeds his faithful through the five barley loaves, by which that crasser doctrine of the Pentateuch is signified; and through the two fishes, which is the simple instruction of the evangelical and apostolic preaching.

"Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said: This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world."

He teaches through this sign that one must trust in him, and not despond in straits—that is, not to be fearful regarding hospitality, but to be ready for every good work.

"Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed." ^B

He speaks of intellectual, rational, and spiritual food. For this contributes to our enjoyment of the good things to come, which faith in Christ procures. He calls it a mystical participation that sanctifies soul and body, conjoining the human with the divine. He does not forbid work, but rather excessive anxiety and worry for the morrow, in order to refute the opinion of the Manichaeans, who make use of no manual labor whatsoever. ^C

"Him hath God the Father sealed," that is, he anointed the human flesh of the Lord with the Holy Spirit, not his divinity; for almost all the terms concerning the dispensation are spoken of the flesh. Or he said this because he is naturally conformed to the Father. Or "sealed" means the same as "anointed," or "confirmed," or that the Father manifested the Son by his own irrefragable testimony; for the Son is the image and seal of the Father's substance, seen unchangeably, even as the Father.

"Jesus answered and said unto them: This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." ^D

Although he knew that they would profit nothing, yet he answered for the sake of the common utility of the teaching. Not he who serves the shadows of the Law does the will of God, but he who believes in Christ.

"Then Jesus said unto them: Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven."

Not as though the food of manna were false did he say, "the true bread from heaven," but because that was a figure, and this is the truth. For Christ is indeed the manna, as

^A he is by nature life and the one who gives life to all, He who is the bread that feeds soul and body; and in place of Moses he named God, and in place of the manna, himself, on account of the weakness of his hearers. For he could have said: "It is not Moses who gives, but I."

Vers. 33. "For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world."

For it delivers from sin, and makes men friends of God and partakers of the divine nature; it vindicates them from Gehenna and raises them to the kingdom, whosoever worthily and properly are fed with the flesh of the divine Word. In these indeed resides the entire life and food of the immortal soul.

Vers. 35. "Jesus said to them: I am the bread of life: he who comes to me shall not hunger; and he who believes in me shall never thirst."

He is the bread of life, not as one who mitigates bodily hunger, but as one who transforms the whole animal ^B entirely unto life, while we are sated by his spiritual words, which are the true life.

Vers. 37. "All that the Father gives me, shall come to me; and him who comes to me, I will not cast out."

Faith in me, he says, does not happen by chance, but requires a movement from above, so that you may know things beyond the intellect. Just as a father brings infirm men to Christ as to a physician, so Christ, by way of dispensation, as a man, attributes to the Father things that belong to the divine nature, although he could as God also ascribe them to himself. And by water and drink he refers here either to the sanctification of the Spirit, or to the Holy Spirit himself.

Vers. 40. "And I will raise him up."

All men indeed rise again, but only the faithful are worthy of the good things. The Son vivifies ^C the believers, transforming men, who are mortal by nature, into immortality. Why does he so frequently mention the resurrection? Lest they should ground God's providence only in present things; and so that if they do not receive good things here, they may not on that account become sluggish, but may hope for things to come and look forward to another life.

Vers. 42. "And they were saying: Is not this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he say that I have come down from heaven?"

Because of his mother according to the flesh, they thought it impossible that he had come down from heaven. Either looking at visible things, and not keeping in mind his invisible nature, they were scandalized, as the Jews said: "Is not this the son of Joseph?" and so forth. Why ^D did he not answer them: "I am not the son of Joseph"? Because they were not yet able to receive that marvelous generation of his from the Virgin.

If, then, they were not able to hear clearly of that according to the flesh, much less could they hear of that ineffable generation from above. ^A

VERS. 44. "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day." The Father draws those who are good by their own choice, but leaves the wicked to themselves. The word does not abolish the free will that is in us, but shows that we are in need of help. For he is not drawn against his will, but is one who enjoys much assistance. And the mystery concerning Christ is a God-taught good.

VERS. 45. "It is written in the prophets: And they shall all be taught of God. Everyone who has heard from the Father, and has learned, comes to me." The Father also drew through the teaching of the prophets, but there is a great difference: for the former were taught through the prophets, but the faithful now are taught through the Son, that is, the Holy Spirit. To hear is common to all, but to learn belongs only to those who give themselves over to grace. ^B

VERS. 46. "Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God, he has seen the Father." He who alone is invisible is seen by him alone who is invisible by nature. Therefore, the Son alone sees the Father, as someone existing beyond all things and existing alone from the substance of the Father. But God teaches the majority, or rather, all who desire it.

VERS. 48. "I am the bread of life." As one who gives eternal life to the faithful; or as one who sustains our life, both present and future.

VERS. 51. "I am the living bread which came down from heaven."

VERS. 52. "If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." Leading them little by little to faith in himself, he says again, "And the bread which I will give is my flesh," and so forth. For he says that he is giving himself now, not the Father. He calls his own flesh bread because it is eaten in those mystical rites. ^C

VERS. 53. "The Jews therefore were disputing with one another, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" They disbelieve as if the thing were against nature; as natural men they do not understand the spiritual word of the Lord. And by saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" they are exposed as saying this out of unbelief: for when the question "how" enters, unbelief enters along with it. Therefore, he too, wishing to show that this is not impossible, but even highly necessary, ^D and that it is nothing other than to participate in the mystical rites—he does not speak of eating flesh, but of the way of participating in the mysteries.

^A If one does not eat my flesh, and so forth. Those who have not received Jesus through the participation of the mysteries—he who is life by nature—will be destitute of eternal life. And why does he continually turn to the resurrection? To show that he who believes in him will not die forever. He calls his own flesh true food, and his blood true drink, because they save the souls of those who partake of them in faith. Since they said that this was impossible, he shows that it is not only not impossible, but also highly necessary. For those who do not receive through communion Jesus, who is life by nature, will be destitute of eternal life. ^B *For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.* He says these things, showing that the flesh was not that of a mere man, but of the Son himself, filled with all the divinity of the Holy Trinity. *He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.* Just as perceptible foods, when taken into us, sustain the body, so also the mystical communion creates a certain natural conjunction, mingling Christ with the believer. *As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me, he also will live because of me.* ^C The Son is life by nature, not receiving life from another; for this is what is called a living being. Therefore, neither is the name of "living being" applied to God, nor the name of "life" [in the sense of derived life] to the creature. *This is the bread which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers ate the manna and died. He who eats this bread will live forever.* He who believes that it is from heaven that this bread is provided, believes also that it grants eternal life. Therefore, those who ate the manna did not eat the bread from heaven, from which they died. *Many therefore of his disciples, when they heard it, said, "This is a hard saying; who can hear it?"* ^D Not understanding what was said, they did not even wish to inquire and learn. They said this because they understood the word of the Lord in a human manner. *If then you see the Son of man ascending where he was before?* God incarnate is himself the Son of man. But the body itself is not called the Son of man, as Marcellus falsely teaches. He says that he teaches that he himself descended from heaven, because he was God, and was seen in the flesh, and because his flesh is shown to be life-giving. *It is the Spirit that gives life: the flesh profits nothing.*

"They are spirit," he says, that is, they are spiritual, not having a natural sequence, but are in no way subject to such necessity. Here he calls "spirit" the flesh filled with the life-giving efficacy of the Spirit. For the flesh remains flesh. ^A

VERS. 71. *Jesus answered them: Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?*

Since Jesus, as God, foreknew what would happen, he does good and bestows wonderful gifts. Yet he by no means snatches away our free will; for he indeed does what is his own, but it is ours to guard what is given. Therefore, God is not to be blamed for what he confers as a benefit, but rather those who willingly lost the gifts, such as Adam, Eve, Judas, and all who are similar to them in habit. Even if I, he says, have chosen you, yet among humans, matters of virtue and vice are matters of free choice. He calls "devil" him who adheres to the devil, and is made like him, and performs what is pleasing to him. ^B The Evangelist said this as if in amazement, that the devil was able to accomplish so much by his opposition, that he managed to snatch away one of the twelve—one of those, I say, who raised the dead, drove out demons, and enjoyed the life-giving and spiritual teaching of the Lord.

CHAP. VII.

VERS. 1. *For he would not walk in Judea: because the Jews sought to kill him.*

He gives a specimen of his humanity by fleeing from the Jews, and he refutes Marcion and Paul [of Samosata], who asserted that the Son of God did not truly become man. ^C

VERS. 3. *His brothers therefore said to him: Pass from hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see thy works which thou doest.*

They seemed to reproach him as a coward, as one who hid his signs, and as one greedy for glory who wanted himself to be made public.

VERS. 7. *The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth: because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil.*

By "world" he means those who hate what is in the world. He sends his brothers to the feast, saying, *You go up to this feast,* showing that he does not force anyone to remain with him against their will. [CRAM.]

VERS. 8. *You go up to this feast, but I do not go up to this feast: because my time is not yet fulfilled.*

You, he says, do what you wish rashly. But I do not, because I manage each thing for what is beneficial. I await the passion, so that having risen, I may make my power known to all.

VERS. 10. *But after his brothers were gone up, then he also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.* ^D

^A It was not fitting at the beginning of the feast for Him to go up, with the Jews seething with hatred against Him. Yet later, as the end approached, He did not do the opposite of what He had said. For He did not go up to celebrate the feast, but to give counsel; therefore He went up secretly, not with the hilarity that those who celebrate festivals usually show. Moreover, in the Old Law, speaking to Moses, He had promised that He would go forth with them.

VERS. 16. *Jesus answered them and said: My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.*

Because of His supreme equality, He calls His doctrine the Father’s, either because He Himself is the Father’s wisdom, through whom the Father declares all things, or because, as a man, through dispensation, He ascribes all His teaching to the Father, on account of the unbelief of the Jews. He says that He was sent, on account of the flesh He assumed, or as the Word from the mind, or as radiance from the sun. ^B

VERS. 18. *He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory.*

Remaining silent about Himself through dispensation, because of the Jews’ proclivity for scandal and the difficulty of the matter, He announces the glory of His Father, weaving this syllogism so that they might understand that He does not crave glory for Himself.

VERS. 23. *If a man receive circumcision upon the Sabbath day, that the law of Moses may not be broken; are you angry at me because I have healed the whole man upon the Sabbath day?*

Why are you troubled? For it was not the healing of the paralytic that caused the breaking of the Sabbath, but rather not to heal him. When, He says, a man receives a sign that causes pain, no one is indignant that the Law is being broken; yet when a whole man has been made healthy, you are aggrieved, complaining as though a violation of the Law ^C had occurred. Being the Lord of Moses and of the Law, on account of the weakness of the Jews, He in a manner alienates Himself from the Law, calling it Moses's. For they could not have heard that He was by nature God, nor could they have grasped the depth of the mystery of the dispensation. If you do not reproach those who circumcise, or sacrifice, or wage war on the Sabbath, neither should you reproach me; for this is clearly nothing other than respect of persons.

VERS. 25. *Some therefore of Jerusalem said: Is not this he whom they seek to kill?*

By this they are convicted of lying, in that they wish to kill Christ and deny that they do so, while Christ is shown to be truthful concerning this. And since their phrase, “We know whence this man is,” ^D implies nothing other than that He is from the earth, and they wish to show that He is the son of a carpenter, for this reason He directs them to heaven, saying, “And me you know, and you know whence I am: and I am not come of myself,” and the rest. That is to say: I am not from here, but from where He who sent me is, and you know that I was sent by the Father, even if you do not wish to confess this openly.

^A “But we know this man where he is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where he is from.” It is well said that when the Christ comes, no one knows where he is from; for the true God, from whom I am, is unknown to you, and it is no surprise if you are ignorant that I am the Christ, not knowing Him from whom I am. “But I know him.” That is to say: He is visible to me alone, since I am God by nature, and not of the created nature, which [can only known] the Father through thoughts, as far as is possible. The Son, however, contemplates the Begetter entirely within Himself, and he depicts the substance of the Creator in his own nature, and thus he knows Him in a way that cannot be put into words. For the things of God are ineffable. ^B “They sought therefore to take him, and no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come.” From this we learn that He suffered willingly, and that He was not captured through the greed of the Jews. He calls the “hour” the opportune outcome of events. “The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring about him these things; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him.” Through what they whispered, they are seen as accepting Christ and wishing to break away from their leaders. The leaders, sensing this, sent men to arrest Him for this reason alone, that He was believed to be the Christ. ^C “And on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying: If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and drink.” When everyone was gathering together and about to return home, then at last He teaches, so that they might have His words as provision for the journey. Since the law calls the seventh day holy according to ancient custom, the Evangelist, following it, called it great. ^D “He said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive. For the Spirit was not yet [given], because Jesus was not yet glorified.” He does not refer the discourse to the hypostasis, but to the operation of the Spirit, which took place after Christ’s resurrection, when, as one of us, having loosed the bonds of death, Christ arose; and He was glorified, and all humanity with Him, as in the first fruits, Christ. And when He breathed the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, grace seemed to have its beginning. “Others were saying: This is the Christ. But others were saying: Does the Christ indeed come from Galilee?” The opinion was divided, as is natural in a disturbed multitude. For they neither attended carefully to His words, nor did they do so in order to learn. For this reason, Christ answers them nothing. “Did not the Scripture say: That from the seed...

of David and from Bethlehem the village, where David was, Christ comes?” They spoke well that Christ must come from the seed of David and from Bethlehem; but they were led astray because of Nazareth, in which He had been raised, even though He had been born in Bethlehem, of the Virgin who was of David.

CHAPTER VIII.

VERS. 12. ^A “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying: ‘I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” He shows that He is the One of whom it had been predicted: “Behold, I have set You as a light to the Gentiles,” and that He is not one of the prophets, but their Lord. He did not say: “In Me is the light of the world,” but, “I am the light of the world”; lest anyone should divide Christ into two sons. For Christ is one, both before the flesh and after the flesh, and He is one and the only Son, in truth, from God the Father. And when He became man, the nature of man was not in any way diminished; for the body is His own, and to divide Christ after the incarnation into two Sons, or two natures, is equally impious and blasphemous.

VERS. 14. “For I know whence I came, and whither I go; but you do not know whence I come, or whither I go.” If they had known that He was the Son of God, and that He had descended from heaven, they would not ^B have been scandalized on account of the body which they saw. “I am God,” He says, “and a competent witness of Myself.” But you do not know Me for this reason, because you wish to understand nothing beyond what appears. He did not say, however, “I am God,” but, “Whence I come,” mingling things humble with things sublime.

VERS. 15. “You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.” Looking at My body, which is what appears, you judge falsely concerning Me. I judge no one. For I did not come for this purpose, since the time of judgment is not yet. But if I had wished to judge, you would already be condemned. I did not come now to judge the world, but to save it.

VERS. 16. “My judgment is true, because I am not alone.” He speaks according to the opinion ^C of His hearers. As if He said: My judgment is the Father’s. And I judge no otherwise than the Father, nor the Father otherwise than the Son. He does not say this as though He were weak in judging, but because the Father, together with the Son, is about to judge those who have not believed in Him who was sent by Him.

VERS. 19. “Then they said to Him: ‘Where is Your Father?’ Jesus answered: ‘You know neither Me, nor My Father; if you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.’”

Thinking Him to be Joseph’s son, they said this; or perhaps they cast an insult at Him, as one born of fornication and ignorant of his own father. If you suspect, ^A He says, that a man is My Father, then you do not know Me either. But since those who love learning understand the Father through the knowledge of the Son, the Father is expressed in the Son as in His own image. The Son, then, is equal to the Father; by saying, “You know neither My Father, nor Me,” He teaches that He is not the son of Joseph, and that they were ignorant of the rationale of His incarnation, nor did they believe in it.

VERS. 20. “These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple.”

He taught in the temple as a master, which greatly vexed them; yet no one laid hands on Him, because the time had not yet come when He wished to suffer.

VERS. 21. “Where I am going, you cannot come.”

You shall remain, He says, outside the blessings of the kingdom, unable to ascend into the heavens, because you did not receive Him who came from above.

VERS. 23. “You are from this world, I am not from this world.”

Here He calls carnal thoughts “the world.” When He says that He is not from this world, He is not denying that He has assumed flesh, but saying that He is far removed from their wickedness. For when He also says that His disciples are not from this world—just as Paul says, “You are not in the flesh”—He is not saying they are bodiless, ^B but testifies to their philosophy.

VERS. 28. “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I Am.”

From the signs that took place at the time of the passion, they recognized that He Himself was the Christ. When you have taken Me away, He says, and think that you will be rid of Me, then you will know that I am the Son of God—by the signs, by the resurrection, and by your own destruction.

VERS. 29. “And He who sent Me is with Me; the Father has not left Me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to Him.”

Because of the weakness of the hearers He speaks thus, as if to say: I am not opposed to the Father, because of the unity of substances, since I am of the same essence as the Father, doing nothing that the Father does not do. For He also works on the Sabbath, just as I do; and what He speaks, I speak. Why then do you slander Me as someone opposed ^C to God? He says “He is with Me” to prevent them from thinking, because He had said “He who sent Me,” that He was inferior; speaking of both on account of His divinity and the economy of the incarnation.

VERS. 31, 32. “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Sacrifices and lustration-rites never freed anyone from sin; but those who perform spiritual worship, through

faith in Christ, are freed, and are no longer reckoned among slaves, but among sons. ^A

Ver. 34. “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” For every sin, having taken the soul as it were captive, makes it a slave to passion.

Ver. 35. “The slave does not remain in the house for ever; the Son remains for ever.” He who does not remain for ever, and does not always possess the same state, is a slave by nature, and can neither free himself nor another. For all things are subject to the slavery of the Creator. But the Son, since He is God by nature and remains in the same state, remains for ever. ^B

Ver. 36. “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” Here He hints at the purification from sin, which God alone provides, which is the true freedom; and there is no other, for others possess freedom only in name.

Ver. 38. “I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.” Just as I manifest My Father, not only by nature but also by My most truthful words, so you also manifest your father by your own deeds. My Father, He says, has spoken to you through the prophets; receive therefore Him who was foretold, and do what you have heard.

Ver. 40. “But now you seek to kill Me, a man who has spoken to you the truth which I heard from God.” ^C But what truth did He speak to them? That He was equal to the Father. For this reason the Jews sought to kill Him.

Ver. 42. “Jesus therefore said to them: If God were your father, you would love Me, for I proceeded from God and have come; for I have not come of My own accord, but He sent Me.” If you loved Me, this would be a sign that you are from God; for by love we are adopted into His children. How then can you be numbered among the children of God, not loving Him who transforms into His own image the one who believes in Him, since He is God by nature, and Son of God? Nevertheless, those who live rightly and piously call God Father without blame. ^D Moreover, *I proceeded* signifies His ineffable and beginningless generation; but *I have come* indicates His entry into this world in the flesh.

Ver. 44. “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” He said this, not because the devil is the cause of their being, but because he is the cause of their depravity, which arises from their conduct, as the sense of the discourse, however briefly, implies. As if to say,

^A that, [the] devil, who is a homicide and a liar, more fittingly might be called your father. He himself first birthed the lie, saying one thing instead of another to Eve. [CRAM.]

He calls Cain the father of the Jews, who, after Satan (whose son he is deservedly named), was the first of men to become the author of envy, murder, lies, and deception. To whom the Jews are not unlike, and everyone who imitates them. Wherefore it is also in no way unlikely that I am the Son of the true God, who speaks the truth, and [that] it is necessary for you to believe me, who speaks the truth. But he through disobedience killed Adam, and through him the rest of mankind.

• "Which of you will convict me of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me?" ^B He said this, so that he might confound them by the innocence and purity of his life, demonstrating that since he is God, being immutable, he cannot fall into sin. For every sin happens from a turning away from the better to the worse.

• "He who is of God hears the words of God. Therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."

He says those who are of God [are so], not according to substance, but because they receive from him the pattern of piety, and are his own, both on account of virtue and a lawful manner of life. "He hears," he says, not with ears of sense, but with the assents of the soul. ^C But he shows that they did not disbelieve him not because they regarded him as an adversary to God, but because they themselves were aliens from God.

• "The Jews therefore answered and said: Do we not say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?"

Out of immeasurable madness, they call him who commanded demons, one possessed by a demon. That they also called him a Samaritan, the evangelist does not mention later on. But they called the Lord a Samaritan, because he did not observe the legal commandments and broke the Sabbath; for the Samaritans do not judaise accurately.

• "Jesus answered: I have no demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me."

When he is insulted, he bears it patiently, teaching us to disregard the insults heaped upon us. But where they claimed God as their Father, he sharply rebukes them, instructing us to vindicate the things of God. ^D

• "But I do not seek my own glory."

For if I had coveted glory, I would not have, being in the form of God, taken the form of a servant, and humbled myself for your salvation. But neither would I have overlooked the insults offered to me, but would have straightway exacted justice; but now you sin against God and the Father, the sin ascending to him. For nothing

entirety, which is redundant. For nothing intervenes between the Father and the Son, seeing that each of them is of the same substance. ^A

VERS. 51. “Amen, amen, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he shall not see death forever.”

He is not speaking of bodily death, which is common to all, but rather he means that, as God, he did not consider [that] death, which as God he could easily destroy. Here he calls death eternal punishment. For life is the enjoyment that has no end. He calls the world to come “life,” which is properly termed life, having no end, where no one dies anymore after the resurrection given through Christ to all, where the living being, even if it dies, does not die to God.

VERS. 52. “The Jews therefore said: Now we have known that thou hast a devil.”

If they only then knew it, they did not know it before. How then did they say he had a devil, if they did not yet know him? How then did they think so? That impious people of the Jews was already long since untruthful, even though it was proven by absolutely necessary arguments, such as that Satan does not cast out Satan. For every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, says Christ. “Abraham is dead, and the prophets,” that is, “Those who heard the word of God died, and [yet you say] those who hear your word shall not die?” ^B

VERS. 55. “And you have not known him: but I know him.”

For the Son alone knows the Father naturally and properly; or rather, the Trinity itself knows itself. But to say, “I know him,” is no boast; but to say that one does not know him would be a lie. But you lie, saying that you know him. ^C

By these words, “But I know him, and I keep his sermon,” it is shown that the Jews neither know God nor keep his words, because they have not received him who was preached and sent by him.

VERS. 57. “The Jews therefore said to him: Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?”

The speech of the Jews is altogether foolish. For Christ was speaking of his own eternity, but they replied to him as if he had only just begun to exist. And the Lord indeed said, “Abraham saw my day”; but they conversely understood that he had seen Abraham. ^D

VERS. 58. “Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am.”

^A it means. Even if it is untouchable, the devil, who is a murderer and a liar, might more fittingly be called your father. He first gave birth to the lie, saying other things instead of others to Eve. He calls Cain the father of the Jews, who, after Satan (whose child he might justly be called), was the first of men to become the author of envy, murder, lies, and deception. To whom the Jews and everyone who imitates them are similar. Therefore, it is not unreasonable that I am the Son of the true God, I who speak the truth, and you ought to believe me who speaks the truth to you. The devil, however, through disobedience slew Adam, and through him the rest of mankind. ^B VERS. 46. “Which of you shall convince me of sin? If I say the truth, to me, why do you not believe me?” He said this so that by the purity of his life he might put them to shame, demonstrating that, being an immutable God, he cannot fall into sin. For every sin happens through a turning away from the better to the worse. VERS. 47. “He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore you hear them not, because you are not of God.” He calls the faithful “of God,” not according to substance, but because they receive the pattern of piety from him and are made his own through virtue and lawful conduct. And he says “heareth” not of sensitive ears, but of the assents of the soul. He shows ^C that they did not believe him not because they regarded him as an anti-god, but because they were themselves strangers to God. VERS. 48. “The Jews therefore answered and said to him: Do not we say well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a devil?” They call him one possessed by a devil who held command over demons, out of measureless frenzy. That they also called him a Samaritan, the evangelist does not mention elsewhere. They called the Lord a Samaritan as one indifferent to legal commandments and one who broke the Sabbath; for the Samaritans do not strictly follow Judaism. ^D VERS. 49. “Jesus answered: I have not a devil: but I honour my Father, and you have dishonoured me.” When he is insulted, he bears it meekly, teaching us to overlook the insults offered to us. But where they called God their Father, he vehemently attacks them, teaching us to vindicate those things that pertain to God. VERS. 50. “But I seek not my own glory.” For if I coveted glory, I would by no means, while existing in the form of God, have taken the form of a servant and humbled myself for the sake of your salvation. Nor would I have overlooked the insults offered to me, but I would have exacted justice immediately. But now you sin against God and the Father, the sin ascending unto him.

^A entirely, the one which mediates between the Father and the Son, insofar as each exists in identity of substance.

VERS. 51. *Amen, amen I say to you: if any man keep my word, he shall not see death forever.*

He does not speak of the death of the body, which is common to all, but rather he does not consider it death, since as God he could easily destroy it. Here he calls eternal punishment death. For life is enjoyment without limit. He calls the world to come "life," which is properly called life, as it has no limit, and where no one dies anymore after the resurrection granted to all through Christ; where the soul, even if it "dies," does not die to God.

VERS. 52. *The Jews therefore said: Now we have known that thou hast a devil.*

If they had known it only then, they did not know it before. How then did they say he had a devil, if they had not yet recognized it? As they themselves thought, therefore, that impious people of the Jews was a liar even long before, even though they were convinced by necessary reasoning that Satan could not cast out Satan. For, says Christ, *every kingdom divided against itself shall be made desolate.*

*Abraham is dead, and the prophets, that is, those who heard the word of God are dead, and those who hear thy word shall not die?* ^{B C} VERS. 55. *And you have not known him: but I know him.*

For the Son alone knows the Father naturally and properly; or rather, the Trinity knows itself. However, to say "I know him" is no boasting; but to say that one does not know him would be a lie. But you lie when you say that you know him. By these words, *But I know him, and do keep his word*, it is shown that the Jews neither know God nor keep his words, because they have not received him who was preached and sent by him.

VERS. 57. *The Jews therefore said to him: Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?*

The speech of the Jews is utterly senseless. For Christ was speaking of his own eternal existence, but they were answering him as if he had only just begun to exist. And the Lord indeed said, *Abraham saw my day*; but they understood the opposite, that he himself had seen Abraham.

VERS. 58. *Jesus said to them: Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am.* ^D

Regarding Abraham He used the word "to be made," because he who has been brought into existence is also subject to dissolution; but regarding Himself He says "I am," as He is the eternal God and exempt from corruption. ^A

CAP. IX.

VERS. 2. *And His disciples asked Him, saying: Rabbi, who hath sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?*

This inquiry is erroneous, since no one sins before he is born, when he does not yet exist at all, nor is one person punished for another. ^B

VERS. 5. *As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.*

He called Himself light because He illuminates the souls of the faithful, and because He was about to open the eyes of the man born blind. ^C

VERS. 6. *When He had said these things, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and spread the clay upon his eyes.*

*He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and spread the clay upon his eyes*, wishing to show through the clay that He is the same One who fashioned Adam from clay. For it could have appeared difficult to those listening if He had simply said, "I am He who has done this." But by demonstrating this through His work, there was no longer any room for contradiction. For this reason, He did not create the eyes simply, but in that particular manner; He did not merely fashion and open them, but also granted the power of seeing: which is a testament to the soul that was breathed into Adam by Him. For if that soul were not active, the eye, even if it were complete, could never see. ^D

VERS. 16. *Some therefore of the Pharisees said: This man is not of God, who keepeth not the sabbath.*

From an extreme scrupulosity, they preferred the Sabbath to His divine power, and blaspheming they said, "This man is not of God, who keepeth not the Sabbath." For Christ is accused because He anointed the clay with one finger on the Sabbath, yet they themselves are not blamed when they wash animals with their whole hand and lead them to water, and pull out sheep that have fallen into a pit.

VERS. 24. *We know that this man is a sinner.*

Those foolish Jews order God to be honored by the miracle, yet they condemned Him who performed the work of God.

VERS. 31. *We know that God doth not hear sinners; but if a man be a server of God, and doth his will, him he heareth.*

For God is not a respecter of persons; far be it! But as a just God and a lover of the just, He works miracles through the saints, but not through sinners.

^A Ver. 20. "And many of them said: He hath a devil and is mad: why hear you him?" Since the things being spoken were beyond man, they called him demon-possessed. But by the fact that the Lord was silent upon hearing these things, He taught us to bear insults against ourselves modestly and gently.

Ver. 24. "If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly." Even though he had not said plainly that he was Christ, yet by calling himself the light, the shepherd, and the way, he signified this (for Scripture is accustomed to call Christ by these names). For he says: I have often sent forth a clearer voice through works than through words, and you have not believed, because you are not of my sheep. For I, on my part, fulfilled all that becomes a shepherd. And if you do not follow me, it does not happen because I am not the shepherd, but because you are not sheep.

Ver. 29. "My Father, that which he hath given me, is greater than all: and no one can snatch them out of the hand of my Father." The proof of the Lord's sheep is their obedience, and of strange ones is their disobedience. Since even Judas, who was one of those given to the Son, fell into evil, it is shown that human beings are not evil by nature and essence, but are perverted by their own will. ^B

Ver. 30. "I and the Father are one." Wishing to show that the Father and the Son are not one in the sense of hypostasis, he said, "I and the Father." For they are one in essence and in power, which he also calls "hand," sometimes his own, sometimes the Father's.

Ver. 32. "Jesus answered them: Many good works I have shewed you from my Father; for which of these works do you stone me?" My works, he says, are not of me alone, but of the whole Divinity. For the Father does all things through the Son in the Holy Spirit. He teaches us also to be humble-minded, and not to be arrogant if we receive anything from God.

Ver. 35. "For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy: and because that thou, being man, makest thyself God." But ^C since they were ignorant that the Son was not going to come in his naked divinity, but was to be incarnate from the seed of David, they called a true confession blasphemy.

Ver. 36 "Whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, do you say: Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God?" The Son is called "sanctified" because he was sent to be sacrificed for the salvation of the world. For "holy" are those things that are set apart for God as a sacrifice.

Ver. 38. "But if I do: though you will not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father." Since it is impossible to see the essence itself, from the equality of the works he shows the immutability of the power, ^D

^A for he says that he is known from the Father and he from the Father. "I am in the Father, and the Father is seen in me," according to the identity of nature and essence. For there is one definition of nature, even if we understand the holy Trinity in its distinct subsistences. For the Father is not the Son, or the Spirit, nor indeed the reverse, even if they are not in separation on account of their mutual communion and equality. For although even in us the substance of the begetter is known, and the father in the one born, according to the principle of substance, yet since we are separated by our bodies, we who are many are no longer one.

"And he went away again beyond the Jordan." ^B By this, he easily escapes them, and demonstrates, even against their will, that he would not have been captured had he not been willing.

"And many came to him, and said: For John indeed did no sign." In order to remind the crowds of what John said concerning him, he went there. But those who cross the mystical Jordan are brought to God, just as Christ, having crossed the Jordan, came to the Church of the Gentiles, and remained there.

CHAPTER XI

"But Jesus hearing it said: This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it." ^C It is not unto death, that is, unto death eternal, but for only four days, since he rose again soon after. Looking to the end of the matter, we say that the sickness is not unto death. It was not of such glory and miracle to raise Lazarus from the disease, as it was to raise him from the dead. [CRAM.]

"That the Son of man may be glorified," he says, "through it." For it was not an operation of such glory and miracle to deliver Lazarus from the disease as it was to raise him from the dead.

"When therefore he heard that he was sick, then indeed he stayed two days in the place where he was." ^D Therefore he stayed there two days, so that he might expire and be buried, lest the Jews should say that it was someone weighed down by sleep whom he had awakened. For this reason he predicts to the disciples: "Let us go into Judea," lest they be troubled by his departing there suddenly. But they, being as yet imperfect, and thinking that he suffered against his will, said: "Now they sought to stone you, and are you going there again?"

"Jesus answered: Are there not twelve hours of the day?"

The remark, "They sought to stone you," and what follows, they said because they were still ignorant, and thought he would suffer even against his will. Therefore he said: "Are there not twelve hours in the day?" and what follows. [CRAM.]

Just as the day is shifting, passing from hour to hour, so also is the mind of men, namely the Ju-

Jews. If "he who walks in the day stumbles not," how could I, who enlighten all, suffer from the things that are unwanted?

VERS. 16. "Then Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples: Let us also go, that we may die with him."

"Let us go," he says, "we also, that we may die with him"; that is, so that we may not seem to be lacking in affection, let us hasten to the salvation of our friend, despising the plots of the Jews. As if proceeding to one who is alive, he says, "Let us go," for to Him he was living as to God. [CRAM.]

It would indeed have been good, he says, if he had remained here, trusting us, and declined the plots of the enemies; but since it has been entirely determined by Him to go there, let us also go with Him; for it is better for us to die together with Him, as He is dying, than to be left behind by the Master while looking out for our own lives.

VERS. 25. "Jesus said to her: I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, although he be dead, shall live."

The Lord called Himself Life, and not a living being. For a living being is receptive of life, but life is the provider of living. Just as wisdom and the wise man: the latter receives, but the former gives.

VERS. 31. "But the Jews followed her."

Unless this had happened by divine dispensation, the Evangelist would not have mentioned it. But it happened so that even against their will they might be present, and bear witness to the miracle.

VERS. 33. "Jesus therefore, when he saw her weeping, and the Jews who were come with her weeping, groaned in the spirit, and troubled himself."

Christ was saddened, and seeing the mourning rising up within Him, and His flesh inclined toward tears, He rebuked the flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit, which, not bearing the movement of the divinity united to it, trembles ^B and suppresses the grief. For it was not fitting for Him to weep over the dead, who was introducing the hope of the resurrection.

VERS. 34. "And he said: Where have you laid him? They say to him: Lord, come and see."

He asks this, so that with the pretext of pointing out the place they might come, and behold the miracle. As one free from vanity, He said this, and feigns ignorance, because of the humility of human nature, although as God He knew all things, so that He might draw many to the place.

VERS. 40. "Jesus saith to her: Did I not say to thee, that if thou believe, thou shalt see the glory of God?"

Because of the magnitude of the miracle, Martha in a certain way doubts again.

VERS. 41. "They took therefore the stone: and Jesus lifting up his eyes, said: Father, I give thee thanks that thou hast heard me."

Since He was equal to the Father, He gives thanks to Him, that we might ^{C D}

^A give thanks for ourselves. This takes place among friends and equals.

VER. 42. "I knew that thou hearest me always, but because of the people who stand about, I have said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me." In supernatural matters, the glory of God is seen. He calls it the glory of the Father, because of the weakness of his hearers and to avoid vainglory; He did not say, "You will see my glory," but, "the Father's."

VER. 43. "And when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice: Lazarus, come forth." He calls the soul, as if it were far away, by crying out—not, however, as if it were in the sepulchre, as the fables of the Greeks suggest. But the Lord's cry was a type of that great trumpet which is to sound at the universal resurrection. For so also shall the general ^B resurrection come to pass, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. There is a sign here almost similar to the resurrection, in that, being bound in feet and hands and eyes, he came forth walking. By untying him, they testified that it was no phantom, but Lazarus himself.

They were accusing him as having attempted something impious, bidding a dead man come forth from the sepulchre. After so many miracles, they still spoke of him as a mere man, unwilling to acknowledge him to be the Christ who performed these wonders.

VER. 46. "But some of them went to the Pharisees," and denounced him as having perpetrated something sacrilegious, inasmuch as he had caused a buried man to be dug up.

VER. 47. "What do we, for this man doth many miracles?" After so many signs, they spoke as if of a base man, not knowing that he was the Christ, and the author of such great miracles.

VER. 48. "If we let him alone so, all will believe in him: and the Romans will come, and take away our place and nation." ^C They say: "If those who believe in him make him king, the Romans, as if we were subject to tyranny, will come upon us and strip us of everything." Because they could not endure these things, they spoke in such a way, that he might be put out of the way. And when they had killed him, then the very evils which they feared came upon them.

VER. 51. "And this he spoke not of himself: but being the high priest of that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation." It was only by his mouth that he spoke (the grace of the Holy Spirit not in any way touching his heart); for the dignity of the priesthood, it was granted to him (though not as a prophet) to foretell future things. But to prophesy in that manner is of no benefit to anyone. For ^D this is appropriate also for wicked believers, that they should foretell something, whoever they are if they—

say ^A to Christ on the day of judgment, "Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?" they will hear, "I do not know you." [*] We must not therefore be deceived by this, for prophecy is not the fruit of good works, by which we judge the saints, but the whole work of the Spirit, even if it comes through human instruments.

Ver. 52. « And not for that nation only, but that he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. » The evangelist calls the faithful from the nations the children of God, who were far off, and have become near, into one body, having one head, Christ.

Ver. 54. « Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence into a country near to the wilderness. » ^B He departs for the condemnation of the Jews, not because he was afraid, but to teach us that when anger is raging, we should not rashly throw ourselves into dangers. But he fled, awaiting the opportune time for his passion, and showing concern for their salvation.

Ver. 55. « And the Jews' passover was at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves. » Those who had been defiled by voluntary or involuntary transgressions did not observe the Passover unless they had been purified by the customary rite. ^C He did not show himself suddenly, but lived with men, eating and drinking, and performing customary actions, which the evangelist mentions with wonder.

CHAPTER XII

« But Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table. » For it was not

^A dead immediately, but he survived, and remained eating and drinking, and doing his usual tasks, which the Evangelist indicates as if marvelling.

VERS. 4. « Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, which should betray him. » Judas finds fault that she brought ointment, and not coin, not knowing what is truly good. For the offering of gifts to God ought to be considered more precious than what is distributed to the poor.

VERS. 6. « This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag. » The Lord tolerated him even while he was a thief, so that he might not say that I devised the betrayal out of a lust for money, or due to poverty. Judas was a sacrilegious man, stealing the money dedicated to God.

VERS. 7. « Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. » For the rebuke of the senseless Judas, he made mention of the burial; but he defends the woman, that he might not seem to prefer himself over the poor. Saying, "Let her alone," he refutes the hypocrisy of Judas, who finds fault with actions worthy of praise. And since the expense of the ointment was not made for luxury, but for a mystical need, he makes a defense for Mary, even if she herself was ignorant of the power and the economy of the mystery. By the things he said concerning the burial, he puts Judas to shame, ^B because he was about to betray the Master for the sake of base gain.

VERS. 13. « Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna. » As to the victor over death they went out to meet him with palm branches. The prophecy of David is fulfilled through this. The nations, whom the Lord brought into his own power after they were unclean, are a type of the Law. And the foal is a figure of the nations, upon whom the Lord sat and leads them to the heavenly Jerusalem, of which the earthly one was a type. He calls them a "foal" because they were not yet trained in the faith according to godliness. ^C

VERS. 16. « These things understood not his disciples. » For this reason they were ignorant, so that they might not be scandalized if, being a King, he was about to suffer such things, and because they were not able at once to grasp the knowledge of the kingdom.

VERS. 23. « And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. » And although they did not observe the law, falling down in worship into the law, as into a holy place, because of the miracles performed among the Jews. And he calls the resurrection "glory," after which the Son of God was glorified. This was the time for the disciples to pass over to the nations, even if at the beginning they did not do this, so that the Jews might not be scandalized. ^D

VERS. 24. « Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. »

^A Be not troubled if I die; for then much more will the preaching increase, and the Gentiles will believe. And do not disbelieve; for this also happens in the case of wheat. When I have suffered and died, I shall rise again with greater glory; for all are going to believe in me as God.

VERS. 25. « He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. »

The Lord said this, not as though the soul suffers anything thereby, but He calls the desire to seem to preserve it, and to avoid exposing the body to dangers, the "love of the soul." Therefore, he who loves his own soul, and loses it, is he who indulges its absurd desires. But he who hates and saves it, is he who does not obey it when it commands absurd things.

VERS. 28. « Father, glorify thy name. »

He calls the cross glory, through which men have known the name of the Father.

Then a voice came from heaven. But how this voice was produced, it is not for us to say; for the Father did not speak as if He had a body, as certain heretics have attempted to say.

Christ was always conspicuous in His miracles, having the Father as a co-worker, ^B who also again glorifies Him by signs at His death. For in so far as He is man, He was raised by the Father; although, as He is by nature God, the Son raised Himself.

VERS. 29. « The people therefore that stood by, and heard, said that it thundered. Others said, An angel spake to him. »

To the multitude, that voice was obscure, but perhaps it was made known to the disciples through Christ. It behooved the Jews to recognize that it was the Father who answered in the way he knew; for Christ had not asked that thunder be produced.

VERS. 32. « And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. »

By saying "all men," He also signifies the Gentiles. He draws them as those held by a tyrant, and unable to flee of themselves, which He elsewhere calls a "snaring." And let no one object: "How then did he overcome thee?" For I do not only rise again, but I also draw all men, in order that they may believe in me, because I am God, and not a mere man.

VERS. 33. « (And this he said, signifying what death he should die.) »

Showing that He suffered willingly, and that He knew not only of His death, but even the manner of it, the evangelist named the cross as death.

VERS. 34. « We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever. »

The Jews were ignorant that Christ was to be slaughtered as a sheep; ^D but that after the resurrection He abides forever, no longer to die.

^A

« Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. » He calls the evangelical doctrine light, and ignorance or the condemnation of the impious darkness. He Himself is the light. By "time" He denotes the period before the Passion, and also this whole present life, inviting them to faith out of love for mankind. Those who walk in the light become sons of light, just as He previously called the faithful sons of God; for the operation of the Father and the Son is one. The way of salvation is faith in Christ, which makes men sons of light and of the Father; for the Son and the Father are light, as being of one nature.

« Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again. » They were not compelled to unbelief by the prediction of Isaiah, but because they were perverse they did not believe. The Jews slew the Lord because of their own malice, not in order to fulfill the prophecies, for they were impious. ^B

« He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and turn, and I should heal them. » God did not harden them, but permitted them to do what they wished; they had the hardening from their unbelief. It was impossible that the foreknowledge of God—which foresaw the unbelief but did not force it—should not come to pass. Those, therefore, who cannot believe, do not have a nature opposed to believing, but an evil will; wherefore the devil blinds them, and God does not prevent it. The word "lest" signifies not a cause, but an outcome. For they did not fail to believe because He spoke; but because they were not going to believe, He spoke. If the evangelist had not spoken thus, but asserted that their unbelief was caused by the prophecy, he would have meant to demonstrate the truth and certainty of the prophecy’s outcome. The prophets foretell future events so that those who are vigilant may avoid the snares of the devil. For "they could not" is put for "they would not." Indeed, in other passages we understand "power" ^C to mean will and purpose.

Of Ammonius and John: God did not harden their heart (for then He would not have demanded an account of them, since He even pardons involuntary transgressions), but He gives over to passion and an unfit mind those who are perverse and blinded by the devil. For, being such as they are, it is not just that they should know the depth of the mystery, having closed the eyes of their understanding. ^D

« Jesus cried out, and said: He who believes in me, does not believe in me, but in him who sent me. » Because of the weakness of those listening, He spoke as a man. As if He were to say: When I am honored, do not think that you are honoring a man; for through me the Father is honored.

« And he who sees me, sees him who sent me. »

For since He is the image of the Father, He shows the Father through Himself; on this account He signifies the indivisibility of His substance, and demonstrates the consubstantiality; for the Divine is incorporeal. This likeness, therefore, He signifies.

VERS. 46. « I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. » ^A Just as the Father is light, so too is the Son. Wherefore Paul, wishing to show His full resemblance, calls the Son the radiance of the Father. For just as light, when it appears, makes both itself and other things visible, so too the Son, being light and having come, made both Himself and the Father known to us.

VERS. 49. « For I have not spoken on my own authority; but the Father who sent me has Himself given me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak. »

The purpose of His present coming was not to judge, but to save the faithful. But lest He give them an occasion for unbelief, He refers the cause of their unbelief in Himself back to the Father. His ^B discourse of humility condemns them. Yet the Son Himself is about to judge the unbelievers, though the discourse is not; for He speaks enigmatically. The discourse which called you to salvation will by no means condemn and punish those who remain unpersuaded on the day of judgment.

VERS. 50. « And I know that His commandment is eternal life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak. »

« Just as the Father has told Me, so I speak. » By saying this, He does not at all remove His own authority, but shows that nothing in the Son is alien from the Father, as if He were saying: I speak nothing contrary to the Father, nor is it as though it were proper to Me alone, ^C but common. Being the Word of the Father, He Himself interprets and manifests what is in the Father, for which reason He also says that He has received a commandment. For thus even the word that is in us reveals what is in the mind. He says that He does these things as from the Father, since the Jews saw Him changing the shadow of the law into something more spiritual.

CHAPTER XIII

VERS. 1. « Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. »

He foresaw the passion, wherefore it must be said that He suffered voluntarily. ^D For He would not have endured so ignominious a death against His will. By "hour" He means the feast of the Passover, during which He suffered. He loved them indeed even before the Passover, having become man. But when He also delivered Himself up for us to death, then at last He perfectly manifested the love for men. Nor does He hold only the Jews as His own, but all others also as Creator. He calls "His own," all those who are in the world.

^A "Now that supper was being made, the devil having already cast into the heart of Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, that he might betray Him." The supper was on the fifth day, but Judas had agreed to betray Christ on the fourth. Hence he said: "The devil having already cast into his heart, that Judas might betray Him."

"Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and goes to God." He calls "tradition" the salvation of the faithful, which He Himself also returns to the Father, since He was begotten from the substance of the Father.

"And having taken a towel, He girded Himself." See how He demonstrates humility not only by washing, but in other ways as well. For it was not before they reclined, but after all had sat down, that He arose and girded Himself with a towel. Nor was He satisfied with this, but He Himself filled the basin, and did not order another to fill it, but He Himself performed all these things, showing through everything that one ought not to perform such things perfunctorily when we do them, but with readiness. It seems to me that He first washed the feet of the betrayer. For it says, He began to wash the feet, and then came to Peter.

^B "He comes therefore to Simon Peter, and that one says to Him: Lord, are You washing my feet for me?" By the touch He cleansed their feet for the preparation of the Gospel. And He leads them as well to humility.

"If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." Unless you accept the lesson of humility, you have no part with Me; or, if anyone does not wash away the filth of sin through grace, he does not attain to life, nor does he enjoy the kingdom of heavens.

"Jesus says to him: He who has been bathed has no need except to wash his feet, but is clean altogether. And you are clean, but not all." ^C He does not wash them because they were dirty, but that He might teach moderation. The basin does not take the place of a bath, nor does it remove sins, but it leads the way to perfect virtue. They were clean, illuminated by the teaching and freed from the Jewish error, and having cast away all malice by being with Christ. But by bearing witness to the purity of the others, He convicted him who was soiled as not being clean.

"You call Me, the Teacher and the Lord; and you speak rightly, for I am." And by saying "I am," He showed that He is by nature God and Teacher.

"For I have given you an example, that just as I did to you, you also should do."

^A He gave a pattern of perfect humility not only by word, but also by deed.

VERS. 17. ‹ If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. › For it is not the knowing of virtue that is praiseworthy, but the practicing of it. To know and not to do brings greater punishment. Many people have knowledge, but not everyone puts it into practice. Therefore He said, "Blessed are you, if you do them."

VERS. 18. ‹ I do not speak concerning all of you; I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture might be fulfilled, "He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me." › Judas was not compelled to betray the Lord so that the utterance of the Holy Spirit might be fulfilled—which would be full of all blasphemy—but so that we might know that the Scripture had spoken beforehand about him, when we see him performing what was foretold. And if the Lord chose Judas, and he transgressed, nothing follows from this; for He chose him as one who was good, and he changed afterward, just as Adam and Saul did. For God does not take away freedom from anyone, but allows each one to act according to his own will, so that both the wicked may be punished and those who perform virtue may be crowned.

VERS. 26. ‹ Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it." › By the piece of bread, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy which says: "He who ate my bread has magnified his supplantation against me." ^B

VERS. 27. ‹ And Jesus said to him, "What you do, do quickly." › He says this not as if commanding it, but as reproaching him to whom He had permitted whatever he wished to do, since he did not want to be corrected. "Since this is decided for you," He says, "hasten the plot against Me; for I do not shrink from the passion."

VERS. 28. ‹ But no one of those sitting at table knew for what reason He said this to him. › Since perhaps John asked Him secretly and secretly received the answer, no one knew; for if they had known, they might perhaps have killed him. Or, because they were in a state of confusion, as being ignorant of what was being cooked up in the heart of Judas, they were unaware of what was said.

VERS. 30. ‹ So when he had received the morsel, he went out immediately. And it was night. › It was the fourth day when Satan put it into the heart of Judas to betray the Lord, and on the fifth day toward nightfall Judas spoke of this with the Jews. When, therefore, he saw that Judas was willing in deed to betray the Lord and was hastening toward this work, then Satan entered into him. For it is one thing to cast something into his heart, and another to enter into him, just as it is one thing to push someone with one's hand from the outside, and another to inflict a lethal wound upon him and drive in the sword. ^{C D}

VERS. 32. ‹ If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself: and immediately He will glorify Him. ›

› ^A Christ, as He who by His own death destroyed death, was glorified, teaching us that to endure even the most shameful things for God is glory. The Father will glorify the Son through Himself, and immediately, that is, on the cross, when the sun was darkened, the rocks were rent, and after fifty days the descending Spirit made the Son manifest to all.

VERS. 34. ‹ A new commandment I give unto you: That ye love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. › The form of this commandment is new, and exceeds the Law, in that one should love his neighbor more than himself. I do not want you to love those to whom you are obligated, but those to whom you owe nothing; for I too die for you, to whom I owe nothing.

VERS. 35. ‹ By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. › ^B You shall not be known as my disciples by the signs you perform (for this is entirely a matter of grace from above), but by the fact that you love one another, and have concord, and are not separated from yourselves. Christ Himself is the Son of love, for He is by nature charity, and the fruit of love, so that the good of love is in no way an adventitious thing for Him.

VERS. 36. ‹ Simon Peter saith unto Him: Lord, whither goest Thou? Jesus answered him: Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now: but thou shalt follow Me afterward. › Peter has given us an example of asking teachers about the things we do not know. On account of his weakness, He does not permit Peter to follow Him, yet on account of his boldness, and because he too was to be crucified like Christ, He predicts to him alone what was about to happen to him.

VERS. 38. ‹ Jesus answered him: Wilt thou lay down thy life for My sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee: The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied Me thrice. › ^C Since, He says, you do not wish to believe that it is impossible for what I say not to come to pass, you will learn it in the denial itself. This he suffered, not because Christ drove him to it, but because He allowed him to be deserted, lest he be carried away by arrogance. Therefore, let no one say that Peter denied Him because Christ had said it; for He imposed no necessity upon him that would drive him to denial, but as God He foretold to the disciple what was certainly to happen. Nor did the denial arise from an incredulous soul, but from weakness.

CAP. XIV.

VERS. 1. ‹ And He said to His disciples: Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in Me. › Not all of you, He says, will deny Me, and even the denial of Peter itself will be blotted out through repentance and confession.

VERS. 3. ‹ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. ›

It is not that I must ascend in order to prepare a place for you, but that I might grant you the power of ascending to the dwelling of the angels, which was inaccessible to all flesh. When, therefore, I have accomplished this, in the regeneration returning again, I will receive you unto myself, that ye may be where I am. ^A

VERS. 6. ‹ Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. ›

He is the way, because it was through Him that they came, and He Himself was the Lord of leading them to the Father; truth, because there is no falsehood in Him, and without doubt these things shall be; life, because not even death itself, He says, will be able to prevent you from coming. He is the way, through action; truth, as the true rule of faith; life, in that He raises us up, leads us to immortality, and abolishes the ancient curse. ^B

VERS. 7. ‹ If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. ›

He calls the knowledge of the mind "seeing" here. Therefore, he who beholds the Son—not in His naked substance, but clothed in flesh—knows also the Father, who is equal to Him in all things. Knowledge of the mind signifies thought; vision, however, signifies full assurance through divine works.

VERS. 9. ‹ Philip, he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? ›

Nothing, He says, is the Son other than that which the Father is, while remaining the Son. For if, as happens, thou sayest, Philip, "I know thee, that thou art the Son," yet thou hast not known Me in that I have the whole Father within Myself, and remain still being the Son.

VERS. 11. ‹ Believe ye not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? ›

Those words denote intimate union and equality. Therefore, ^C lest anyone fall into the heresy of Sabellius by confusing the persons, He adds, saying: "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." He understands this, however, through knowledge; and he speaks these things concerning the invisible substance of Himself and the Father. For it is not possible for carnal eyes to behold the Divine; hence He said: "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father"—not that He Himself is the Father, but because, on account of the intimate conjunction, whoever sees the Son sees the Father. For each has his own proper hypostasis. ^D

On account of the identity of nature, I possess naturally all the properties of the Father within Me. For substantially the Son embraces the Father and exists intimately within Him.

VERS. 12. ‹ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. ›

He says this as if he knew the Son, supposing perhaps that he would be able to see God with his own eyes.

^A VERSE 16. « And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. » By saying "another," he indicates the distinction of the persons; but by saying "like me," he shows the affinity of substance. He says that he will pray the Father because of their weakness. But how does he himself send by praying [the Father], when the apostles used to give the Holy Spirit to the faithful by the laying on of hands? Nor is the Spirit sent, since He is present by Himself in every place; but he said this to declare the time of His advent. For if Christ had not been sacrificed and sin abolished, the Holy Spirit would not have descended upon the faithful. Both the Son and the Spirit are called "Comforter," as they bring us consolation and as they intercede on our behalf before the Father. For this name is descriptive of consolation, and does not signify a different substance of the Spirit and the Father. By saying "that he may abide," he taught that the Spirit does not abandon us even after death, so that He exists in us as a sort of divine quality and remains forever in the saints, whenever they strive to preserve the grace within themselves through virtue and purity.

VERSE 18. « I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. » He never left them bereft of His providence; moreover, He appeared to them even after the resurrection. Because, upon coming, He had called them "little children," when He was about to depart, He called them "orphans." Because He was about to appear to them alone after the resurrection, He said to all, "a little while." By "a little while," He refers to the time until the second coming. For what is long to us is a little while to God. But you, O saints, shall know me through the indwelling of the Spirit, unlike those who love the things of the world. The earnest of the life to come that you have received is my resurrection.

VERSE 21. « He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. » When Christ had risen from the dead and they had received the Holy Spirit, they gained the knowledge that the Son, having the same power as the Father, is not separated from Him because of the unity of substance, but is always present, assisting them ^C. "I," He says, "since I am Life by nature, joined myself to the Father, who also exists as Life by His nature; and I have joined you to the Father through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, making you partakers of the divine nature." For I am naturally in the Father as His fruit, and you are in me insofar as I have become man, and I am in you through the indwelling of the Spirit. After the resurrection, those who believe rightly will know perfectly; for now we know in part. For just as the Son is consubstantial with the Father, so also the will of both is one.

VERSE 22. « Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot: Lord, »

^A and what has happened, that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? » As one who was good-natured, Judas wished all to be partakers of the divine vision and of good things. Those who believe rightly after the resurrection shall know him perfectly; for now we know in part. For this reason, being overcome by many thoughts, the apostle Judas says: « Lord, and what has happened, that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? » For indeed he supposed that, just as we see the dead in dreams, so too was he about to be seen by them. Wherefore, that they might not believe this for very long, he says to them: ^B « If a man love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him »; meaning, virtually, even as the Father manifests himself, so also do I in truth, and not by a phantom; so that he who does not heed this word of mine loves neither me nor the Father. For he reveals the same thing, and that which he appended, saying: ^C « He that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings »; which is to say, those which I spoke, that I truly rise from the dead. These things he says repeatedly, that they might not think him a phantom after the resurrection. For if, seeing him walking upon the waters, they suspected this, what would they not have suspected had they seen him rising whom they had seen taken and crucified and buried? But in saying: « The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me », he shows that he speaks nothing outside the Father, nor anything of his own apart from what is pleasing to him.

VERS. 23. « Jesus answered and said unto him: If a man love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. »

The Father is in the Son by nature, but in us, by affection; and when we hear of a union between the Father and the Son, we understand it as altogether natural; but the union between God and men, we understand as relative, which comes to be in the saints through faith and the communion of the participation of God the Father. And by speaking in the plural, he removes the heresy of Sabellius, which says there is one hypostasis and one person of the Father and the Son.

VERS. 24. « He that loveth me not, keepeth not my words. And the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. »

He teaches that only to the disciples, in a special and ineffable manner, will this illumination come, because they keep the commandments.

VERS. 27. « Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. » ^D

Do not be troubled at hearing that I am about to suffer; for there is much gain from this. The peace of the world is such that it exists even with evil. But the peace of Christ reconciles not only those without, but also men unto themselves, lest the flesh rebel against the soul.

^A Vers. 28. "Quia Pater major me est." That the Father is greater does not make Him of another substance, as heretics affirm. For when He was on earth as man, He spoke of the Father as greater; He says this because of the body that was visible, since in His nature He is God, and He is neither less than the Father, nor does He ascend into heaven, for He fills all things and is inseparable from the Father.

Vers. 31. "But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father has given me commandment, so do I. Arise, let us go hence." By saying that a commandment was again given to Him, He seems to speak this according to our likeness—as if understanding God in a human way, but not as if God actually hears. For divine matters are greater than voice, and these things are understood in a natural way, according to what is appropriate to God, with the will of the Father being signified by the so-called commandment, to which the Son, being in agreement and coordination, performs the dispensation. For "I do" is most excellent: that we might see that ^B even the passion was His own act, by which He rather cleanses those who inflict it, since even when He was being triumphed over, He triumphed, and when being crucified, He crucified, and brought shame upon those who were doing this. Therefore, He says, because of the love toward the Father, I endure death.

CAP. XV.

Vers. 3. "Now you are clean, by reason of the word which I have spoken to you." He says these things concerning the temptations they were about to endure, which made them more tested. Those who live piously bring forth much fruit.

Vers. 4. "Abide in me: and I in you." Even if someone has been united to Christ through the sanctification of the Spirit, yet he has need also to lay hold of perfect love and to follow Him. For he who has been cut off from Christ through not having perfect sanctification and love ^C can do nothing good.

Vers. 5. "I am the vine, you the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing." Because it is not possible to bear fruit unless one is attached solely to Him, He calls Himself the vine, as those who are strengthened by Him.

Instead of, "The Father rejoices when you abide in me," it means, "The Father is glorified by the things you do."

Vers. 6. "If any one abide not in me, he shall be cast forth as the branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and into the fire they shall cast him, and he burneth."

He who is idle is cut off, and no longer brings forth fruit; he is not only withered, being deprived of cultivation, but he also dies and burns. ^A

VERS. 9. "As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love."

Again, the discourse proceeds in a human fashion; for surely the Lawgiver was not intended to be subject to laws and commandments. You see that he always says such things because of the infirmity of his hearers, and this is shown here as well; for he speaks much in accordance with their suspicion, and through all of this he shows that they are in safety, and that their enemies are perishing. Observe, however, that he speaks to them with greater authority. For he did not say, "Abide in the love of the Father," but "in mine." Then, lest they should say, "When you have stripped us of all things, then you forsake us and depart," he shows that he does not forsake them, but is so united to them, if they wish, as the branch is to the vine. ^B

VERS. 13. "Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

As the teacher of the whole world, Christ delivers these things to them, because love is the head of the other virtues. His commandment, moreover, bids us die for our friends, and to love our friends more than ourselves. And he shows that his departure was not of hatred, but of love. For, he says, I die for you.

VERS. 18. "If the world hate you, know ye that it hath hated me before you."

As men who were to be hated by all, he commands them to love one another. If the world hates you, you suffer this for my sake; therefore, do not be pained, do not be resentful; for you are not better than I. If the wicked—which is the world—loved you, clearly you would be wicked yourselves. ^C

VERS. 20. "The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you: if they have kept my word, they will keep yours also."

If I for the sake of the servants suffered such things, when you who are servants suffer the same for the Lord, you ought not to take it ill. If you suffer things like mine, do not be troubled; for thus you become partakers of my sufferings, and while this will turn to your honor, the insult redounds upon me and my Father. ^D

VERS. 22. "But now they have no excuse for their sin."

Nothing, he says, have I omitted of those things which might have profited the Jews, whether in words or in works, the like of which no one has ever seen.

CAP. XVI.

VERS. 1. "These things have I spoken to you, that you may not be scandalized."

Strengthening them against dangers, he predicts future difficulties. So great, he says, will be the madness of those who kill you, not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles and

heretics, that by killing you they will think they are rendering a service pleasing to God.

VERS. 4. « But these things I have spoken to you, that when the hour shall come, you may remember them, that I told you. » Because I know you (since as God by nature I know all things), I predict future events, and so that you may believe that I am able to deliver you from all threatening dangers.

VERS. 7. « For if I do not go, the Paraclete will not come to you. » Unless I have suffered, the Spirit, the source of every good gift, will not come to you.

VERS. 8. « And when he is come, he will convince the world of sin, and of justice, and of judgment. » So great is the power of the descent of the Holy Spirit, that then the sin of those who have sinned against me will be made manifest. Whoever, however, after the descent of the Holy Spirit did not believe in Christ, remained in their own sins. Therefore, as a sinner he is condemned, he who does not believe in Christ who is without sin; as worthless, he who does not believe in the Just One, who because of His own justice ascended into heaven and became invisible to men; as slothful, because although Satan was thus bruised and broken, they did not wish to overcome him.

VERS. 11. « Of judgment, because the prince of this world is already judged. » He is condemned as one who through the Jews killed Christ, who was without sin, since he used to argue, making excuses, that Adam died not because of him, but because he had sinned. But after the passion, when healings took place through the Holy Spirit, by the very deeds themselves the overthrow of the devil is demonstrated.

VERS. 13. « But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will teach you all truth. » When the Spirit teaches you, then you will be able to abstain from legal shadows and figures, and to worship God in spirit and in truth.

VERS. 14. « He shall glorify me; because he shall receive of mine, and shall declare it to you. » The Spirit teaches men those things that pertain to the divinity and glory of God, and to the equality with the Father, that is, He agrees with me. For the Spirit is in need of nothing, since He subsists by Himself, and is of the same substance with the Father and the Son, and knows and is able to do all things by Himself.

VERS. 16. « A little while, and you shall not see me. » ^C Lest He should sadden the disciples, He did not say, "I am dying," but, "You shall not see me."

VERS. 18. « What is this that he saith, A little while? we know not what he speaketh. » Because of their grief they did not understand. And although they knew that He was departing, they did not know how He would return. For they knew nothing of the resurrection before it happened.

VERS. 25. « These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. »

^A Just as Christ says these things in proverbs and by way of accommodation—for they cannot be understood according to the letter—he who asks and receives, asks for what is beneficial for the perfection of the soul. When you have progressed, then I will reveal to you the glory of the Father; after the resurrection, I will speak to you clearly of the things of the Father. Of what hour does He speak, saying, “The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in proverbs,” and the rest? He speaks of the time of His resurrection. For indeed, during forty days He dwelt and spoke with them, eating and drinking and explaining those things which pertain to the kingdom of God (14). And since, He says, you will have firm faith in Me, “I will not ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you,” and the rest; for your love for Me is sufficient for patronage. And because it did not a little console them to hear that He had come forth from the Father and was returning to the same, He ^B often repeats this. This chiefly gave them good hope, that they heard they would be friends to the Father. Therefore they say: “Now we know that You know all things, and that You came forth from God.” As if to say: Before You hear, as God You see what disturbs us and You revive us. So inexperienced were they still. And when they seemed to be saying this while giving thanks as it were, He says to them: “Do you now believe? Behold, the hour comes, and now is, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and leave Me alone,” and the rest. For when they said, “Now we know,” He shows that nothing as yet was perfected by them. You will betray Me to My enemies, He says, and such fear will seize you that you will not even be able to depart together; but I suffer no harm from this. For the Father is with Me; and this He has set down again for their sake. For this they always wish to learn. But as to what He said: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace,” it means this: that I may not fall, He says, from your mind, but rather that you may receive Me ^C more fully. He speaks in a veiled manner on account of their crudity. And He calls a proverb a dark and involved speech.

VERS. 26. « In that day you will ask in My name: and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf. » ^D He can indeed give as God, but since He had already said, “I ask,” He persisted in the same mode of speaking, economically, as man.

VERS. 28. « I came forth from the Father and have come into the world: again I leave the world, and go to the Father. »

I came forth, He says, from the substance of the Father, being inseparably in the Father, and having the Father in Myself by My own subsistence. Nor, when He became man, as though He had abandoned the Father, did He come into this

world; nor, when He was taken up with the flesh, did He abandon the world; for He is God, filling all things. ^A

« Behold, the hour is coming, and has now come, when you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. »

He says "Do you now believe?" in a more human way. For inasmuch as He exists as God, He remains naturally and constantly in God the Father; He said this to them by way of condescension, because they were certainly desirous of hearing that. ^B

It is not so much "when I am betrayed," as "you will be afflicted afterwards." But be encouraged in your mind; for nothing evil will happen to you; the Teacher having been taken by the enemies, it does not behove the disciples to lose heart.

« These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you might have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but take courage, I have overcome the world. »

Christ appeared superior and stronger than all the sin of the world, and He grants also to the faithful to overcome. Since, therefore, Christ, having become of us, in so far as He is man, appeared stronger than death and corruption, this grace also passes over to us; and thus we ought to take courage, so that we also may be victors, since in so far as He overcame as man, we also appear to have conquered in Him. For if He had conquered only as God, it would be nothing to us.

CHAPTER XVII

« These things Jesus spoke; and He lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You. »

Through this form of prayer He instructs us to pray in temptations and to take refuge in God. ^C

« As You have given Him authority over all flesh, that everything that You have given Him, He may give to them eternal life. »

Lest the hearers should be scandalized, He speaks by way of dispensation, "What You have given Me."

« And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. »

It must be noted, therefore, that right faith is the life which truly is, which bestows its own goods upon those who believe. He says He was sent, not as though rendering service out of necessity to the will of the Father, like the angels, but as being His Power. ^D

« And now, glorify Me, O Father, with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You, before the world was. »

By way of ordering His prayer, He says this economically—that is to say: Show me who I am to men, so that they may not, by reason of the passion of My flesh, remain thinking nothing worthy of the Word.

« And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. »

VERS. 11. « And now I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, whom You have given Me; that they may be one, as We are. »

According to the strict sense of the words, Scripture here assigns as a cause those things which happened according to their outcome. It was necessary, therefore, for Judas, when he had learned of what had been foretold, not to betray Christ. But if any one asks, how could he have perished when Christ was keeping him, it must be said that He does not keep the wicked, but leaves them to do what they will of their own free choice. But He keeps and strengthens the good, because the freedom of the will by itself is not enough to keep a man safe. ^B

VERS. 14. « I have given them Your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. »

When He says, "they are of the world," He refers to their nature; but when He says, "they are not," He signifies their innocence, as he Himself was. The particle "as" does not signify comparison in every way; but it is as if He said: "They have already become citizens of heaven, and they have nothing in common with the world." For there is a great difference between their natures: for He is God by nature, but these are human beings.

VERS. 15. « I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. »

Since the disciples were going to do works similar to Christ's, He says that they have need of sanctification by the Spirit, so that they might be able to traverse the world without the hindrance of any evil.

VERS. 16. « And for their sakes I sanctify Myself: that they also may be sanctified in the truth. »

All sacrifices are called holy, as being offered to God. But He said "in truth," because the sanctification which took place through the sheep was a figure; or else because "I offer these to You as an oblation"; or because this was done in the immolation of the Head; or also because they themselves presented their own bodies as a living sacrifice; or finally, because without their death, He Himself made them a sacrifice, having been slain for their sake. ^C

VERS. 20. « And I do not pray for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word. »

Christ asks for the grace of the Holy Spirit to be granted not only to the disciples, but to all the faithful, which indeed refashions man into the divine image. That union, however, is not effected according to substance or hypostasis, but through the concord of faith, by which the faithful have known that the Son was incarnate by the good pleasure of the Father. For this is what it means to be sent.

VERS. 22. « And the glory which You gave Me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one. » ^D

He calls that glory which existed from signs, and doctrines, and the agreement of souls. Yet, since He is the One who bestows it, for the sake of the hearers He structures the petition, and as a man He speaks

^A of receiving what He naturally possesses. But the Spirit, he says, bestows the grace.

"Father, those whom You have given Me, I will that where I am, they also may be with Me."

By these words he indicates the One who gives and the One who receives, signifying the persons of the Father and the Son. And again, by asserting that He Himself was before the world, he refutes the heretics who say that Christ had his beginning in the time of Mary.

CHAP. XVIII

VERS. 4. "Jesus therefore, knowing all things that were to come upon Him, went forth and said to them, Whom do you seek?"

He does not ask as one who does not know, but so that we might understand that even though present, He was not seen nor recognized unless He so willed. Since He knows all things, He does and speaks everything calmly; and neither Judas nor the other disciples recognized Him by the sound of His voice, unless He willed it. ^B

VERS. 9. "That the word might be fulfilled which He spoke: Of those whom You have given Me, I have lost not one."

Because of the disciples’ weakness, He withdraws them from temptations, as God, always protecting His disciples, permitting only Judas to be lost on account of his own willful wickedness.

VERS. 12. "The cohort, therefore, and the tribune, and the ministers of the Jews seized Jesus, and bound Him."

By binding Him, they fulfilled what was spoken through Isaiah: "Let us bind the just man." The Lord was bound so that He might free us from diabolical chains. ^C

VERS. 16. "Then the other disciple went forth, who was known to the high priest, and spoke to the gatekeeper, and brought Peter in."

John had entered in with the crowd unknown, and then, as one known, he spoke to the gatekeeper and brought Peter in.

VERS. 19. "The high priest, therefore, asked Jesus concerning His disciples and His teaching."

He questioned Him as a seditious agitator and a revolutionary, as if only His own disciples had listened to Him and no one else, as if He were a workshop of evil. He asked what He taught His own disciples; he asked Him if He agreed with the things given through Moses, or if He were introducing some other doctrine, and of what sort were the things He persuaded His disciples of, so that if he found Him in any way contrary to the things of Moses, He might surrender them too, as enemies of God, to the Jews. ^D

VERS. 20. "Jesus answered him: I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews gather; and in secret I have spoken nothing."

Jesus refutes him, as he was pretending to be ignorant of things spoken in public. But if He taught everything openly, those things which are reported by some to have been said by Him in secret are not to be admitted.

^A Ver. 21. "Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard what I said to them; see, these know what I have said." Ask your ministers, who were recently admirers of my teaching, but now seize me.

Ver. 22. "When he had said this, one of the ministers who was standing by gave Jesus a slap, saying, 'Do you answer the high priest so?'" The servant even struck Christ without being ordered, because Christ had implied that he had sometimes been listened to and praised by them; wanting to purge himself of the suspicion that he was one of those who admired him, he did this. For he had said nothing else from which the man could have been moved to strike Christ. He therefore convicts the minister of the greatest injury, not only because he simply struck him with a slap, but because, having previously admired him, he now heaped indignity upon him without cause.

Ver. 25. "Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said therefore to him, 'Are you also one of his disciples?' He denied it and said, 'I am not.'" Peter, tempted by the evil one, did not stand by his promise; neither did the garden bring to his memory the things that had been said, nor ^B the great love which he had there displayed by those words; but all these things escaped him because of his anxiety. But why did all the evangelists unanimously record his fall? Not so much to accuse the disciple, as that they might instruct us how great an evil it is not to entrust everything to God, but to trust in one's self. But here admire the solicitude of the Master, that, being captured and bound, he still takes great care of his disciple, and raises up the one who had already fallen with a nod of his eye, and moves him to tears.

Ver. 28. "They lead Jesus, therefore, from Caiaphas into the praetorium. It was morning; and they themselves did not enter into the praetorium, ^C that they might not be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover." They were not killing him themselves, as they were under the Romans, lest they be punished by Pilate. And what, I ask, was the defilement of entering a courtroom, where the wicked received their penalty? They who tithed mint and dill, while they unjustly killed, did not think they were being defiled; but when they came to the praetorium, they thought themselves to be contaminated. But why did they not kill him themselves, but led him to Pilate? Much of their authority and power had evidently already been taken away by the Romans, under whose power they were; furthermore, they feared that, if accused by Pilate, they would ^D suffer punishment afterward. But what is meant by "that they might eat the Passover"? And yet he himself had already done it on the first day of unleavened bread. Therefore, either he calls the whole feast the Passover, or it means that they were celebrating the Passover at that time. Christ, however, had done it the day before, [pointing toward] his own slaughter on

^A reserving the Preparation, when the Passover was celebrated in ancient times. They themselves, however, being armed, which was improper, and shedding blood, were scrupulous about the place.

Observing the type, they did not enter, which is the sheepfold.

"They answered and said to him: If this man were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him to you."

Without cause they declared ^B that he had been justly delivered; they allege a sufficient reason, that he was captured by them, as though they were shielding themselves [against being thought] to be doing anything unjust.

"Pilate therefore said to them: Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said to him: It is not lawful for us to kill any man."

If you claim the judgment for yourselves, then you also conduct the examination as you wish. But if you wish me to judge the man, it is necessary that you state the cause.

If your law also punishes the innocent, judge him yourselves.

"It is not lawful for us to kill any man." As ones who had lost their authority (for they were under the Romans) they said this. Either because they could not fix him to the cross, which they desired, so that they might also heap insults [upon him] with an infamous kind of death. Or because he called himself a king, which is a popular crime, and thus it becomes you to put him to death.

^C "Pilate therefore went into the praetorium again, and called Jesus, and said to him: Are you the king of the Jews?"

A clear argument that the Lord suffered willingly, from the things which, knowing beforehand, he predicted that he was about to be delivered to the Gentiles to be crucified.

"Pilate therefore said to him: Are you then a king? Jesus answered: You say that I am a king."

He releases the anxiety of Pilate, convincing him that he is not a rebel, but the king of heaven and earth. Therefore Pilate is inexcusable, not as having killed him as a blasphemer, but for the sake of the Jews.

^D The angels however remained quiet while their king was being insulted, considering this to be the economy of the coming of Christ.

"For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world," and was born of Mary, so that having driven out falsehood and the devil from the world, I might show the divine nature reigning.

CHAPTER XIX.

"The Jews answered him: We have a law

and according to our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God."

He did not make Himself the Son of God, but being the Son of God, He made Himself man, remaining immutably as He was, God. For what the Jews said was impossible, as might be shown from this very fact to be groundless and false. Wherefore Pilate, ^C as a shallow idolater, was carried away and feared without discernment.

VERS. 11. "Jesus answered: Thou shouldst not have any power against me, unless it were given thee from above."

Even if you are a ruler, yet since you find no fault in me, you would not be able to pass judgment upon me, unless I had of my own accord, by the good pleasure of the Father, brought myself unto the passion.

VERS. 14. "And it was the preparation of the Pasch, about the sixth hour, and he saith to the Jews: Behold your king."

The evangelist noted the hour on account of the resurrection which occurred on the third day. A distinguished scribe, however, instead of the letter Gamma, which signifies the third, set down ^D a sign which the Alexandrians call *Gabex*, which signifies the sixth, as they have a great resemblance to each other; and from an error of writing this diversity of reading has crept in. For instead of the third hour, he wrote the sixth.

VERS. 18. "Where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the midst."

By the fact that He was crucified between two thieves, the Scripture was fulfilled which says: "He was reputed with the wicked." These were a figure of the two peoples who were condemned on account of their sins. Or it is that those who are joined to Christ must crucify themselves, in some way dying to their former manner of life and walking in newness of life according to the Gospel.

VERS. 19. "And Pilate wrote a title also, and put it upon the cross. And the writing was: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."

Since Pilate had found nothing which he could bring against Him, he wrote this, so that he himself might not be thought to be a robber. The people had acclaimed Him king; and because the Jews had taken their king from their midst, he wrote this, mocking them. This is the bond which the judgment against Adam nailed to the cross, which the devil, once possessing, gave all men over to death. But the Savior, having died for us upon the tree, has set us free.

VERS. 30. "And bowing his head, he gave up the spirit."

He bowed His head—for this was not nailed—and then He expired. For He was the Lord of all; whereas in other cases one is accustomed to expire first, and only then to bow the head.

VERS. 31. "The Jews therefore (because it was the Parasceve), that..."

the bodies might not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath day was a great day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.”

They pretext the honoring of the feast day, and seek a favor so that the men might die the more quickly; they seek this so that yet another Scripture might be fulfilled, which says: “A bone shall not be broken of him.” ^A VERS. 36. “For these things were done that the Scripture might be fulfilled: A bone you shall not break of him.”

The Evangelist testifies that He is the very Christ foretold by the Scriptures, because the events correspond to the things predicted concerning Him. But the “bone” is understood as the firmness and solidity of the mystical word. Since the sheep bore the figure of the Lamb of God, one is nourished by the head of Christ who receives those things which are handed down concerning His divinity; by the feet, one who is instructed concerning the mystery of His incarnation; and the inward parts are the secret dogmas. ^B For each of the doctrines concerning Christ possesses a hidden and mystical reason. Since, therefore, the “bone” is understood as the solidity of the mystery, those who grasp the mystery concerning Christ fittingly and harmoniously do not break His bone. But when He comes to judge, then they shall see Him, and shall lament.

VERS. 38. “And after these things Joseph of Arimathea (because he was a disciple of Jesus, but a hidden one for fear of the Jews) asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.”

He who feared to approach Jesus publicly, now seeks the body even while the Jews are looking. ^C These, however, were not of the twelve, but of the seventy, and now, as if the fury of the Jews had abated, they approach fearlessly. The Jews were so cruel that their own inhabitants disdained to bury the body of Christ, but a stranger from Arimathea did it.

VERS. 41. “Now there was in the place where he was crucified, a garden; and in the garden a new monument, in which no man yet had been laid.”

If it had been with others, some unbelievers would surely have said that it was not the body of Jesus that had risen, but another’s. He was placed in a new monument because of the strange return from death to life, and the innovation which is understood to be against corruption. ^D And it was ordained that the place be near, so that what they alleged about theft might be proven to be a fabrication.

CAP. XX.

VERS. 1. “And on the first of the Sabbaths, Mary Magdalene comes early, when it was yet dark, unto the monument; and she sees the stone removed from the monument.”

^A Since Matthew says that the resurrection took place late at night, and John says that it was early in the morning while it was still dark, they do not disagree regarding the time of the resurrection, but rather they converge upon the same moment in time; for the one proceeds to the very middle of the night from the end of the day, and the other does so from the beginning.

VERS. 7. “And the towel, which had been upon his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up by itself in one place.”

VERS. 8. “Then therefore entered also that other disciple, who had come first to the monument; and he saw, and believed.”

VERS. 9. “For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead.”

VERS. 11. “But Mary stood at the monument outside, weeping. As therefore she wept, she bent down into the monument.”

resurrection, as she did not know the Scripture as the apostles did. ^A

« And when she had said this, she turned back and saw Jesus standing, and did not know that it was Jesus. » ^B To the others indeed he appeared more wondrous, but to the woman he appeared in a humble and common form, so as not to overwhelm her; wherefore she even thought him to be the gardener. She sees the Lord and did not recognize him, either because of the darkness, or because he was hiding himself by a divine power. By divine arrangement she turned and saw the Lord, yet did not recognize him, so that she might not be disturbed as if seeing a demonic specter; for she still suspected that he was dead.

« And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore rejoiced, having seen the Lord. » ^B He showed them his hands, that is, he showed the marks of the passion, so that they might be fully assured that this was the very same body that had suffered, even if it had now become spiritual and passed into incorruption. For this reason he showed it to them, that he might calm all their perturbation. By this, also, the word which the Lord said was fulfilled: « A little while, and you will see me, and your heart shall rejoice. » By the word of peace he loosens their fear; for Christ himself is our peace. Nevertheless, through this we also were taught in the holy congregations to wish one another peace.

« Jesus therefore said to them again: Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. » ^C You have no impediment, both because of those things which have already been accomplished, and because of the dignity of me who sends you. Why does he say this? Here he lifts up their souls and shows them the great trustworthiness of the mission; if indeed they were to take up the work themselves; and no longer is there an intercession made to the Father, but of his own authority he gives them the power. Since, he says, through the cross all things have become easy, I send you to do the work which I have done. ^D

« And when he had said this, he breathed upon them and said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit. » « Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. » He gave them a spiritual gift, of forgiving sins and of judging. But others say that he made them suitable for the reception of the Spirit, which they were to receive after the ascension; wherefore he did not say, "You have received the Holy Spirit," but, "Receive." But it is possible to say that they received the gift of forgiving sins at that time, but after Pentecost they received the power of raising the dead, and the power of those things which are more perfect. By breathing upon them the Spirit, he showed that the Spirit is consubstantial with him, and in no way alien to him, as one who proceeds through him from the Father, which confirmed them to do the things that are pleasing to God, and to know the power of the mystery concerning Christ. The breathing into them brought about the renewal of human nature

^A and its assumption of the likeness which it possessed before Adam’s transgression. He said, however, to send, so that it might be believed that this would come to pass at the time determined for all.

VER. 24. "But Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came."

Although Thomas was absent, he nonetheless received the grace of the Spirit through the insufflation, since the Lord poured forth this grace upon the entire chorus of the apostles.

VER. 27. "Then he says to Thomas: Bring your finger here, and see my hands, and bring your hand, and put it into my side: and do not be unbelieving, but faithful." ^B

Thomas is rebuked for being overly inquisitive, because he considered the thing impossible, and he said not only "Unless I see," but also "Unless I touch," lest perhaps what was seen might be a phantom. Having heard from the disciples that He had been pierced by a lance, he believed, even though he had not seen; but he disbelieved the resurrection, as it was above reason. This was said not so much out of disbelief as out of sorrow that he himself had not also been deemed worthy of the vision. By divine economy, Thomas disbelieved so that we all might through him be made more certain that the body which had been crucified had risen. For by seeking to see the wounds concerning the flesh, he was seeking [to know] if that very flesh had risen. ^C

He shows Himself to have wounds, and permits him to touch Him. For by such condescension did He appear to Thomas, even though His body was stripped of all grossness and had become altogether agile, so that it might be believed that it was the same body that had been crucified. Furthermore, by using Thomas’s own words, He shows that Christ was present when Thomas was saying these things. But lest any excuse for unbelief remain, just as Thomas had requested to see, so He showed not only to Thomas, but also to the angels who were unaware of the economy of the Incarnation, and who were asking: "Who is this who comes from Edom?" And again: "What are these wounds in the midst of your hands?" And by way of teaching, He says: "With which I was wounded in the house of those who loved me."

Since, having entered while the doors were shut, He had given them reason to doubt whether what appeared was truly a body, He clarified this in Luke, saying: "Touch me, and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones"; and He ate, and showed the scars of His flesh.

CAP. XXI.

VER. 11. "Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land, full of great fishes, a hundred and fifty-three. And though there were so many, the net was not torn." ^D

Peter, together with his companions, draws the spiritual net, bringing the catch to Christ. By the hundred, however,

^A and the hundred represents the fullness of the Gentiles, and the fifty the chosen race from Israel that was saved; and the three signify the declaration of the holy Trinity, to whose glory the life of the pagans who have been caught in the net is understood to be joined together.

The words "Come, breakfast" have an enigmatic meaning, that after labors, rest and delicacy and enjoyment await the saints. ^B "Jesus then comes, and takes the bread, and gives to them, and the fish likewise." He did not pray now while breaking the bread, showing that the former things were a matter of permission; but he acts in the human manner before the passion. And even though Luke said that he also ate, he did not do so because of a need of the flesh, but for the demonstration of the resurrection.

"He says to him the third time: Simon [son] of Jonah, do you love me? Peter was grieved, because he said to him the third time, Do you love me? And he said to him: Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you. Jesus says to him: Feed my sheep." Wishing to shake him out of the lethargy arising from his denial, He questions him, and through the three questions and answers, He obliterates the three utterances of the denial, and by words corrects the faults that had occurred in words. From this has arisen the custom of requiring a triple confession from those about to be baptized. He questions him a third time, not as one ignorant (for how could He be, who even predicted His own passion?), but to show ^C that He cares greatly for the care of His sheep, and that Peter loved Him greatly.

"Amen, amen I say to you: when you were younger, you used to gird yourself, and walk where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you, and carry you where you do not wish." This signifies the death by the cross, which he endured against his will, even if, for the sake of the things he hoped for, he was willingly put to death. Some from this have thought that Peter suffered against his will, but it is not so; rather, he desired indeed to suffer, but did not desire to be crucified, lest he appear to the simpler-minded to be claiming for himself the same honor as the Lord. He instructs him, therefore, not to be troubled; for the form of the passion was not a matter of his own choice, but brought about by others. ^D

"Jesus says to him: If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me." He said this, wishing to cut off the untimely compassion they had for one another. For if they had not been separated from each other, the whole world would have suffered a very great loss. He did not say, "He does not die," but, "If I want him to remain"; that is, "The work you were entrusted with, do that; attend to your own affairs. For what is it to you if I do not wish to send him with you, but to remain here?"

"This is the disciple who bears witness to these things,"

testimony of truth; therefore, when he has frequently named himself indefinitely, he here manifests himself; for he is the very one who wrote the Gospel. He would not have lied, being loved by God; therefore, do not doubt. For the Truth would not have loved him if he had violated the truth. VERS. 25. ‹There are also many other things which Jesus did; which if they were written one by one, I do not suppose that the world itself could contain the books that should be written.› So great are the things done and said by the Savior that, he says, I suppose all the repositories of books would be full of volumes containing the histories of the Lord’s deeds and the words spoken at those times, if one were to write down each one of them separately. ^B We understand the name of the world in different ways; and it is possible to set forth the truth of the Word according to one meaning, and to refute the insolence of some who shamelessly disparage the divinely inspired words of the evangelists. We must avoid declaring things higher than what is contained in the holy Scriptures, since the world cannot contain them because of the magnitude of the mysteries. If everything had been written, no mortal would suffice to acquire the books; therefore they were not written, lest they exceed the memory of the hearers; for if everything had been committed to writing, the books would be innumerable, and no one could have known them all. For if anyone wishes to set forth the magnitude of the deeds, the world will not contain them, nor will human hearing. Some say also that those living in a secular manner cannot understand divine signs, according to what was said at the beginning: ‹And the world knew him not.› As also the Lord himself said: ‹All men cannot receive this saying.› ^C

FRAGMENTS ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.

CHAPTER ONE.

Jew to walk on the Sabbath, to amuse himself as if moving about.

CAP. II.

VERS. 45. “And they sold their possessions and goods, and divided them to all, as anyone had need.”

It should be noted that one ought to think about every believer as if it were one soul and one body; and the law of the Church desires that all should lead a common life among themselves.

CAP. III.

VERS. 12. “You men of Israel, why do you marvel at this?”

It should be noted that even if someone works signs, he ought not to be arrogant.

VERS. 16. “And the faith which is through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.”

“And the faith which is through Him”: because through faith in Christ someone is healed; it is necessary therefore that the faith of both should concur, both of the one being healed and of the one praying over the infirm; it is similar in the case of the paralytic and the woman who suffered from a flow of blood.

CAP. V.

VERS. 1-2. “But a certain man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a field, and kept back part of the price.”

If one who, while reserving for himself a part of the money from his own, and not placing the whole at the feet of the apostles, died, what then shall we say about those who do not offer themselves totally to God but perhaps do part of what belongs to God while serving their own desires in part? To them shall be inflicted a much greater punishment, since God can destroy both soul and body in hell. I say these things, however, on account of those who do not require that the faithful live with fervor.

“His wife being privy to it, and he brought a certain part and laid it at the feet of the apostles.”

It should be noted that even to be privy to evil done by another, and to remain silent, is a sin.

VERS. 3. “But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land?’”

^A If Satan did this, how did that man become guilty, he who received his operation and was filled by him? But it was necessary, he says, that he be corrected; but he was not corrected—for seeing such things and not progressing, much more would he not have progressed otherwise. It was not right, therefore, to let what happened simply pass, but like a rot it had to be cut away, so that it might not corrupt the rest of the body. For now, even he has been helped by not progressing further in malice, ^B and the rest have become more diligent. ^{C D}

^A Then, however, the contrary happened: he was convicted a second time, and it shows that the fact had not escaped him; and then he passes judgment. But why? With what intention have you done this? You wished to have it? You should have had it from the beginning, and not promised it; sacrilege is a grievous thing, beloved. For he indeed perhaps coveted other men’s goods, but you were permitted to possess your own. Why, then, did you make them sacred, and then take them away? You have done this out of great contempt; the deed does not deserve pardon; it has no excuse. Do not, therefore, be scandalized if there are some sacrilegious people, even now; for if they were there then, much more so now, when many evils are burgeoning. But let us rebuke them before all, that the rest also may have fear.

VERS. 8. ‹But Peter answered her: Tell me, woman, if you sold the field for so much? And she said: Yes, for so much.›

Being questioned, and not confessing one’s own fault, but on the contrary seeking how it might remain unknown through denial, is an evil unworthy of pardon; and therefore the ^B punishment follows immediately. Thus we find it also in the case of Cain, who, upon hearing, "Where is Abel your brother?" said, "I do not know," and immediately after this the curse follows.

VERS. 17. ‹What is the heresy of the Sadducees.› It is to be noted that the Sadducees are heretics.

VERS. 18. ‹And they laid hands on the apostles and put them in public custody.› Now they attack them more vehemently; he did not judge them immediately, hoping that they would be gentle again, but he attacks them more vehemently.

VERS. 19, 20. ‹But an angel of the Lord by night opened the doors of the prison, and leading them out, said: Go, and standing speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.› This was done for the consolation of the former, and for the benefit and instruction of the latter. And a little later: It would have been necessary, therefore, to ask first, "How did you go out?" but they ask as if nothing had happened, saying: "Did we not strictly charge you not to teach?" And behold, they hear everything through others: they see the prison closed with diligence, and the guards standing before the doors.

VERS. 22. ‹But when the officers arrived, they did not find them in prison.› If the guards had led them out, as these people thought, they would have fled; if they had departed by some agreement, and if these people had led them out, they would certainly not have taken their stand in the temple, ^C but would have fled; this, however, no one is so mentally deprived as not to understand.

VERS. 36. ‹There arose Theudas, saying that he himself was someone.› Theudas ^D the heresiarch and Judas the Galilean were destroyed in the time of the census.

^A VERS. 41. ‹And they indeed went away rejoicing from the presence of the council.› To suffer contumely for the name: by using the universal term, he demonstrated that Jesus was God. For just as someone saying, "He himself said it," "He who is said it," signifies God; so also he who, without qualification, said only the name, likewise signified the divine essence of Jesus.

CAP. VI.

^B VERS. 13. ‹This man does not cease speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. We have heard him saying.› It is to be noted that these false witnesses were prophesying the truth, even against their will, concerning the ruin of the temple and the change of the carnal worship according to the law.

VERS. 16. ‹And they were translated into Shechem, and were placed in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a price of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.› It is to be noted that Abraham and the patriarchs were buried in Shechem; which was perhaps called Sichima. For Abraham bought it from Hamor in order to bury Sarah there.

CAP. VII.

^C VERS. 55. ‹Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.› To see God is impossible; therefore he said, "the glory of God." He calls this glory God by catachresis. Therefore, it is to be noted that those who are said to have seen God, saw the divine glory, whether in fire, or in a pillar of cloud, or in a vision like sapphire or amber.

CHAPTER VIII.

VERS. 17. ‹Then they laid their hands upon them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.› ^D

› ^A Someone asked this: Why did Philip not cause those baptized by him to partake of the Holy Spirit? To this one must reply, with the grace of God, that although at the beginning when Philip baptized those in Samaria, no one received the Holy Spirit, yet afterwards, when John and Peter had prayed, He gave the Holy Spirit to the baptized through the imposition of his hands. For Scripture spoke with a common and indefinite name, that through the hands of the apostles being laid upon the faithful, the grace of the Spirit shone forth. It did not say that it was through Peter and John alone, but speaking without restriction, it included Philip as well. Furthermore, it was not as an unskilled or unworthy man that Philip did not cause the Spirit to descend upon those baptized by him—since he himself is recorded as performing signs in the healing of sicknesses and the casting out of demons—but because he did not pray for this to occur to them, judging that for the time being it was beneficial for them, as they were not yet fit for the reception of the Spirit.

CHAP. IX.

VERS. 3. ‹And suddenly a light from heaven shone round about him; and falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him.› ^B Having seen Jesus, and not bearing the abundance of the light, he was struck senseless in his mental understanding and in his animation; and for this reason, while appearing to have eyes, he did not see, and having a mouth, he did not eat, until, obeying Ananias as he spoke the word to him, he was healed; for with faith he began to see; afterwards he was baptized, and thus having partaken of spiritual food, he recovered. It should be noted that one must baptize first, and thus cause one to partake of food; therefore, they act wrongly who baptize the perfect after food.

VERS. 10. ‹And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias.› ^C Because Ananias was also a deacon, just as Paul himself testifies in the canons, the reason being the scarcity of presbyters in Samaria because of the persecution that had occurred.

VERS. 12. ‹Behold, for he is praying, and has seen in a vision a man named Ananias, coming in and laying his hands upon him, that he might receive his sight.› ^D It should be noted that these words are spoken which are of common utility and contribute to piety, such as he has in a vision of the Lord or an angel; but in so far as they are special, it was not useful to speak them, unless perhaps it were for the sake of Saul's own utility. But a miraculous healing supervening calls the man to piety.

VERS. 13. ‹And Ananias answered: Lord, I have heard from many concerning this man, how many evils he has done to thy saints in Jerusalem.› ^D What are you saying? God is speaking, and do you doubt? Not yet

did they rightly know the power of Christ. ^A And a little later: If he contradicts Him to His face, much more so if He had sent an angel. For this reason, Philip does not hear of the event before this, but sees an angel; and then the Spirit commands him to join the chariot. But see here how He cuts off his fear: He is blind, He says, and prays, and do you fear? Thus even Moses fears; therefore the words were those of one fearing and hesitating, not disbelieving.

« 14. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon thy name. » Whence is this known? It was likely that, being in fear, they were inquiring; not as if Christ did not know this, but, given these things, how, he says, can these things be? Just as when they say: Who can be saved? This has happened so that he might have confidence in the One coming; he saw in a dream, He made it known to him; ^B he prays, He says, do not fear. And a little later: He saw, he says, in a vision a man Ananias; for this reason in a vision, because he was blind. And not even the greatness of the miracle carried away the disciple, so much did he fear; but see, Paul, being blind, he made to recover his sight in this way.

See, he says, to whom you are delivering me; I fear lest he drag me to Jerusalem; why do you cast me into the mouth of the lion? He fears, and speaks these things so that we may learn the virtue of the man from every side; for it is not surprising that these things should be said by Jews, but that they themselves should fear so much is shown to be the greatest proof of the power of God. And fear is shown, and obedience is greater after the fear; for truly there was need of strength.

« 15. But the Lord said to him: Go, for he is a chosen vessel to me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings, and the sons of Israel. » ^C Abundantly He cast off his fear, if he is indeed to be like this, to think well with us, as also to suffer many things. But he is rightly called a vessel, the discourse showing that malice is not natural. A vessel, he says, of election; for we choose that which is proven. But let no one think that he says these things disbelieving what is said, nor thinking that he is deceiving Christ; far from it; but trembling and fearing, he did not obey, having heard the name of Paul. The persecutor and blasphemer and insolent one is revealed as a herald of the world.

« 17. Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me, that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. » And the healing is accomplished through the laying on of hands, as if ^D

^A bringing down the divine healing power by the form of ordination and the laying on of hands upon the baptized.

VERS. 36. « In Joppe now there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas. » It should be noted that even women are deemed worthy of the name of disciples and the honor of that title. But they sent two men to him; or rather, the faith of those who suffer brings about the healings; for behold, even here those who believed that a dead man could be resurrected through the presence of Peter achieved their goal. Yet it is not just any faith that contributes, but faith in those who are saints.

VERS. 42. « And it became known throughout all Joppe, and many believed in the Lord. » ^B It should be noted that miracles are performed not only for the sake of unbelievers but even for the saints, in order that others in turn might believe; for behold, after this miracle many believed again. Thus, the signs are again for the unbelievers, who would not have believed otherwise unless they had seen signs, while the saints believe even without a sign, because the servant of God is able to resurrect a dead man immediately. Otherwise, why would they have sent for him?

CAP. X. VERS. 4. « Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. » It should be noted that he who prays to God ^C with his whole heart and a pure conscience, and gives alms, does not remain as he is; rather, God, through the vision of an angel or a devout man, shows him the true faith by which one is saved. Therefore, in whatever matter a person is ignorant—whether this or that thing is pleasing to God or not—it is expedient that he pray to God with his whole heart, and the truth is revealed to him; especially if he is in doubt concerning the faith, as to how one ought to think or in whom one ought to place trust. For there are many heresies among those who appear to be Christians; thus they say that even among the saints, the Father and Bishop Gregory was taught the mystery of the Trinity in a dream by a vision, as to how one ought to believe.

VERS. 8. « And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppen. » It should be noted ^D that military service is no obstacle to piety. And note also that Cornelius sent to Peter neither dissolute nor impious men, but devout ones; and that this too was a sign of his own holiness, that he joined to himself and had near him devout men, according to that saying: "With the holy thou shalt be holy," and what follows.

VERS. 13. « And there came a voice to him: Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said: Far be it, Lord...

^A for I have never eaten any thing that is common and unclean. »

Rather, all things were unclean in the vessel that gave the appearance of a linen sheet, or the voice signified to him demonstratively that he should eat of things accounted unclean; or the voice, speaking in a common and indefinite name: "Arise, eat what seems good to you of the things appearing," was the reason why Peter said: "Far be it, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common." — This, however, was done three times. ^B

VERS. 16. « This, however, was done three times; and the vessel was received up into heaven. »

The mention of the Trinity, being thus assimilated, proves the truth of the vision itself; just as faith in the Trinity excites true piety.

VERS. 18. « And when they had called, they asked if Simon who is surnamed Peter had his lodging there. But while Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said to him. »

It should be noted that one ought not to grant oneself authority or introduce innovations into the faith; since even after the vision, Peter was so hesitant that even the Spirit had to urge him. It is necessary, therefore, that what seems to be against the rule should be done by divine incitation, as was noted above regarding the baptism of Philip; whom I said, being a deacon, could not baptize without necessity.

VERS. 26. « But Peter lifted him up, saying: Arise, I myself also am a man. And talking with him, he came in; and he findeth many that were come together. » ^C

If Peter, being such a man, did not allow the one who fell before him to remain so, making himself equal to Cornelius, and this while he was still a Gentile, what must be said of other men?

VERS. 28. « And God hath shewed to me, that I should not call any man common or unclean. »

It should be noted that God Himself commanded the Christian people to call no man common or unclean, but to associate with them; as having hope, especially through faith in Christ.

VERS. 55 [Act. 10:35]. « But in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh justice is acceptable to him. »

Before Christ admits into the Church one who works justice through faith in Him, and before he has faith in the divine and true dogmas, he is not acceptable; he enters not into the kingdom of heaven. ^D

VERS. 44. « As Peter was yet speaking these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the word. »

It is to be noted that the Holy Spirit did not otherwise fall upon Cornelius and those who were with him, although they were testified to be pious and just, unless they had heard the word of faith and believed; from which it is also clear that a Gentile, even if he be very just, never partakes of the gift of the Spirit—

being devoid of and ignorant of the true faith.

Chapter XI.

VERS. 26. « And that they should first at Antioch call the disciples Christians. » It is to be noted that Antioch was deemed worthy of a primary see for this reason, that there the faithful were first called Christians.

VERS. 30. « Sending to the ancients by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. » Therefore the apostles possessed the dignity of the ancients, which is also noted in another chapter.

Chapter XII.

VERS. 2. « And he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. » It is to be noted that James was the first martyr of the twelve disciples, having been either slain or beheaded by Herod.

VERS. 12. « He came to the house of Mary the mother of John, who was surnamed Mark, where many were gathered together and praying. » Perhaps this is Mark the evangelist, through whom they say that Peter preached the Gospel: for the Gospel of Mark is said to be Peter’s; which is plausible from the fact that both Peter and the others stayed with him.

VERS. 15. « But they said: It is his angel. » ^C Yet it must be noted first of all that every man has a guide of his way; and that it was the faithful who continually saw angels, such as Philip and the companions of Peter and John and the others; for the unfaithful do not see them, even if they are near them. Assuredly Herod did not see the angel striking him, but he felt the blow, yet Herod did not see who it was that struck him. ^D

Chapter XIII.

« And Manahen, who was the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch. » Behold the character of each one, and not from the first infancy of life…

^A but education saves. See how wicked this Herod was, who did not wish to convert; but his foster brother Manahen was changed to such an extent that he was even deemed worthy of the gift of prophecy.

« As they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said. » It should be noted that the Holy Spirit does not speak to those who happen to be around, but to those who are ministering to Him and fasting; and it should be noted again that they were not ordaining deacons in a haphazard manner, but while fasting and praying; and behold, again they laid their hands upon those around Saul, from which one may conjecture that they exceeded the degree of deacon through the subsequent laying on of hands.

« But after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, ^B saying: Men, brethren, if any word of exhortation to the people is in you, speak it. » It was the custom among the Jews on the Sabbaths to read the law of Moses and the prophets, and after the reading of these to converse and explain; and for this reason the Jewish archisynagogues, after the reading, exhorted those with Paul to speak words of encouragement to the synagogue.

« Therefore, remission of sins is announced to you, and of all things from which you could not be justified in the law of Moses, in Him everyone who believes is justified. » It should be noted that he who believes in Christ is both justified and receives remission of sins; for the law of Moses is not unjust, but hard, and able to justify him who had flawlessly fulfilled ^C all things of the law; hence it appeared insufficient to achieve salvation for men, because he who failed in one thing became guilty of all; the law, therefore, was not unable to justify, but its unattainability made men incapable of being justified through the commandments of the law, just as the word says: "from which you could not be justified in the law of Moses."

« And as they were leaving, they asked that these things might be spoken to them on the Sabbath between. » "On the Sabbath between," that is, the coming one, as it clarifies below.

« And you judge yourselves unworthy. » ^D Therefore, God declares no one unworthy to be saved or to enter His kingdom, nor does He on the contrary judge a man to be worthy of damnation; but we judge ourselves by our own willful malice, unworthy indeed of eternal life, but worthy of eternal damnation; so therefore the judgment is in us, as is the lot of the future state.

« And as many as were ordained unto eternal life believed. »

^A Thus, according to foreknowledge, those ordained to life believed, yet still by their own judgment and choice; for the foreknowledge of God does not take away the free will of our own inclination. Whereas Paul, being predestined before the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God to be a chosen vessel, did not attain this in his mother’s womb, nor in his tender age, but in the course of time, when he had come to the knowledge of what is beautiful and good. And according to his own judgment—having formerly been a blasphemer and a persecutor—he later repented through the grace of Jesus, being struck with fear by the vision on the road, and willingly believing in Jesus. But if someone says, “Why then does this fear not occur to the unbelievers now, so that they might repent?” it must be answered that not every man is converted by fear, but only he who acts with a good intention and pious deeds. For he who is led into error regarding the knowledge of truth by a tradition handed down from the fathers, such as were Cornelius and Paul and Clement—who, without a vain love of disputation, believed and were saved by the true documents of the Scriptures, even though these things were from an education foreign to the divine faith—he is converted.

« But the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their borders. » ^B By “honorable” he means the wealthy devout women, not referring to the believers, but to the Greeks or [even] the Judaising ones. Nevertheless, they, as the most wicked and imitators of the devil, the father of evil and the transgressor, strive through the women to close off the way of salvation to mankind; just as he through Eve closed the paradise to mankind for a time, which God Jesus opened again to those believing in His name, and brought them in there, among whom the first to enter with Him was the thief.

CHAP. XIV

« But the unbelieving Jews stirred up and embittered the souls of the Gentiles against the brethren. » ^C They stirred them up against the believers. The Jews associate themselves with the Greeks, that in this too might be fulfilled what was said in the Psalms: « Why did the nations rage, and the peoples imagine vain things? » Although the believers call them brethren everywhere in their exhortations, saying, “Men, brethren.” For so also the Psalm prophesied concerning the Lord, doing the same and saying, as if in the person of Christ Jesus: « I will declare thy name unto my brethren. »

« Being aware of this, they fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe, and the surrounding region: and there they were preaching the Gospel. » ^D There is by no means any wickedness in the saints withdrawing themselves by flight from the hands of those lying in wait for them; and therefore they are not to be thought of as...

this I have noted for the sake of those who blamed the great Athanasius for fleeing in the faith, and for not delivering himself to the Arians to be put to death by them.

^A VERS. 10, 11. « The gods, having become like men, have descended to us. » And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercury. Among the writers of ancient histories you will find that Jupiter, being a man, made himself a god, claiming himself to be God; just as many of the Roman and Macedonian kings falsely represented themselves as gods; wherefore one should not disbelieve the things said of old concerning this, that some were deceived and attributed the divine name to certain ones; since these men were indeed deceived regarding Barnabas and Paul; ^B which had been seen before in Simon Magus, whom they called the great Power of God in Samaria. The apostles, however, in order to silence their mouths, and at the same time to teach them gently, said: « No one has ever seen God »; for what we appear to be, this we are: not gods, but men. In the case of Jesus alone did it come to pass that He was God and man at the same time, according to the principle of the union; but here they were merely men, working miracles through the Holy Spirit.

VERS. 17. « And saying these things, they scarcely restrained the crowds from sacrificing to them, but that each should go to his own home. » See the lack of pride and the lack of vainglory of the saints; in that they did not think themselves worthy to be called gods by the Gentiles, but humbled themselves, saying: « We are also men of like nature with you »; ^C exalting themselves through humility.

VERS. 21. « Confirming the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God. » See that without labor and much toil one is not justified; for this reason the Lord called the gate of entry that leads to the kingdom, narrow and constricted, meaning full of tribulation. But not any tribulation whatsoever leads to the kingdom, ^D but that which is for the sake of faith in God. For see how the disciples in the first place exhorted them to remain in the faith in Christ, without which it is impossible to be saved, even if one should pass through many tribulations. For if this were the case, every man, one might say, would be justified; because the greater part of his life is labor and toil, and for the most part every soul is given to toil, and every head to sorrow; for it is impossible for a man not to be affected by sorrow, whether on account of the vanities of the world, or on account of God; but the sorrow that is of the world...

is succeeded by unceasing sorrow ^A; but that which is according to God, is succeeded by gladness and joy: since those who receive in this present life some pledge of such a gift are suffused with inenarrable joy, whoever are thus sorrowful; and those who now sow in tears shall, departing hence, reap the fruits with exultation: this is that trembling exultation which is born in the soul from the fear of God.

VERS. 22. *And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.*

From this it is evident that Barnabas and Paul were endowed with the episcopal dignity, in that they instituted not only deacons, but also elders. I have noted before that the disciples laid on hands with fasting and prayer; I have noted this too, that those around Barnabas and Paul were ordained in Miletus; and departing from it, they preached in the cities up to Pisidia, and in all those which have been recounted thus far; but I encountered a certain manuscript having Antioch instead of Miletus, which seems to me the more probable.

CHAP. XV

VERS. 1. *And certain were come down from Judea and taught the brethren: That except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.*

*That except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.* It is to be observed that this was a commandment of the law which Scripture calls a "manner": for Moses did not deliver this by hand, but by Scripture. Or perhaps the apostles dissolved it, because it was a manner, and not a statute of the law; which, however, can only be said wrongfully, because the manners of the Church are not to be despised. ^C

VERS. 5. *But there rose up certain of the heresy of the Pharisees which believed, saying: That it is needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.*

Not the faithful from the Gentiles, but those from the Jews demanded that the faithful be circumcised, and perform all the carnal precepts of the law; whom, as those who still thought the things of the old law, and who wished to circumcise the faithful for the sake of their own vainglory, the disciples did not accept, although they themselves were of the circumcision; for they did not seek to establish their own will, but the good of the whole world. It is also to be noted that the Pharisees were heretics; and that the name of heretics was applied to those who thought wrongly even before Christ. ^D

VERS. 6. *And the apostles and elders came together to consider of this matter.*

From this one may also conjecture that there was a certain dignity belonging to the apostles, superior to the dignity of the elders; for the reason that they are not designated by a common name with them.

^A

VERS. 7. *Cum autem magna conquisitio fieret.* Indeed, the ancient believers used to deliberate on matters of dogma with great inquiry and great diligence; and they felt it to be so much in their interest to be helped by words that the Antiochenes did not hesitate to send to Jerusalem to inquire about the controversies; even though they were not being asked to deliberate about the Divinity, or the economic incarnation of the Son, or about the Spirit, or angels, or principalities, or heaven, or anything of that sort, but rather about circumcision—the smallest part of the pudenda of the human body. For they knew that even one iota or one serif of the Law was filled with much spiritual meaning; and the disciples in Antioch were afraid to act authoritatively. Consequently, they were so concerned even about the questions that seemed to be trivial that the people of Antioch sent Barnabas and Paul to inquire of those in Jerusalem; and the disciples who were in Jerusalem sent Judas and Silas back to Antioch with their own letters. ^B

VERS. 9. *Et nihil discrevit inter nos et illos, fide purificans corda eorum.* There is no distinction, he says, among the faithful, whether they be Jews or Greeks, since faith purifies the sins that issue from the heart. This purification is like unto circumcision; but instead of circumcision in the flesh, there is given the circumcision in the Spirit, which purifies the hidden sins by faith in Christ. Now, the carnal circumcision was not useful to all, since it was given only to men; but now no one is excluded, for in the true faith there is no male and female, there is no Greek or Barbarian, but we are all one. ^C

VERS. 10. *Nunc ergo quid tentatis Deum, imponere jugum super cervices discipulorum?* If, therefore, the Law is a yoke, we must obey the prophet who says: *Let us cast off their yoke from us* (Ps. II, 3), using these words to warn us that we should cast off from ourselves the carnal things of the Law, that is, the observance of the Mosaic Law, which was most difficult. For the power of sin is, as the divine Paul says, the Law. For he says in the Epistle to the Corinthians: *The sting of death is sin; but the power of sin is the Law* (I Cor. XV, 56). And explaining this passage, the most holy John, bishop of Constantinople, says as follows: "How is the Law the power of sin? That sin is the sting of death, and that it has its strength in this way, is clear; but how is the Law its power? Except that without the Law it was weak, indeed committed, but not judged." For sin was being committed, but it was not being declared clearly enough; hence the Law brought about no small change in making sin more manifest and in establishing the penalty. But if, desiring to repress it, it made it more harmful, the physician is not to be blamed, but he who uses the medicine ^D poorly; seeing that the very presence of Christ weighed more heavily upon the Jews;

but we will not for this reason blame it; rather, we shall even admire it, while we shall hate those others all the more, who were harmed by those very things from which they ought to have profited. For the fact that this law did not empower sin—Christ fulfilled it entirely, and was outside of sin.

^A "Which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" It should be noted that the difficult precepts of the flesh should not be imposed upon all; for example, extreme fasting, or nakedness, or silence, unless one imposes these upon himself. For even if they are difficult, they are nonetheless not unachievable, but are in fact done and have been done by many. But we believe we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus: similar to the saying, "By grace you have been saved." Therefore, while the law of old saved those who kept everything said in the law, now the grace of the Lord, even without the observance of the law, saves through faith.

^B "It seemed good to us, having been gathered with one accord." It should be noted that neither James nor Peter dared—even though they judged it to be good—to make a decree regarding circumcision without the whole Church; especially since not even all of them had authority, if they were not persuaded that this seemed good also to the Holy Spirit, whose authority they prefix to the letter, saying: "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, to Barnabas and to Paul, men who have delivered their souls for the name of the Lord." So great were these men, that they were testified by the disciples to be great.

^C "Judas and Silas, being themselves also prophets, comforted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them." Behold, these too were prophets; and it should be noted that the new teaching also had many prophets, not just the Old Scripture.

"But Paul requested that he who had departed from them from Pamphylia, and had not gone with them into the work, should not be taken along." It should be noted that it is the work of those in charge to investigate those enlightened by them, lest perhaps they are not sound in the faith, but are limping; and they must be corrected.

^D "There arose then a contention, so that they departed from one another." For the sake of those who have their conscience cauterized, one must speak briefly in defense of the apostles Barnabas and Paul, who, it is said, contended with each other so much that they even parted ways. It was clear that Mark had sinned by leaving them; Paul, in order to correct him, grew angry and wished to grieve him for a little while, so that, perceiving this, he might repent and for the future submit himself, not doing his own [will, but rather, contrary to his own will, to follow the work of the...]

diaconate. He acted likewise in the case of the Corinthian, casting him out of the Church, while ^A he himself was interceding for him once he had repented; thus, then, he wished also to subdue Mark. But Barnabas, being of a simpler nature, granted him pardon for the sin more readily and without shock. Paul, however, was urging him, saying that one who had deserted their company should not be taken back so casually, but that he should be turned away, because by doing this he had not insulted them, but by despising the diaconate, he had treated God with contempt. For this reason, then, Paul opposed Barnabas; indeed, he was not even angry, but was urging him, as the Scripture says: "But Paul was urging." Barnabas, therefore, was more inclined to gentleness, while Paul was inclined to severity, delivering sinners for a time to the devil for the destruction of the flesh, that they ^B might repent. Therefore, both acted rightly according to their own purpose; yet they departed from each other, because they were not both of the same disposition. And he could, with extreme forbearance, not wishing to judge another, persuade the faithful; while Paul, by his own vigilance and zeal, could amend sinners; and thus he himself teaches, saying: "Reprove, rebuke, exhort." They did not, however, depart from each other because they could not bear one another’s faults, for they had lived, labored, and faced dangers together for a long time; but [they did so] lest anyone, seeing their different way of acting, be scandalized in either of them, calling Paul irascible, or Barnabas unmindful of himself, as one who did not rebuke those who were sinning, ^C but rather overlooked those who were neglecting their own salvation; especially since they were about to preach to the Gentiles, who had no discernment between good and evil; and often, from the difference of their manner of life, as though they possessed an inconsistent disposition, they might suspect that the mystery preached by them was also inconsistent. Foreseeing this, they departed from each other, judging that in this way the ministry would be better fulfilled.

CAP. XVI.

VERS. 3. "And taking him he circumcised him," etc. Having stated the reason for which Paul circumcised Timothy, he escaped the charges of the fault-finders. "A son," he says, "of a faithful Jewish mother," that is, of the Jews. It is to be noted, however, that the Jews had become such despisers of the law that they even contracted marriages with Greeks and married Greek women.

VERS. 4. "And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees which were determined by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem." By "decrees," he says, he does not speak of the mystery of ^D the divine incarnation, concerning which he had said: "But if I, or anyone else, or an angel from heaven should preach to you otherwise than what you have received, be transformed." But as to the [instructions]...

than you have received, be persuaded otherwise; but he is speaking of ^A not keeping the circumcision, and all such things as were in the law; but about abstaining from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; for these were things that seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and were decreed by the disciples who were at Jerusalem, and confirmed, and ratified, and accepted by those in Antioch.

VERS. 7, 8. *And the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them. And passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas.*

It should be noted that the apostles did nothing on their own authority, but all that they did, they did being moved by the Holy Spirit, or refrained from doing; therefore, it is not without danger to find fault with what was done by the apostles, nor to rashly investigate what was commanded by the Holy Spirit; by no means, therefore, is it to be questioned why the Spirit did not permit Paul to preach in Asia.

VERS. 9. *And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: A certain man of Macedonia was standing, and beseeching him, and saying: Passing over into Macedonia, help us.*

He is no longer warned by an angel, as Philip was, as Cornelius was; but how? He appears to him in a vision, hereafter more humanly, no longer so divinely. For where it is easy to persuade, it is human; but where it is not done except by great force, it is divine. Since, therefore, he had to be incited to preach, a dream alone is sent to him—for he would not have endured not preaching—and in the end the Holy Spirit reveals it, just as elsewhere to Peter: *Arising, go down*; for the Spirit did not make easy things, but a dream sufficed. ^B Whatever dreams bear with them utility and piety, to these one ought to be obedient; for only such are recorded in Scripture.

VERS. 11. *Sailing therefore from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the day following to Neapolis.*

With Paul in all those cities was Luke: for he includes himself when he says: *We sought, we came with a straight course.*

VERS. 13. *And upon the Sabbath day, we went forth without the city by a river side, where it seemed there was prayer.*

*By a river side, where it seemed there was prayer.* Because there was no synagogue there on account of the small number, they were gathered secretly ^C by the river, outside the city, the supposedly God-fearing ones.

VERS. 14. *And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one that worshipped God, heard us.*

It should be noted that catechesis must come first, and when the hearers have received the word, then baptism follows. ^D

^A If anyone should dare to say, "Behold, whom God wills, He saves; for He has mercy on whom He wills, and to whom He wills, He opens the heart," seeking to cast upon Him the cause of our being saved or not saved, so that they may claim that God is the cause—to him one must reply: "Search the Scriptures"*; for he who does not search, does not find what is sought. How, then, are we to attribute it to the grace of God, what is said concerning Cornelius? It is because God opens the gate for those who live piously but wander in matters of faith due to an inherited and traditional disbelief. For behold, she [Lydia] also worshipped God but did not know how it was necessary to be saved, a thing which the Lord fulfilled in her through true instruction; as the verse says, "One who worshipped God." On the contrary, when God does not open a person's heart, He does not open it because that person is impious and hears the words in vain; for even if one should confirm the divine word with manifest proofs, just as the apostles did with signs and wonders, nonetheless, as one wishing to serve his own passions and wickedness, he repels the word, becoming the cause unto himself. ^B For God never assists anyone in evil, but in good, on account of His own goodness; yet He allows each one to proceed according to his own desires; each one lives as he wills.

"This [woman] following Paul and us, cried out, saying, 'These men are the servants of the Most High God, who announce to you the way of salvation.'"

The spirit of Python was performing divination; and because of this, it was called the spirit of Python, because the Pythia, or rather the demon within the Pythia, called Apollo, was divining and deceiving men by telling them of things that had happened. For it was in no way difficult for the demon to see things that had happened in Rome that day and immediately report them; which is what it did for Croesus, or rather for those inquiring on his behalf, when Croesus, through those who were with the Pythia, asked: "What is Croesus doing today?" And seeing without difficulty what was happening in Lydia, it came immediately to the Pythia and reported it to them; it spoke easily, therefore, concerning the past. ^C Often it also spoke about the future by conjecture, as in the case of Cyrus, seeing his commanding nature and his ambitious spirit from childhood. For it was not difficult for the demon, being incorporeal, to see things far off and to deceive the men by whom it was consulted. Furthermore, men, being impatient of delay, generally ask about past or present things, doing whatever occurs to their minds—asking about lost items or about those who are absent; as for example: "Is the man who is a stranger in such-and-such a city alive?" This, as I said, was easy for the demon to tell, whether by speaking through a man or a woman. ^D Indeed, even today some attempt to question those who are possessed by demons at the time when they are afflicted by them: which is impious. It should be noted

^A that even through the demons in whom the Greeks believed, Christ was preached. For they themselves bore witness and said that the apostles were servants of God, and that the preaching that came from them was saving, and that Jesus was God, not a mere man—for this was the preaching of the followers of Silas and Paul. This is appropriate against the Nestorians and Paulianists. But when the demon often bore witness that the preaching of the apostles saves, then Paul cast him out, in order to show those who believed in him that every believer was stronger than he, and had the power to let the demon, as one subject to him, remain or to dismiss it. See, then, how the words of Christ’s servants prevailed, since as soon as they commanded, the demons departed ^B.

VERS. 23. « Præcipientes custodi ut diligenter custodiret eos. » « Fearing them, although they knew their power, they deceived themselves, saying that he was guarding them securely; but they themselves also testified that they were not ordinary men, but certain great men having the power to do what they wished through the Lord. »

VERS. 25. « Media autem nocte, Paulus et Silas orantes, laudabant Deum: et audiebant eos qui in custodia erant. » « Following the Psalmist who says, "At midnight I would rise to praise thee." »

VERS. 29, 30. « Petitoque lumine introgressus est: et tremefactus procidit Paulo et Silæ ad pedes. Et producens eos foras ait: Domini, quid me oportet facere ut salvus fiam? » From this one can also see how free faith is in men. For behold, after so great a terror, only the jailer believed; although it was those who were in custody who should have been moved ^C to believe all the more, since they had experienced the miracle even more, having suddenly seen their iron manacles broken. But being foolish, they were frightened for the moment at the foundations of the prison being shaken and the doors opened. But as despisers of God, after such a sign, they forgot what had happened, so that they did not even speak to the jailer or to anyone else about such great fear; since certainly they ought to have heard the cause of the miracle from the jailer or from Paul, and at many times been pierced in heart unto godliness.

I think that something of the sort happened also in Hades, at that time when our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, descended below, having tasted death for a little while. The foundations of the earth were shaken, ^D and the bonds of all were loosed; and as many as ran to the Savior and believed in him were all saved, just like the jailer and his house; but whoever did not call upon him, nor concerned themselves about

with investigating the paradoxical miracle, these remained again in Hades. For just as those around Paul departed having been released from the prison, so also Christ, rising early in the morning from Hades and being released (for it was not fitting for him, being God, to be held by death), arose, and meeting his faithful disciples, and first the women around Mary, he consoled them and strengthened them in the faith, and saying, "Take courage, I am taken up into heaven," betaking himself to God the Father; for thus also those around Silas, departing from the prison and meeting those around Lydia and the faithful brothers, went their way. ^B It must be noted that without belief in Jesus, it is impossible to be saved—even if one is temperate, or vainglorious, or meek, or whatever else you might name that is considered a virtue by the pseudo-philosophers and the Jews.

VERS. 32. "And they spoke the word of the Lord to him, with all who were in his house."

Behold here also the catechesis precedes baptism; thus, one ought not to baptize a Gentile man, however perfect he may be, if he has not been able to hear the catechetical word, especially if he has not yet been initiated into the divine words. Observe, moreover, how on account of necessity baptism followed immediately after the catechesis; for there was a fear lest, when the one who could baptize was being persecuted, the one wishing to be baptized might remain deprived of life, having no one to baptize him.

VERS. 40. "And going out of the prison, they entered to Lydia: and having seen the brothers, they consoled them, and went out."

O, what modesty and charity they had! Because they did not choose to depart otherwise, even though being hurried by the magistrates, without having entered to the humble woman and the others whom they called brothers, and having taken leave of them. ^C

CAP. XVII.

VERS. 15. "But the Jews, being moved with envy, and having taken some wretched men from the marketplace, and having created a mob, they threw the city into confusion."

Since zeal is twofold, the Jews followed the worse kind; for here zeal is called envy.

VERS. 7, 8. "These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus. But they stirred up the mob and the rulers of the city who heard these things." ^D

In the same way, their fathers accused Jesus, saying that he called himself a king; yet those men, even if they had some argument that seemed plausible according to the appearance of things, because the accused was still alive, what escape from falsehood did these men have when they said that they were preaching this Jesus as king—he whom they themselves had killed? He was indeed alive, but he was not appearing;

concerning him, the kings of the earth had no reason to fear, since they did not see him appearing at all. Their accusations, therefore, are nonsense. But as it seems, those who were preaching the truth knew that, even if he was invisible, he was nonetheless truly king, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. ^A

VERS. 10, 11. *“Who when they had arrived, entered into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble than they that are at Thessalonica.”*

This vexed the Jews, as was said above: “a great multitude of honorable women.” For they wanted to keep the wealthy women with them, in order to gain from them; for the love of money and self-satisfaction—or rather, the demon ^B—held them fast; wherefore, having received satisfaction, they dismissed Jason and the others.

*“Who received the word with all eagerness, daily searching the Scriptures, if these things were so.”*

They were not searching as unbelievers—for they had already believed—but as persons unacquainted with the ancient teaching of the prophets. Indeed, they became all the more faithful through this, searching the Scriptures and finding that the events concerning the Lord’s incarnation ^C were in harmony with the words of the prophets of old.

VERS. 14. *“And immediately then the brothers sent away Paul, to go as far as the sea: but Silas and Timothy remained there.”*

For they were more attached to Paul than to the others because he was the leader of the word, as was clearly declared above; for in Lystra the Gentiles called him Mercury, because he was, he says, the leader of the word. And by how much he did not give way, by so much did the hatred against him on the part of the Jews increase. ^D

VERS. 16. *“Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred up within him, seeing the city given over to idolatry.”*

He was saddened at seeing the city given over to idolatry and was provoked to speak to them, and he could not contain himself on this account; but he also entered into discussions with those who seemed to be wise among the Athenians, especially with the Epicureans, who contended that all things are fortuitous. It was against these that he directed his speech, saying, after he had preached that one God is to be worshipped by all, in these words: “Giving to all life and breath, having determined the appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,” thus demonstrating God’s providence.

VERS. 29. *“Being therefore the offspring of God, we ought not to imagine the divine to be like unto gold, or silver, or stone, the graving of art and the device of man.”*

^A Note that the mind of man cannot comprehend God as He is by nature; and with these words we must stop the mouths of those who say that the Divine is in the form of man. For if man can frame, or carve, or paint a man, or the likeness of a man, or stamp an image of any other thing appearing upon the earth—yet God is like to none of the works of human hands, according to the dictum of the Apostle—then the Divine is uncircumscribed, incomprehensible, without form, incorporeal, and invisible; it is not like the form of a man or anything else. For it is likely that the Greeks worshiped not only man-like idols, but also gods of other shapes, such as ibises, cats, apes, and other things similar to these.

^B “The times of this ignorance therefore God overlooked, but now He commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent.”

If, therefore, God overlooked the transgressions committed by men out of ignorance from the foundation of the world, and grants to all the forgiveness of transgressions, He rightly came at the end of the ages; for the longer He delays His own advent, the more He manifests His own immeasurable philanthropy, since He remits the sins which have been multiplied and shortens the time of those which are to come, so that by the brevity of time the faith may be preserved; wherefore He said to them: “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” And do not say to me: What of those who have already died? ^C Wherever the pious mystery of the truth was also preached to them, and all who believed were loosed from the bonds of death; and having ascended from Hades, they migrated into Paradise. And that this is true, one may conjecture even more from that: We know that in the hour in which Jesus, our God, died, many dead arose and were seen in Jerusalem, according to that which was prophesied: “The dead shall rise, and those who are in the tombs shall be awakened.” From this we learn that when the Lord had descended into Hades and preached remission to those who believed in Him, He loosed the souls of those who believed in Him. But not all believed, and therefore not all the bodies of those who slept ^D arose then, but only some. And the Gospel did not say that only the bodies of Jews were raised, but by saying “many” indefinitely, it showed that there were also those of Greeks. For there were from ages past also the bodies of Gentiles there, because the land was formerly inhabited by Greeks, and later, when the Jews took the city, the Jebusite people was not utterly destroyed, but dwelt in the midst of Judah. And let no one say to me: How do you persuade me also concerning the rest of the souls? For from a part we comprehend the whole. For if it were possible to discern the souls dwelling in the bodies of men, we would have seen all the faithful flying up from Hades into Paradise, or into the heavens; but since the nature of man, which is a most subtle spirit, that is, the soul, cannot be discerned by the eyes, not without cause, for the sake of persuasion, certain...

things were presented to us with their bodies, so that by seeing them we might be persuaded. For it would have been absurd to raise all the dead who had died since the foundation of the world, and who had believed in Hades. First, that a resurrection of many might not occur before the appointed time, since a few were sufficient to persuade those who follow the truth without contention; yet the Scripture speaks of many—and furthermore, because He worked the signs by which we might be persuaded of the truth in a hidden manner. Whence He Himself did not descend to earth with [splendid] show, but secretly, according to the custom of men, being born of a woman, [Galat. iv, 4] and performing signs and healings by which He persuaded [men] that He was God, so that the approved might be made manifest. Thus, therefore, He acted in this instance as well, openly setting the dead before the eyes of the living in a certain part of the earth, so that through those who had seen them with their own eyes, we, the rest, might be persuaded, not only concerning the resurrection of the dead, but also concerning His own coming; which did not take place in the whole world, but in a certain part of the world. Through those who had seen Him, it was confirmed to the whole world, from the rising of the sun to its setting, from the north to the south.

VER. 32. *But when they had heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; others said, We will hear thee again concerning this matter.*

For men who are altogether carnal and unbelieving refer everything to their own eyes, believing nothing that God teaches; whatever, therefore, could not be placed before their eyes, they rejected. And so, those who wished to deceive them concerning celestial matters used examples of alien things, bringing forward either spiders or ants to demonstrate the courses and revolutions of the sun and the heavens; from these they conjectured the invisible, ^B and thus they deceived the foolish minds.

CHAPTER XVIII.

VER. 3. *And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them and worked: for they were of the craft of tent-making.*

It is to be noted that the Apostle worked, and that his craft was tent-making.

VER. 6. *Your blood be upon your own heads: I am clean.*

*Your blood be upon your head:* this saying is obscure; but I think he says this: Everyone who does not believe in Christ, who is the Life, seems to slay himself, passing from life to death, and in a way shedding his own blood through the slaughter which he brings upon himself. He says this, therefore: Since you slay yourselves through your unbelief, you shall pay the penalty for such a death, while I am innocent.

^A

It is possible perhaps to say, from this observation, that he who slays himself is punished by God just as a homicide is; and if anyone is the cause of this for another, he too [is guilty]. For what if someone, being pursued by someone else, throws himself down a precipice and dies, or, seized by great distress, bitter imprisonment, and manifold torments, resorts to poison?

VERS. 9. And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision.

It is to be noted that Paul saw the Lord Jesus through dreams; wherefore he himself said: "Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?" [1 Cor. 9:1] Whether he saw Jesus through dreams or while awake, it makes no difference; yet he also appeared to him by day. ^B

Verse 17. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the tribunal; but Gallio paid no attention to any of these things.

They beat Sosthenes either because he adhered more to Paul, as did Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, or because they had reached such a pitch of madness that, frustrated of their desire for Paul, they beat Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, or because, when they wanted to kill Paul, Sosthenes prevented them. — And after a few words: The impious ones were beating Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, saying: "If everyone does what he wills, and there is no law, behold, we beat this man." And the proconsul did not busy himself with them, but let them beat one another; ^C since, if they had done such a wrong to someone else—and not to one another—he certainly would have punished them.

Verse 18. After staying many days longer, Paul took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila, at Cenchreae, where he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow.

The vow of which he says: "He had a vow," was to cut his hair, so that he might no longer do the things of the world as a worldly man, but, living according to God, he might remain in the Church, devoting his service to the Apostles and disciples. Aquila also, according to his promise, cut his hair. It should be noted that those who wish to live piously did this; wherefore, rightly, both monks and nuns have their hair cut; they did not do this rashly, but it was an ancient custom among the Jews, as you will find in chapter 32. ^D They did it in a figure, but we do the work in truth, in the world, being separated from the world, namely, by the cutting of the hair. In that chapter he mentions...

^A Aquila, Priscilla, Crispus, and Titus, ^B whom the Apostle himself mentions in some of his Epistles, just as Luke mentions Mark and Timothy, who were traveling with him.

VERS. 22, 23. ‹And having gone down to Caesarea, and having gone up and saluted the Church: he went down to Antioch. And having spent some time there, he departed, going over in order the Galatian country and Phrygia, confirming all the disciples.›

Paul was accustomed to visit the faithful and confirm them; and if he found any languishing or infirm, he would confirm them with his doctrine, lightening their burden with divine words, so that, hoping in God as one who could raise up the fallen and with His holy and incorruptible flesh repair our infirm members, they might become more eager to endure labors. ^B

VERS. 24. ‹And a certain Jew, Apollo by name, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus, being mighty in the Scriptures.›

He was instructed in the divine Scripture and able to render an account to those who asked, and was capable of demonstrating that the new is in harmony with the ancient, as the text says further on, being mighty in the Scriptures. ^C

VERS. 25. ‹This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spoke and taught diligently the things that are of Jesus, knowing only the baptism of John.›

How could he, having been baptized only with the baptism of John, have the Holy Spirit, while others did not? To which it must be said that Apollos [alt-version: Apelles] was the more fervent in spirit because, enlightened by the grace of God, he diligently learned from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ; and because the knowledge which he possessed did not allow him to be silent, he himself taught the things concerning Jesus, performing the office of an evangelist. It should also be noted that one ought to believe women when they deliver the word of faith. See also how much Apollos burned to be saved, who, although he was eloquent and understood the mysteries of the Scriptures, did not disdain to learn the true faith from a woman, nor was he moved by pride when he heard from a woman that he had been taught the mysteries of the Word of God less correctly; he was rebuked and instructed more accurately in the matters of the faith through her teaching, and Apollos accepted it while listening. He already knew that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and he confirmed his own faith by the Scriptures; yet he was imperfect, not knowing what was said by the apostles concerning the Holy Spirit. ^D

(17) Paul, being a prophet and knowing that he was about to return, promised that he would return again; yet, lest anyone through rashness do the same, promising absurdly to do such a thing, he taught us not to promise to do anything concerning future events without saying: "If the Lord wills." For thus also James exhorts in his own Epistle: "For no one knows what the coming day will bring forth." A fool, therefore, is he who does not add to his promise, "If the Lord wills," and if, as if confident that he will certainly do it, he makes a promise, he will hear many times, "You fool, this night your soul is required of you." But as for the things you promised, when will they be?

^A and were being determined; for which reason Aquila and Priscilla, companions of Paul, instructed him more accurately in the way of God, namely, the worship in spirit, the uncircumcised circumcision, and whatever else was said for the edification of the Church. VERS. 28. For he vehemently refuted the Jews publicly, showing through the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. For the believer must be firm and not slack against those who oppose the institutions of the Church and the unadulterated faith.

CHAPTER XIX.

one may be warmed even if he does not have the warming element dwelling within him. ^A

VERS. 12. "So that even upon the sick there were brought from his body handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases would leave them, and the evil spirits would go out."

The signs performed by the handkerchiefs and shadows of the disciples were greater than the things which Jesus did; and the word ^B which Jesus said is fulfilled also in these: "He that believeth in me, the greater works than these shall he do, which I do." Handkerchiefs and aprons: I consider both to be of linen. However, handkerchiefs are laid upon the head, whereas aprons are held in the hands by those who are unable to carry oraria—that is, those things which serve for wiping away the moisture of the face, such as sweat, saliva, tears, and the like.

VERS. 13. "But some of the wandering Jewish exorcists also undertook to invoke over those who had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying: I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preacheth."

"Undertook": this word makes it clear that it was not as believing in Jesus that the Jewish exorcists adjured ^C the unclean spirits in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, but as "trie-ers" (those testing him), being double-minded and unstable. Therefore, as the unclean spirit testified, because they were not believers, they paid the penalty for their boldness not long afterward; for this word, "undertook," shows that they had no confidence, but nonetheless laid hands on them in case they might hit their mark. Thus did the Egyptian woman lay hands on Joseph, and did not succeed; and so did the Jewish men to the disciples.

VERS. 18, 19. "And many of them that believed came, confessing and declaring their deeds. But many of those who had practiced curious arts brought their books together and burned them before all; ^D and when they had counted the prices of them, they found fifty thousand pieces of silver."

Every faithful person must confess his own sins and, by rebuking himself, renounce the continuing to commit the same, that he may be justified according to that which was said: "Confess thy sins first, that thou mayest be justified," and: "The righteous is his own accuser." The Ephesians were so given to idolatry and magic that they brought together magic books at great expense, as having the best things in life; yet, after they had believed in Christ, they did not sell them—although there were many there who were eager to acquire such things—but they burned them; [index: entries preserved]

^A first, that no one might share in the soul-destroying rot of them, and second, that they might not acquire anything from such a source. For just as it is forbidden to offer the price of a dog or the wages of prostitution to God, so they judged it right that money originating from such a cause should not be laid at the feet of the apostles.

VER. 25. ^B "And having gathered them together, and those who were workmen of like nature, he said: Men, you know that from this trade we have our wealth." Demetrius therefore knew that he was deceiving people by making silver temples and gods for them; and he feared that his trickery and deceit would be exposed by the true teaching of Paul. It should be noted moreover that the true faith shone with such brilliance, even though at that time it had not yet conquered the inhabited world, that Demetrius feared that the temple of Diana in Ephesus might finally be destroyed; and he foretold the destruction of the temple, which indeed came to pass.

VER. 32. "Some therefore were crying one thing and some another; for the assembly was confused, and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together." It shows the reckless uprising against Paul, in that many of those shouting did not even know for what reason they had gathered and were crying out.

VER. 35. ^C "And when the town clerk had appeased the crowd, he said: You men of Ephesus, for what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple-keeper of the great Diana and of the heaven-sent object?" And of the heaven-sent object, of the temple of Jupiter; that is, the round one; or rather, which is also the truth, he calls the statue of Diana heaven-sent, that is, the Palladium, which they believed to have fallen from Jupiter above, and not to be the work of men.

VER. 38. "Court days are held, and there are proconsuls; let them accuse one another." The *agoraioi* (forensic judges) were a certain type of lowly judge in Asia who judged the poor and the common people; hence they were called *agoraioi* rather, just as there are "avengers" in certain cities; but the proconsuls heard the lawsuits of the rich or criminal cases—or the *agoraioi* are advocates, so called from *agoreuein* (to harangue), which is to speak before the people.

CHAP. XX

VER. 12. "And they brought the boy alive, and were not a little comforted." It should be noted that Paul also raised the dead man named Eutychus.

VER. 19. "Serving the Lord with all humility." ^D Paul recounts his virtues, not as one praising himself.

to those who know them—for that would be absurd, and especially so before those who are aware of them—but so that they might become his imitators in all things; just as he says at the end of his discourse: "I have shown you everything, that by so working one must support the weak."

VERS. 22. "And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there." ^B It should be noted that the prophets do not know everything, but only what the Holy Spirit suggests to them. For behold, Paul, having foretold as a prophet that "bonds and tribulations await me," and that the Ephesians would no longer see him, and having spoken also about the faithless and heretical men who would arise among them, claims to be ignorant of one thing: what the end of these things shall be. For although the Lord had revealed everything to him, He concealed only that one thing from him—namely, what would become of him after the bonds and tribulations—lest, being puffed up with pride and knowing that he would attain everything, he might fall through haughtiness. But the Spirit left it in ambiguity for him, so that, fearing the weakness of the flesh, he might beseech God to be delivered from temptations.

"But bonds and tribulations await me. But I hold my life of no account, nor is my soul precious to me, so that I may finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." ^C Here, contrary to common usage, "I hold" must be taken as "I do not prefer my life to," that is, I count nothing in this life more important than fulfilling my ministry and obeying the will of the Lord. I am not like Jonah, who abandoned the duty of preaching for fear, he says, of being seen as a liar if what he had proclaimed did not come to pass. I do not prefer the opinion of men to the ministry, nor riches, nor anything else; for this, if I am not mistaken, is what the words "I hold of no account" signify.

VERS. 26. "Wherefore I testify to you this day, that I am pure from the blood of all." ^D "That I am pure from the blood of all." We have already noted above that a teacher of error pays the penalty for the souls of those who listen to his words, as if he were pouring out their blood; for blood is life to us. Therefore, these words, "I am pure," signify this more: namely, I testify that by my teaching no one is defrauded of eternal life, but rather the kingdom of heaven is set before their eyes. Therefore, whoever does not listen to me, let him condemn himself as a homicide; for I am pure from the blood of all who, having received my words, have not believed me.

VERS. 27. "For I have not shrunk from declaring to you the whole counsel of God." It should be noted that a teacher is of no use who hides from the faithful any of the things that lead to piety.

^A

"Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." You see that he commands two things; for it is not just to correct others that brings reward—for he says, "I fear that having preached to others, I myself might be disqualified"—nor is it just to care for oneself; for such a person is a lover of self and seeks his own, and is like him who buried the talent. Not that our salvation is more precious than the salvation of the flock, but because when we take heed to ourselves, then we also win the flock. "In which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to feed the Church of the Lord"; behold, the Church is another necessity of the Lord. You see that you have ordination from the Spirit to feed the Church of the Lord.

"In which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers." It should be noted that those whom he previously called presbyters, he here calls overseers; either because it is necessary for presbyters to watch over the rational flocks of the Church—that no one be weak in faith, or hungry or thirsty, or in need of correction and exhortation, according to that word: "Rebuke, urge, entreat"—or because he here calls the bishops themselves overseers. ^B

"I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them."

"To draw away the disciples after them." For the goal of the heretics is to strive to acquire a people for themselves, not for the Lord; so that they may boast in themselves, the name of the heretics being applied to them, so that they may be named from it; such as from Manes, Manichaeans; from Arius, Arians; from Nestorius, Nestorians; and other forms of heresy. Paul himself, foreseeing this, rebukes and censures those who say: "I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas," not wishing their system to be signified by the name of a human, but from Christ, wishing all to be called Christians, even if they had been instructed by different teachers. ^C When, therefore, all teachers have one goal, which is to announce the true faith, the naming of the disciples after a private teacher is extinguished, and they are called by the common name, Christians; but if the teachers deviate in any way from the dogmas of the Church, then the catholic designation is extinguished, and the disciples are led to the private name of the one who taught them. ^D

"And now I commend you, brethren, to God and to the Word of his grace, who is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified."

^A Obscurely and implicitly he shows that the Father is God, and his Son Jesus, God the Word, is in him. For he did not speak in the plural ("those who are able"), but by using a name in the singular, he indicated the unitary essence of both by saying "the one who is able." Therefore, we know from this that there is one essence of the Father and the Son, and that they are two and subsist not merely distinguished by name, but subsisting in reality, as we learn from these things now said by Paul for the edification of the Churches of Asia.

VERS. 33. "I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel." It should be noted that one must turn away from avarice and desire nothing earthly at all.

VERS. 34. "You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my needs, and to those who are with me." It should be noted that true almsgiving is to give to the needy from one's own labors.

VERS. 36. "And when he had spoken thus, he knelt down and prayed with them all." It should be noted that he who is saying farewell ought to pray and kneel with all those present, and thus depart.

CHAP. XXI.

VERS. 9. "Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied." These were the daughters of Philip the deacon; therefore, it was permitted for those who had entered into marriage to serve. Note, however, that his daughters were virgin prophetesses, and that they kept their virginity for the sake of piety, for which reason they were endowed with prophecy. Had virginity not been of great value, the historian would not have added that they were also virgins.

VERS. 13. "Then Paul answered and said: 'What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.'" It should be noted that one must repel those who prevent someone from doing something noble, even if they weep; for such weeping even broke Paul himself and weakened his resolve, which is why he repels them. What, then, must be said concerning the additional things Paul adds? They are most applicable against mothers or parents who forbid their own children to become monastics.

VERS. 19. "And when he had greeted them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry." "Through his ministry," that is, through the preaching of the Gospel. They neither praised nor admired him personally, because he related it in such a way as to attribute everything to God.

VERS. 23, 24. "We have four men who are under a vow; take them and purify yourself with them."

and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads." Those who in Jerusalem had believed from among the Jews wished to observe the legal customs. ^A VERS. 26. "Then Paul, having taken the men, on the following day, having been purified with them, entered into the temple."

It was the custom for those who had a vow to shave their heads after they had been purified, and thus after seven days to make an offering for themselves; Aquila and Priscilla had done something of this kind; hence it is manifest that those who were religious cut off their hair; rightly, therefore, do pious people even now have their hair shorn; but there is need also of purification; that law lies in the book of Numbers; the custom is, therefore, Jewish.

VERS. 36. "For there followed him a multitude of the people, crying out: Away with him." ^B The Jews were accustomed to use this cry against the just, as they also did against the Lord: "Away with him," that is, take him from among the living.

VERS. 39. "But Paul said, I am a man indeed a Jew, of Tarsus of Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city." "I am indeed a man who is a Jew." For we Christians are essentially Jews, as we confess the true faith; this is what the name Judah signifies.

CAP. XXII.

VERS. 6. "And it came to pass that, as I was going and drawing near to Damascus, about midday, suddenly from heaven a great light shone round about me." "A great light," that is, abundant light; not enduring the brilliance of which, Paul was blinded in his eyes, not only those of the body, but perhaps also those of the mind, ^C indeed he says: "And when I could not see for the glory of that light."

VERS. 15. "For you shall be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard." It is to be noted that Paul both saw Jesus and heard him; but those who were with him saw only the brightness of his light, and not him; they also heard the sound of the voice, but they did not understand the things spoken, as was said above.

VERS. 16. "And now why do you tarry? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling upon his name." ^D Therefore, not every baptism, but only that which is in Christ Jesus, effects the cleansing of sins.

VERS. 17. "And it came to pass when I had returned to Jerusalem, and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance, and saw him saying to me: Make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, because they will not receive your testimony concerning me." See how he urges him on; "I came," he says, "after that vision, to Jerusalem;" this was again testimony; but see how the testimony comes from the result; he said, "they will not receive your testimony;" they did not receive it—and yet it is said, although it must be considered

that they would by all means receive him ^A. I was an enemy of the Christians, *whence it was fitting for them to receive him.* Here he establishes two things: first, that they are without excuse, for they did not persecute him according to reason, nor according to any deliberation; and second, that Christ was God, prophesying things contrary to all expectation, not attending to present things, but foreseeing the future. — *And after a few words:* To me praying, he says, in the temple: because it was no phantom, therefore he stood by me while I was praying. He shows also that he did not flee from fear of perils, but because they would not receive his testimony.

VERS. 19. "And I said: Lord, they themselves know that I was punishing and beating in the synagogues them that believed in thee." ^B *They themselves know that I was punishing them in prison.* Paul says this: If the Jews do not believe you, they ought, however, to have received my word, since I was with them persecuting the Church; they too ought to have been persuaded that I would not have abandoned my former opinion, unless I had been altogether persuaded that a man could not be saved except through faith in Christ; by my wondrous transformation they too ought to have been transformed.

VERS. 20. "And when the blood of Stephen thy witness was shed, I stood by and consented, and kept the garments of those who killed him." He knew that confessing one's own sins before God ^C and reproving oneself makes one clean from all his iniquities; and thus he himself confesses the unseemly things done by him, that he might be justified and acquitted at the great judgment; whence they saw him here judging himself.

VERS. 27. "But the tribune coming, said to him: Tell me if thou art a Roman? But he said: Yea." Tell me, you: Are you a Roman? But he said: Yea. Knowing that it is necessary to be subject to principalities and powers, and because the king of the Romans at that time ruled over ^D almost, so to speak, the whole world, and even over Judea itself, which was paying tribute to Caesar, he affirmed himself to be a Roman, not to reject Roman rule and dominion, as the rest of the Jews were doing, who, deceiving themselves, said that God alone was their king, and not any man; but in fact, like base slaves, they were paying tribute, repudiating the name of servitude while being in reality subject to it; these Vespasian, the fifth Roman king, overthrew as if they were disobedient; who reigned after four Roman emperors.

VERS. 28. "And the tribune answered: I obtained this citizenship with a great sum. But Paul said: But I was even born one." For before the birth of Paul, Cilicia having been subdued by the Romans,

it was necessary that Paul, as being subject to them, should be a Roman. Meanwhile Paul, according to the prophecy, was bound in Jerusalem, and thus the word was fulfilled.

CHAPTER XXIII.

^AVERS. 3. "And thou sittest judging me according to the law, and against the law commandest me to be struck?"

"Against the law commandest me to be struck?" He convicts the high priest of the Jews that he is a transgressor of the law, since no one ought to judge contrary to the law.

VERS. 7, 8. "When he had said these things, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both."

In these words is noted the heresy of the Sadducees; but it must be observed that the word "both" is not used of two, as the word "both" strictly denotes, but of three: for the histories of simple and unlearned fishermen are not to be judged by the authority of a more accurate scrutiny of words: thence all heresy, so to speak, arises, because some strive to inquire into certain places of the Scriptures too curiously according to the propriety of the words.

^BVERS. 9. "And there arose a great cry: and some of the scribes of the Pharisees' part rising up, contended, saying: We find no evil in this man. What if a spirit hath spoken to him, or an angel?"

"If a spirit hath spoken to him, or an angel?" This statement is obscure; for either something is wanting to it for the completion of the sense, so that it might be: "If a Spirit or angel suggested to him the contrivance of the speech, so that he might escape the plot, he says not true things"; or it is the saying of the Pharisees: "If indeed a Spirit hath spoken to him or an angel," instead of, "Lo, since he discourses concerning the resurrection, he is clearly shown to have been instructed in the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead either by the Holy Spirit ^C or by an angel."

VERS. 10. "And there arising a great dissension, the tribune fearing lest Paul should be pulled in pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them, to bring him into the camp."

The tribune now fears lest he should be pulled in pieces, since he had said that he is a Roman; and the matter was not without danger. You see that Paul justly confessed himself to be a Roman; for otherwise not even then would the tribune have feared. And the soldiers now take him by force as their own, I suppose.

VERS. 12. "And when it was day, some of the Jews gathered together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink, till they had killed Paul."

"They devoted themselves," instead of, they said that they ^D renounced the hope which is in God, unless they did what they had determined; which if they should lie regarding their promise, as liars

^A they were anathema; or even if they had succeeded in killing Paul, a just and uncondemned man, they would have made themselves anathema as murderers; or God would have made them so, even if the chief priests remained silent.

VERS. 16. "Which when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their lying in wait, he came and entered into the castle, and told Paul."

Easier, as one who was a Jew and associated with them, he heard: it is to be noted that it is not kinship that makes people of the same faith, but conduct; or perhaps he was not a Jew, and yet he heard and came, and gave preliminary information to Paul.

VERS. 35. "He commanded him to be kept in Herod's judgment hall."

It is to be noted that Herod’s judgment hall was in Caesarea. ^B

CAP. XXIV.

VERS. 1. "And after five days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders, and with a certain orator named Tertullus: who informed the governor against Paul."

"Informed the governor": here again, a word is missing for the sense, which is as follows: "Who presented a learned document against Paul."

VERS. 5. "A ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes."

Tertullus calls the Nazarenes heretics, as if this were also a heresy among the Jews; but it is more likely that Tertullus was a Greek, and therefore he spoke as rhetoricians or advocates do. ^C

VERS. 14. "But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers."

He calls the faith, or the tradition, "the way"; and it is to be noted that the Nazarenes believe in the paternal God, and in those things which are according to the Law and the prophets, and in the resurrection of the dead. By those things which he says, "I worship the God of my fathers," Paul shows that he believes in Jesus; but he does not worship another God, but the same one who is with the Father, preached by the Law and the prophets. And [he shows] that those who believe in Christ, like Paul himself, receive the Law of Moses and the prophets; and see to it that one should not, from the precision of the orator's words, conclude that only these books are to be read, but rather that it is necessary to understand them in a broader sense, because every old Scripture is divinely inspired and full of utility, so that one might receive also Esther, and Judith, and the book of Tobias. ^D

VERS. 22. "When they heard these things, Felix deferred them, and having more perfect knowledge of that way, said, When Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I will know the uttermost of your matter."

It is to be noted that Felix knew the faith most accurately, having been instructed from the Old Testament regarding Christ, but he did not release Paul, as he wished to please men, just as the following words declare: "But Felix, willing to shew the Jews a pleasure"; and also because he was hoping to receive money from him; and he knew the faith because he had a Jewish wife, from whom he constantly heard these things.

^A

“And after certain days, Felix came with Drusilla his own wife, who was a Jewess.” *With Drusilla his own wife.* She was joined to him contrary to the law, being a Jewess and a Gentile; or perhaps she was indeed a Jewess, but having married him, she became a Gentile. For this reason she made known to him her own faith. Either she was a Jewess and spoke so that she might also convert her husband, or, as one who had transgressed the law, she had progressed even to this point.

CHAP. XXV

“While he answered for himself, ‘Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended anything.’” Behold a clear proof that Paul kept himself blameless in all things: having sinned neither against the law, nor against any man, nor against the temple. This is in contrast to the idea that Paul had ever insulted the buildings of the Jews constructed of stone, even though he knew and preached that the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands; and he did not dare to insult even a Jewish priest of set purpose, even though he no longer obeyed the chief priests of the Jews.

“But Paul said, ‘I stand at Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be judged.’” *I stand at Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be judged.* This means: I wish to go to Rome to the King, and there, that I may be judged, I appeal to thee, he says. ^B

“And after certain days, King Agrippa and Bernice came unto Caesarea to salute Festus.”

Agrippa came down into the provinces in the rank of a king, and for this reason he was also styled king; or perhaps he was indeed a king of the eastern parts, while Nero ruled the western parts and was in Rome. For the name Caesar signifies "king" in Latin, just as by a common name all kings of the Romans are called Caesars, insofar as they are kings; yet these are not their own proper names. I said this so that no one, on account of the commonness of the title, might think that our Lord was born and Paul suffered under the same king. For our Lord was born, as the times indicate, under Augustus Caesar; and he died after thirty-two years under Tiberius Augustus; but Paul died under Nero, twenty-two years after the death of the Lord. But rather, Herod, like Agrippa, came down in the rank of a king, and therefore he also was called king. ^C

“To whom I answered, ‘It is not the custom of the Romans to deliver any man to die, before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have license to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him.’”

So, therefore, Pilate, in delivering Jesus to the Jews that they might kill him, was clearly acting out of a murderous soul, since he not only disregarded the judgment of God in this, but he also trampled underfoot the laws ^D of the Romans.

^A And he disregarded the decrees of the king, in order that, by delivering innocent blood to death, he might please the murderers, even though he was liable to be judged for his lawlessness by the Roman king, by whom he had also been sent to govern the borders of Jerusalem.

VERS. 21. « But when Paul appealed for him to be kept for the judgment of the Emperor, I commanded him to be kept until I send him to Caesar. » He incorrectly calls the king "Emperor," as also "Caesar," whom later on he also calls "lord."

VERS. 25. « But I discovered that he had done nothing worthy of death. But since he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him. » The judge himself here testifies that he was innocent; yet he did not release him, the Lord having perhaps so ordained it, in order that he might appeal, and by the necessity of the appeal, be sent to Rome, so that what had been foretold by Him might be fulfilled: "Since it is necessary for me to see Rome also."

CHAP. XXVI

VERS. 4, 5. « My life, then, from my youth, which from the beginning was among my own nation in Jerusalem, all the Jews know; ^B having known me from beforehand, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived as a Pharisee. » For "They know the truth, but they are not willing to say it," [meaning] they are lying and sinning by their own free will, not due to a compelling nature. This is relevant against the Manichaeans, that is, those who attribute human actions to astrology, chance, and fate, and who destroy human free will. It should be noted that even the Pharisees were heretics, even if they examined the Scriptures more diligently than all other Jewish sects; he says "more diligently," not "more truly," for they did not have the true knowledge of the Scriptures. For diligence investigates and reasons minutely, not because it knows the absolute truth, but because it often deceives itself. ^C

VERS. 9. « I, indeed, thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. » "I, indeed, thought with myself," that is, in my own judgment I thought that this ought to happen. And being further deranged, I was doing perverse things, which those who are entirely mad do; or perhaps I was even more insane than they were, since I was doing evil of my own free will.

VERS. 13. « At midday on the road I saw, O king, a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining around me and those who were traveling with me. » "I saw, above the brightness of the sun," showing the most splendid of sensible things, and not being able to compare that light [which is] of Jesus with the light of the sun, as it is possible for the human intellect to hear; he says that the splendor of the sun is overcome by this light. ^D

^A to open their eyes (a thing which he was saying to that Gentile), and after he first announced to him the resurrection of the dead, he adds that it is necessary to believe in the one God, having abandoned the diabolical error which everyone abandons who gives faith to the words of those who evangelize; then he enumerates the goods of the faithful, namely the remission of sins and being counted with the saints.

VERS. 19. ‹ Unde, rex Agrippa, non fui incredulus coelesti visioni. ›

After Paul preached the faith of those concerning whom he came into judgment, towards the end of his discourse he says: "To the people and the Gentiles," so that he might exhort both Agrippa and the Gentiles who were with him, and those of the Jews who were present. And again: "Unde, rex Agrippa, non fui incredulus coelesti visioni." Just as, therefore, I believed, so too it is necessary that he who hears me should believe me; for I do not preach other things than what I heard and saw from heaven. By a vision, however, those things are clearly beheld which are above man, which, unless the eye has been opened, one is not able to discern.

VERS. 23. ‹ Si passibilis Christus, si primus ex resurrectione mortuorum, lumen annuntiaturus est populo et gentibus. ›

^B "Si passibilis Christus." It is not absurd that he says the name of Christ signifies God incarnate, with a rational soul, and calls Christ "passible"; things, he says, which Moses and the prophets predicted: "if he is the first from the resurrection of the dead," he is about to announce light to the people and the Gentiles; what this is, that is, that it exists. But Moses said: "Si passibilis Christus, si primus ex resurrectione": for Christ is passible, the first; he rose first and no longer dies; for those who were raised through him, or [by] his ^C disciples, died again, awaiting the general resurrection.

VERS. 29. ‹ Paulus: Opto apud Deum, et in modico et in magno, non tantum te, sed etiam omnes qui audiunt, hodie fieri tales qualis et ego sum, exceptis vinculis his. ›

Wishing to draw the Gentile to the faith, he wanted him to bear testimony to the things that had been said by him, on account of which he says: "Quid incredibile judicatur apud vos?" so that by his own confession he might be saved; but he attributes the achievement of the resurrection of the dead to God, besides which no one contradicted what was said: for who is so foolish or blasphemous that he would dare to say that God is not able to do whatever he wills? Therefore he wishes to reconcile to himself those who were prepared for incredulity, either by the doctrine of the resurrection, or by fear, lest they might come under the suspicion of being fighters against God. These words declare his pious charity, inasmuch as he wishes all to be participants in his own goods, but no one to be a participant in his own troubles or tribulations. ^D