Commentary on John 1 part 35/94

Therefore the Saviour's word is full of moral force, and most strikingly in these words it leaps upon the follies of the Jews, and shows those who slide down, as with unbridled impulses, to condemning him for the transgression of the Sabbath, to be transgressors of the law and choosers of bloodguilt, and for this reason alone to fall into a sin worse than all others.

And he all but cries aloud: I have healed the paralytic, who had fallen into a bitter and incorrigible disease and was henceforth being consumed by an unbearable sickness, on the Sabbath day;

but having done good, I am condemned as though caught in all the most shameful deeds, and for this you decree death upon my head.

What manner of punishment then, he says, shall be found for you that is worthy of your audacities? For behold, you yourselves also transgress the law;

but the account of your transgression is not like the charges against me;

for you are not persuaded to do this by doing good, as I am, but with an eye to murder, which is worse than every offence.

Where then in these matters is your Moses, for whose sake I, though I preserve life, am judged? Did not he himself define for you the law concerning this? Do you not then again, as though trampling upon my word, count the transgression as nothing while thirsting to murder unjustly? Such things, then, Christ might reasonably say to the unholy Pharisees;

But for the present he removes the law from his own person, although he himself is the lawgiver, and ascribes it, as it were, to the Father alone, shaming through him especially the shameless Jews, since the Father was reckoned by them to be even greater than himself.

For, as we have often said, they did not yet recognise him as being God by nature, nor did they yet know the deep mystery of the dispensation in the flesh, but rather marvelled at the glory of Moses.

'Who seeks to kill you?' Jesus answered and said to them:

They perceive the accusations, and being now smitten by the bitter words that come from thence, they turn to denial, not disclaiming outright the intent to murder, but only earnestly repelling the appearance of breaking the law;

for the boast of the Pharisees lay in conceit alone.

Wherefore also Christ called them whitewashed tombs, arrayed outwardly with the beauty of artful contrivance, but full within of the uncleanness of the dead.

And I think that they say such things also to remove the fear of expecting to suffer anything, not truly giving him confidence that he will suffer nothing, but rather drawing him out into a dangerous boldness, and supposing that they persuade him not to be zealous to escape their notice.

For then it was possible, without any difficulty, to plot against him, at least according to the notion that was in them;

for they ignorantly supposed, not knowing the one they persecuted, that he would be subject to their perverse dealings, and that even if he did not wish to suffer, he would be caught. But he knew, one by one, the reasoning hidden within the minds of those who did not know it.

The denial, therefore, is a fruit of perversity, and yet another mode of impiety toward Christ;

for in that they attempt to repel what was said by him as though it were not true, they condemn him as one who has lied, adding lawlessness upon their lawlessness, as it is written.

'I did one work, and you all marvel?' We shall read the passage before us as a question, with a comma and a full stop.

Yet we shall not fail to recognise the art in the discourse, which travails within itself with a most wise economy.

For observe how, in setting forth to the Jews the loving-kindness shown to the palsied man, he does not say incautiously, 'I have healed the man on the Sabbath, and for this do you marvel?' but rather, in a subdued way and very guardedly, he says, 'I did one work,' thereby taming the untimely wrath of the multitude;

for it was not unlikely that, being stung by the transgression on the Sabbath, they would already attempt to stone Jesus.

The multitude is ever prone to anger, and, using a most smooth accord toward whatever it wishes, it easily bristles like a bull into unrestrained insolence, and, somewhat more fiercely than it ought, is caught up in dread deeds of daring.

Therefore, having set aside the vaunting over the deed for the sake of what was expedient, he uses most gentle words, and very mildly says, 'I did one work, and you all marvel?' Over this one deed, he says, though it was wrought for the salvation and life of the man who lay there, you condemn the mighty worker as though for truly monstrous audacities, and, looking only at the honour of the Sabbath, you do not grant the wonder to the marvellous deed;

for this would truly have been the more fitting thing;

but because a legal precept has somehow been broken—according to the ignorant suspicion within you—not over some small matters, or things of no worth, but for the salvation and life of a man, you were unreasonably indignant, when you ought rather to have rendered praises to him who is clothed with so great and God-befitting a power.

Therefore through these things also the people of the Jews is convicted as uninstructed, in that it spent its astonishment where it was not fitting, upon the man who was healed, and did not rather ascribe it to Christ who saved him so wondrously.

But it should be known that, in conversing with those of Israel and saying, 'I did one work, and you all marvel,' he obliquely reproves them again, and intimates something of this kind:

for over this one thing, he says—the offence as you reckon it—you marvel at my resolve, as though I had dared to clash with the lawgiver;

Deep indeed is the discourse, and somehow hard to attain is the contemplation of the passage before us; yet it will become clear through the grace of him who gives light.

Therefore, outwitting through many words the untutored dullness of the Jews, and teaching in manifold ways—against their untimely fits of anger over the breaking of the Sabbath—that it was not fitting to stray, because the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath;

then, having gained nothing because of the ill-will of his hearers, he passes over to another mode of dispensation, and now attempts to show plainly that Moses himself, the hierophant, the minister of the law, is the one who dissolves the law concerning the Sabbath by reason of circumcision—which reached from the custom of the fathers down even to his own times—so that henceforth he too might reasonably appear to be preserving, as it were, an ancestral custom; and since God works on the Sabbath, therefore showing himself also to be active, counting the transgression of the Sabbath as nothing, because he is ever of one mind with him who begot him.

For it was on this account that he also said, 'My Father works until now, and I work.' Therefore, that you may not, seeing me doing something on the Sabbath, marvel at it as at a strange and utterly unreasonable thing, Moses gave you circumcision on the Sabbath, and he, beforehand, dissolved the law concerning it.

And for what cause? He did not think he was acting rightly in dishonouring, on account of the Sabbath, the law defined to the fathers and the custom that came from them.

For this reason a man is circumcised even on the Sabbath.

But if Moses reckoned that it was fitting to honour the ancestral custom, and set it above the honour due to the Sabbath, why are you troubled in vain over me, and, as though I were one of those accustomed to transgress the law recklessly, do you marvel at me for contempt of the law? And yet, he says, I do the same things as him who begot me, and I am ever of one mind with him toward all that seems good; and since he is active on the Sabbath, I rightly decline to be idle on it.

He asserts, indeed, that Moses gave circumcision, although it is not from him, as was just now said, but from the fathers;

because to the fathers was given the commandment that one must be circumcised;

but the matters concerning it were defined somewhat more minutely and precisely through Moses.

For him a pair of turtledoves or of young pigeons was offered up in sacrifice, according to the ordinance of Moses.

A discourse concerning the rest of the Sabbath, showing in manifold ways of what it is significant.

We shall therefore read a little at a time, altering the arrangement in the wording;

for thus you will accurately understand what is signified.

'If then,' he says, 'a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, are you angry with me, that the law of Moses should not be broken, because I made a whole man well on the Sabbath? For a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses should not be broken;'

for it is broken, since the Sabbath is not kept idle by reason of circumcision;

for as we have already taught beforehand, or rather as the Saviour himself has said, circumcision is not from Moses, but from the fathers.

So that by reason of the circumcision that comes from the fathers, the law of Moses is somehow broken—I mean the one concerning the Sabbath.

For this reason the phrase 'that the law of Moses should not be broken' is to be joined to the words of the Saviour;

for he says, 'You are angry with me, that the law of Moses should not be broken, because I made a whole man well on the Sabbath.'

The matters concerning the division of the text, then, have now been delimited in these things;

but we must proceed also to the exposition of what is signified, even though it is exceedingly hard to grasp.

Circumcision, therefore, he says, is a mode of care for man, and it even overcomes the ordinance concerning the Sabbath.

For it was necessary that the one who was afflicted should also be healed.

What then is the hindrance, or how could that which is legislated concerning the Sabbath reasonably prevent the whole body from being made well, when it has already conceded a blameless breaking for a partial and slight healing? For a man is circumcised, and, being afflicted, is healed, without being accused on the Sabbath.

In vain, then, he says, are you indignant, laying the charge of transgressing the law upon the worker of better things, when the law is not aggrieved even at being thrust aside by Moses for the sake of the small matter of circumcision.

And through these things a syllogism is woven, persuading them to consent, that it was not fitting for them to be aggrieved in vain, seeing that Moses had already become a type of the matter; and while unreasonably supposing that it was proper to plead in his defence, they were dragged down to the necessity of murder, counting as nothing the law made through him.

Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

The Law, He says, which you are so eager to plead for, and on account of which you have been thus inflamed even to savage wrath, cries aloud in express terms that 'You shall not respect a person in judgment, for the judgment is God's.' You, therefore, who condemn Me as a lawbreaker on account of the Sabbath, and who have resolved that it is altogether fitting to be indignant over this, practise the honour due to the Law.

Be put to shame by that which has been proclaimed: 'Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.'

For if you have set Moses outside the charge of transgressing, and you reckon, and rightly so, that he is exempt from any condemnation on this account—although he sets aside the ordinance concerning the Sabbath because of the circumcision handed down from the fathers—then acquit from these accusations the Son also, who is ever in accord with the mind of the Father, consenting to His will, and accustomed to do likewise whatever the Father works.

But if you condemn the Son alone, while not judging Moses—although, He says, Moses is liable to the very same things for which you suppose Me also guilty on account of the Sabbath—how shall you not be caught trampling upon the divine Law, and be found insulting the ordinances from above, corrupting for the sake of favouritism toward certain persons the word that commands righteous judgment, and setting above the divine commandments the very one to whom, transgressing the Law, you grant the deference that springs from respect of persons? But let the intelligent hearer once more observe the admirable skill of our Saviour Christ.

Being called upon for a defence when accused, He convicts those who were greatly transgressing on many counts, all but uttering that Gospel saying: 'Why do you behold the mote that is in your brother's eye, but consider not the beam that is in your own eye?' It is therefore an evil thing to judge others.

For 'wherein a man judges another, he condemns himself,' according to what is written.

For this reason it was also said by the Saviour Himself: 'Judge not, and you shall not be judged; condemn not, and you shall not be condemned.' And this we say concerning matters that pertain to us.

For Christ will in no way transgress the Law when He transfers His own laws to whatever He wills, and when He sets the fresh bloom of the truth over the shadows of the Law—

in order, that is, that the things ordained in a somewhat grosser fashion for the ancients might henceforth be transformed into spiritual contemplation.

But since our discourse has once fallen upon the mention of the Sabbath and the circumcision, I think it will bring no less profit than is fitting to anyone at all who is a lover of learning, to consider accurately what the sabbath-keeping on the seventh day might signify, and again what is intimated through the circumcision on the eighth day; and besides this, to learn also for what cause circumcision is even performed on the Sabbath itself, not tolerating the rest that the Law prescribes.

And having distinguished as best I can the reason for each, I will attempt to make it plain.

There shall be set before us first the matter concerning the seventh day, that is, the Sabbath, and the rest that is kept on it.

For thus the examination of what follows would also be most exceedingly fitting.

Let us therefore now inquire into the first law that was ordained concerning it, in what manner and by what means it came to be.

For when God, having delivered Israel from the bondage in Egypt, was calling them through the all-wise Moses to the ancient freedom that is from above, and having carried them across the midst of the sea, as it were on dry and unmoistened foot, marvellously, He commanded them to press on toward the land of the promise—

thereafter, of necessity accustoming them to be first purified and cleansed beforehand in a certain manner, He called them together into an assembly at Mount Sinai;

and descending upon it in the form of fire, He gave them laws unto salvation, saying: 'I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;

you shall have no other gods besides Me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them;

for I am the Lord your God, a jealous God.' For it was needful—yes, needful—to make the beginning of the legislation of things profitable from this point, and to lead as it were into the mysteries beforehand, by the lessons pertaining to the knowledge of God, those who had once presented themselves for bondage and obedience to God.

For the root of all virtue is the knowledge of God, and the foundation of piety is faith.

Having therefore shown Himself, and as it were now made Himself manifest by saying 'I am the Lord your God,' and having cultivated beforehand in them faith through knowledge, and having utterly forbidden the fashioning of an idol and the worship of the falsely-named gods—because to transgress in these matters is not without penalty—He brings before their eyes also the punishment that comes from turning aside, crying: 'You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain'; that is, you shall not attach the divine and most awful Name to a vain idol, for the Lord, He says, will not hold guiltless the one who takes His name in vain. Having thus declared that he would be liable to no small offence who might take pleasure in worshipping another and inscribing upon himself a falsely-named god, and having threatened in due measure—inasmuch as they were but at the beginning being led to believe, and had a more tender understanding—He sets forth thereafter, and lays down as it were a second law, saying: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy;

six days you shall labour and do all your works, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God;

you shall not do in it any work.' Then He shows also profitably whom those who do this shall imitate: 'For in six days,' He says, 'the Lord made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day;

the seventh, and He hallowed it.' 'What then again,' someone will say, 'was the ordinance that was handed down concerning the Sabbath? And for what cause was it introduced as second and next in place immediately after the threat against transgressions?' To this also we say that it was needful not only to threaten that they should suffer terrible things who transgress, nor to secure Israel unto reverence by fear alone;

for to worship God in fear befits rather a slave;

but it was needful also to show of what things they shall be partakers, or unto what end they shall come, who cling fast to the love toward Him.

He therefore defines and gives, as in a figure, the promise of the good things that shall be theirs.

For the Law has a shadow of the good things to come, as it is written, and the form contained in it appears as a kind of preliminary exercise of the truth.

And He commands the last day of the week, that is, the Sabbath, to be kept in rest, and to cease from every work, but to be relaxed and to practise repose on it—thereby signifying the rest and delight that shall be for the saints at the end of the ages, when, having brought to an end their life in the world and having washed off the sweats spent on good works, those who are in Christ shall pass a life free from toil and without any labour at all, according to what is said concerning them through the voice of the prophet: 'For they shall forget their former affliction, and it shall not come up into their heart, but everlasting gladness shall be upon their head.'

And unto this aim, I think, was directed the cessation from work ordained for the Sabbath.

But observe how the Lawgiver speaks negatively: 'You shall not bow down to other gods';

yet setting the ordinance concerning the Sabbath as neighbour to this, He says 'Remember'—and for what cause? Because the time for not worshipping other gods was already present.

For this very reason He commanded them to be active concerning it at once, but by way of remembrance it was possible to discern beforehand the things to come, and to contemplate in advance in their thoughts the things still being sketched in figures;

then in addition to this, that other point also must be considered.

For having indeed most excellently ordained the sufferings that pertain to the faith, He at once sets down the remembrance of the promise at the end of the ages; then thereafter He defines the other laws—'Honour,' I say, 'your father and your mother,' and 'You shall not kill,' and the rest—so that we should not suppose that we are justified by works, nor reckon the ungrudging bounty of God to be the fruit of our own labours, but should rather expect that these things shall be ours from faith.

For this reason, before the laws of the conduct that accords with piety, grace immediately entered as neighbour to faith, along with the good things held in hope.

The cessation from work on the Sabbath therefore signifies the life of the saints in rest and sanctification, when indeed, having stripped off all that grieves and having ceased from every toil, they shall delight in the good things that come from God.

For that those things are taken as a figure of the truth, He proves keenly, adducing a demonstrative syllogism upon what has been said.

For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken afterwards of another day. You see how keenly He resolved that which seemed to stand in opposition? For someone contending for the words of the Jews might at once say to those things: 'What then, most excellent one, do you say? Did not Joshua bring the people into the land of the promise? Did they not rest and keep sabbath in it?' 'Yes,' He says, 'but as in a figure and copy of the true things.'

For I shall return again to what was said from the beginning, and take up the aim of the whole discourse:

the cessation from work on the Sabbath makes plain the toil-free life of the saints.

For all good things shall at that time be supplied to the saints by God without toil, and neither shall we then work the sin that is the origin of evil—because it shall be destroyed from us root and all, together with him who is wont to sow it in us—according to that: 'There shall be no lion there, nor shall any of the wicked beasts go up there, but there shall be a pure way, and it shall be called a holy way.' But the mind of the saints shall also, without any struggle, lay hold of all good things.

For this very reason also the one who gathered sticks on the Sabbath dies by stoning, as having wronged the truth in the figure.

For having found rest and having arrived at that repose, we shall never go forth from the admirable and virtue-radiant manner of life, as those men went forth from their own tent; nor shall we any longer gather up sin, the nurse and mother of fire, as that man did the sticks through exceedingly great insensibility, not understanding that the things in the figure look toward the truth.

For this reason too he was stoned by those who punished him with the insensate stones, inasmuch as he had been caught in great insensibility, having in his chastisement the quality of his manner inscribed upon it.

That we shall not then work the abominable sin is clear; but neither shall we accomplish what is profitable by sweat;

and we shall see this also, as in a riddle, made plain in the books of Moses.

For God sent down the manna, like dew, upon the sons of Israel in the wilderness, and gave them the bread of angels, according to what is written;

then He also ordained a law concerning it through the all-wise Moses;

for He proclaimed thus: 'Eat it today;

for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; you shall not find it in the plain.'

Just as those men, running about the wide wilderness, gathered up the manna from every side for food;

but on the seventh, that is, at the end at last, the season for gathering the useful things departs, and we shall delight in the things already provided beforehand, according to what is said through the psalmist: 'You shall eat the fruits of your labours.' The Lawgiver and God, therefore, not taking pleasure in the shadows, but already looking up to the very image of the realities, proclaimed that one must not toil on the Sabbath.

For this reason therefore the Lawgiver again enjoins upon them and says: 'How long do you refuse to hearken to My commandments and My law? See, for the Lord has given you this day as a Sabbath;

for this reason He Himself has given you on the sixth day bread for two days;

let each of you sit in your houses; let none of you go out from his place on the seventh day.' You see how, fashioning beforehand for us in the figurative cessations from work a life free from sweat and every toil, He permits nothing whatever to be done on the Sabbath? For He does not allow gathering, and He commands in addition to this that one must, leaving his house, go nowhere, but not go forth from his own place.

And what again He wishes us to learn through this, we shall set forth, adducing a saying akin to it and holding much the same sense.

For the blessed prophet Jeremiah spoke to the Jews thus: 'Thus says the Lord: Guard your souls, and take up no burdens on the Sabbath day, and go not out through the gates of Jerusalem, and carry out no burdens from your houses on the Sabbath day, and you shall do no work;

hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.' And what follows from this? Rousing us up beforehand to the vigilant habit, He enjoins us to guard our own soul;

for thus it would readily come to pass also that one must henceforth enter into the sabbath-keeping that is held in hope.

And how great are the good things that shall appear for those who attain to this, He made clear well through the adducing of the other matters.

For He does not allow certain people to be weighed down with a burden, since at that time none shall any longer take up the hard-to-bear load of sin;

for it is a time of holiness, when the ancient sin passes away unto utter destruction, and each one's soul is renewed unto the virtue-loving habit unswervingly.

But He also does not permit going forth outside the gates of Jerusalem.

For indeed, according to the true and rightly-reasoning account, the radiant choir of the saints shall dwell firmly in the heavenly Jerusalem, and shall not go out from the holy city, but shall rather be in it continually, and, so as to be able in no way to escape, shall be held fast by the divine power in possession of the good things once given.

For 'the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable,' according to the holy Paul.

And in again saying 'You shall not go out, each one, from your place,' He seems very plainly to intimate that very thing.

For truly many are the mansions with God the Father, according to the voice of the Saviour;

and of this again the holy tabernacle splendidly filled up the type, receiving its ten courts; and to each shall the mansion be given according to his worth and in proportion to what he has rightly accomplished;

and those who have wholly come into possession of the dwellings there shall abide in them for ever, and shall in no way proceed to a falling-away from the gifts apportioned to them by the divine bounty.

And a true witness will come forward for us;

for the prophet Isaiah, discoursing concerning such things, speaks thus: 'Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem, a rich city, tents which shall not be shaken, neither shall they be moved for ever.' For by saying that the tents in the rich city are not shaken, he clearly declares the immovability of the abiding and dwelling therein.

Furthermore, to these he says, 'Ye shall do no work therein, and ye shall hallow the day of the sabbaths';

as we have already often said, it is a time of rest from labour in both respects and of repose, wholly holy and set apart as a feast unto Christ.

But that we must again do no work on the sabbath, but rather cease and be released from everything that summons to sweat and toil, we shall learn also from other passages.

For in Exodus he says: 'Six years thou shalt sow thy land and gather in its fruits;

but in the seventh thou shalt make a release and let it rest.' And in Leviticus: 'When ye come into the land which I give you, then the land which I give you shall keep a sabbath rest unto the Lord;

six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard and gather in its fruit;

but in the seventh year there shall be a rest for the land, a sabbath unto the Lord.' For it is not the earth, insensible of toils, that He releases, nor was the law given properly for its sake; rather, by letting the land rest, He was providing that its possessors should not have to labour.

For in manifold ways He was signifying to us the feast in Christ, in which those who have lived together in the fear of God shall run up into complete and entire freedom, that which is in sanctification and in the most abundant grace of the Spirit.

And this again we shall know from the very commandments of Moses.

For it stands thus: 'When thy brother or thy sister, the Hebrew man or the Hebrew woman, is sold to thee, he shall serve thee six years, but in the seventh year there shall be a release.' For we who of old served sin, and after a manner sold ourselves to the devil by our pleasure in what is base, having been justified in Christ through faith, shall ascend into the true and holy sabbath-keeping, clothed with the freedom that is through grace, and made resplendent with the good things that are from God.

A discourse concerning the circumcision on the eighth day, showing in manifold ways of what it is significant.

Having now, as I suppose, sufficiently and according to the power of the understanding within us unfolded the discourse concerning the sabbath, we shall transfer our toil in inquiry to the circumcision which is neighbour to it, having resolved from every side to hunt out what is profitable, since that befits us;

for it would be of the most absurd, and not devoid of the utmost ridiculousness, not to love to requite with the knowledge in these matters every toil undauntedly.