Commentary on John 1 part 74/94

For this reason too Christ is said to have appeared as a door and a beginning and a way to all good things for us.

Does He then say to you that He is henceforth loved blamelessly because the Father's commandments have been kept by Him? Has the account of the mystery perhaps appeared harsh to you, and has the depth of the dispensation accomplished for our sake somehow become hard for your mind to attain? But they are plain to those who understand and right to those who possess knowledge, according to what is written.

'Abide therefore,' He says, 'in My love' — that is, coming with all diligence and eagerness, labor and strive to be counted worthy by Me of such love as I too have with God and the Father.

'For I indeed became obedient and an accomplisher of the Father's will, and for this reason I abide steadfastly beloved.'

'But whenever you too become keepers of My commandments, in the same manner you will assuredly abide in My love.'

'And you will have,' He says, 'an inexcusable sloth toward this' — [that is, no excuse for slackness].

'For not without reward will you endure the sweat that these things demand.'

'For I will be seen bestowing on you as great a love as I myself have from the Father, all but crowning with equal honors the keeper of My words.'

'For the Father has highly exalted Me and freely bestowed on Me the name that is above every name; for I have been declared the God of all — yet I shall not be found envious, nor grudging you such good things.'

'But these things are in hope, and are kept for the age to come.'

'And what of the present? Have I not shown you to be radiant and glorified, and set you as venerable among all who love God? Indeed, you rebuked the unholy demons; I entrusted to you to heal every disease and every sickness; I promised, saying: Verily, verily I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he also shall do, and greater than these shall he do.' We may somehow suppose Him to say these things to His holy disciples, if we take up the sense of the matters before us.

And everywhere subjecting our understanding to the doctrines of the truth, and turning aside, as far as possible, the incidental questions of contemplation by the arts that lead to godliness for the profit of the hearers, we shall thus escape falling foolishly into any stumbling-block.

For it is written in the book of Psalms: 'Great peace have they that love Thy law, and there is for them no stumbling-block.' 'These things have I spoken to you, that My joy may abide in you, and that your joy may be made full.'

Having introduced to us the discourse concerning the vine, and then having taught that the branch torn away — and as it were cut off from the mother that nourishes it — will be utterly useless and must be consumed by fire, He wrought in the disciples no small dismay at this.

For the hearing of dreadful things, even if they should not perhaps yet appear present, is able to trouble not moderately — especially whenever the uncertainty of what is to come engenders in some the suspicion that these things are able to befall.

Just as, no doubt, one who is about to sail across this sea — since it is possible for a storm to come into experience, and indeed for a fierce surge and an onslaught of untamed waves — even if he does not perhaps yet behold them present, but while it is still only in anxious and uncertain thoughts, dreads it as though already present.

The apostles, therefore, shuddering and perhaps somehow become fearful at the hearing of these terrors, and grown numb toward the trial of things to come, He usefully renews unto a vigorous frame of mind; and letting go of gloomy words, He converses with them concerning the gladness that is according to God.

'For it is not,' He says, 'O our disciples, for this reason that I have now made this discourse to you — as though to work in you an unmanly frame of mind, or, at an uncertain terror and an evil that will by no means surely come to pass, to see you beaten down beforehand and most timid toward the accomplishing of good things — but rather that the contrary may befall you, and that you may have My gladness, that is, that My joy may abide in you.'

And what this is, and what Christ wishes us to understand by it, I think we must examine rather closely.

For either — as in a reasoning that has nothing at all overly subtle — one might perhaps say that it means 'that you may have the joy concerning Me,' that is, the joy toward Me;

for thus you yourselves also would fill up your own power, considering the recompense of the supramundane good things, and the requital that shall be for your labors, and the greatness of the glory that is with God;

or else, aiming at and reckoning something further, we shall not shrink from proceeding to a deeper contemplation.

For I think one ought, and ought exceedingly well, to hunt out piously the aim of every contemplation.

What, then, does 'that My joy may be in you' signify? Is it not this: that the Only-Begotten became according to our likeness — that is, man, apart from sin alone — having resolved to endure all things and to suffer whatever the accursed madness of the Jews brought Him into trial of? For we shall find Him insulted and persecuted and thrust about with bitter reproaches, spat upon and struck, and not without a share in the outrage inflicted by scourges, and last of all, over and above these, nailed for our sake and on our behalf to the cross.

And in the midst of all these things, so terrible, He was not dragged down to grief — except only that, in the way of the dispensation, He did not recoil from the ignominy of suffering — but rather He was full of the gladness and joy befitting Him, since He beheld the multitude of those being saved, and the will of God and the Father being fulfilled.

For this reason He made the dishonor a joy, and reckoned the toils a delight.

We shall find that 'then Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said: I give Thee thanks, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes;'

'even so, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in Thy sight.' You hear that, since He beheld those who were once babes and without understanding made wise, He rejoices and exults through the Spirit, and, as it were on our behalf, renders thanks to the Father who saves.

But also, when He was traversing the country of the Samaritans and had grown weary from the journey, as it is written, He sat down at the well of Jacob; and when the woman brought Him the need of drawing water, He spoke to her the fitting things and looked for a crowd of Samaritans about to come, and appears to have made light of necessary food.

For what did He say to the disciples who counseled Him to partake of food? 'My food is to do the will of My Father and to accomplish His work.' Would it not then be clearly evident from this too that He made a delight and a joy of the fulfilling of the Father's will — that is, the recovery unto salvation of those who had slipped away unto perdition? But this is not disputable.

'All these things, therefore,' He says, 'have I discoursed to you, that My joy may be in you' — that is, that you may be willing to be of good cheer over those things alone over which I too am, that you may play the man toward the contests, and, having girded yourselves with the hope concerning those being saved, even if in consequence you should happen to suffer anything, may not rather be borne down to feeble despondency, but may then rejoice all the more richly, since through you too is fulfilled the will of Him who wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 'For I too rejoiced over these things, and reckoned the toils exceedingly sweet.'

'Whenever, therefore,' He says, 'you choose to have such a joy as I reckoned befitting to Myself, then you will have it perfect and entire.'

For we reckon that joy to be most full and perfect indeed which is in God, and through God, and over good works, because of the firmness and unshakenness of the hope;

and because it came to pass that, over those things which were fitting, not only we, but Jesus Himself also, was gladdened.

But the joy that is in the world we call imperfect, both because of its liability to be swept aside and because it is seen to be fulfilled over things over which it least ought — that is, over worldly matters, which flit away after the manner of phantoms and a shadow.

Just as we say that hatred is perfect which comes to pass from us against certain things justly and rightly.

'This is My commandment, that you love one another, even as I also have loved you;'

'greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.'

By the introduction of these words He now makes more manifest the force of what has already been said before — that is, that the disciples ought to have His joy in themselves;

and He says openly that 'this I command, and this I teach to be done and to be minded by those who deem they must follow Me: to practice toward one another such a love as I, going before, have displayed and fulfilled.'

What, then, is the measure of the love of Christ that one might behold? He Himself again disclosed it, saying that there is nothing greater than such a love, which enjoins the giving up even of one's very life on behalf of those who are loved.

From all these things, then, He all but enjoins upon His own disciples that it behooves them to be so far removed from fearing to love the contests on behalf of those being saved, that they should even most unhesitatingly and very readily be prepared to undergo the death of the flesh;

for the power of the love of our Savior reached even to this measure.

[This love,] forging a God-loving mind and rousing it to an unconquerable and irresistible eagerness, so as swiftly to press on to accomplish rightly all things most pleasing to Him.

Such a one did Paul show himself to us to be, saying: 'For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain,' and again: 'For the love of Christ constrains us, because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died;' and in addition to these still: 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?' You hear how he proclaims that there shall be nothing at all able to withstand — that is, mighty to sever them — from the love toward Christ. And if to shepherd the flocks and to feed the lambs of Christ — this would be to love Him —

how shall it not be most evident that he who proclaims the saving word to those who know not God will be both mightier than death, and better than persecutions and the sword, and will make utterly light even of distress? And if it were fitting, on account of the compression of the thought, having brought together the word of the Savior, to state more summarily what He wishes His own disciples to do —

He commands them, preserving their own mind most unhesitatingly and beyond all terror, to minister as priests the word of faith in Him, and to make the gospel manifest to those throughout the whole inhabited world.

This very thing He says also through the voice of Isaiah:

'Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Zion; lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem;'

'be strong, fear not.' And that they were able, praying it of God, to accomplish this through most fervent prayer, we shall find the holy disciples themselves, when, accusing the madness of the Jews, they said: 'And now, Lord, look upon their threatenings, and grant unto Thy servants to speak Thy word with all boldness.' For confessedly, to those who minister as priests the gospel of Christ, exceedingly many are they who set themselves in opposition and gnash impiously against them;

but even if the fear be sharp, and most terrible the waves that rise up from the plotting, there is no account of suffering, at least among those who are truly disciples, so long as there may proceed to accomplishment for them the achievements that spring from love — and I mean such a love as the Savior displayed toward us, who, in place of the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, that He might accomplish salvation for those who had sinned.

But had He not willed to suffer on our behalf, we should still be dead, servants of the devil, foolish and blind and destitute of every good, slaves of pleasure and of sin, 'having no hope and without God in the world.' But now the Savior has laid down for us His very life out of His love toward us, and, having displayed an incomparable love for mankind, He rendered us objects of emulation and thrice-blessed, in no way at all destitute of good things.

The force of the matters before us will therefore be fitting, I think, according to this aim, to the God-inspired chief points of the disciples;

and if indeed what has been said should go forth also unto all — that is, 'This is My commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you' —

much profit for all will be introduced through the inquiry.

For if love toward the brethren keeps and works the fulfillment of the whole commandment of our Savior, how is he not exceedingly worthy of admiration who especially endeavors to accomplish it without reviling and without blame — since in it, so to speak, lies stored up the sum of all the virtues? For love toward one another is second to love toward God, and the whole power of piety toward God is, as it were, brought to completion in this one saying: 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' 'You are My friends, if you do whatsoever I command you.'

'No longer do I call you servants, for the servant knows not what his lord does;'

'but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.'

That which sometimes seems to grieve will depart into nothingness.

For to those who love God, toil is then sweet, when the reward is near at hand and rich.

Then who could conceive of anything greater, or what will he call more glorious, than to be, and to be called, a friend of Christ? For consider how this dignity transcends even the very limits of human nature.

For all things are servants of him who made them, as the voice of the psalmist says; and none of the things that have come to be, I think, has escaped being brought under the yoke of servitude, according at least to the fitting relation between a Maker and a thing made.

For that which is made is not on an equal footing with its craftsman—how could it be? Rather, God who is over all will rule over and lead his own works.

Since therefore all things are subjected, and have bowed their neck as slaves beneath God, the Lord raises the saints to a glory that is above nature, if they be seen willing to do the things that please him, and, as in the manner of an offering of gifts, he presents to him a submission free of any reproach.

Splendid therefore, and worthy to be coveted, is the reward.

But this must be very carefully examined in these matters;

for it will profit us not a little.

For if friendship with the Son suffices for some to attain the dignity of freedom and no longer to be called slaves, how could he himself be a slave, or a creature and something made, according to the ill counsel of certain people? For surely he is not able to distribute to others the honor of freedom while he himself, bereft of it, retains a servile nature by his own being.

For I think that, before all others, he himself must be seen to be such; for he will then more fittingly bestow their proper good upon those who do not possess it.

But for the holy apostles, and perhaps for all the others who through faith ascend to friendship with our Lord Jesus Christ, this dignity would be something added and given, as in the manner of an honor conferred, and no longer possessed in the same way as by him.

For those who, by likeness to him, run up to the glory of freedom thereby demonstrate that this very thing belongs by nature to him and to him alone.

For that which is by adoption is always likened to that which is by nature.

For I think one must pass through every contemplation that is useful and has an exposition exceedingly necessary;

namely, that the righteousness that is from faith in Christ has a more ancient manifestation than the righteousness according to the law; and in addition to this, that to those who believe and obey Christ the knowledge of the divine mysteries is revealed, and the counsel of God the Father is interpreted by the Son who knows it;

but to those who are disobedient it is no longer so.

And come, let us again demonstrate this very thing from the God-inspired Scripture, discoursing upon a few points to good purpose.

It is written, then, in the book of Moses, that Abraham believed God, and moreover his faith was reckoned to him for righteousness, and he was called a friend of God. And what was the manner of his faith, or how then was he called a friend of God? He heard, 'Depart from your land and from your kindred, and come into the land which I will show you.' But also, when he was commanded to sacrifice his only-begotten son as a type of Christ, he was being taught the aim hidden in God.

And indeed the Savior said concerning him, speaking to the impious Jews: 'Abraham your father rejoiced that he might see my day, and he saw it and was glad.' Therefore, through obedience and sacrifice the inspired Abraham was called a friend of God, and put on the boast of righteousness;

and not this alone, but he was also deemed worthy of divine words, and knew the counsel of God, which was to come to pass in the last times.

For at the consummation of the ages Christ died for us, the truly sacred and holy victim that takes away the sin of the world.

But observe with me again the same things being fulfilled also in the case of those who through faith ascend to friendship with our Savior Christ;

they too heard, 'Depart from your land.' And that they did this readily, hear what they say: 'For we have here no abiding city, but we seek the one that is to come;'

'whose craftsman and maker is God.' For they are sojourners and pilgrims upon the earth, living as citizens of the things above, having forsaken the land that bore them—so far as concerns a mind devoted to God—and yearning after the abode on high.

For this the Savior pointed out to them, saying: 'I go to prepare a place for you;'

'when I come, I will receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also.' They heard that they should depart from their kindred.

And how shall we show this? We will bring forward Christ himself for you, saying: 'He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.' And that the things from God are preferred above earthly and fleshly kinship, and that love toward Christ is set as far greater—this is beyond dispute among those who truly reverence him.

And the blessed Abraham was commanded to bring his own son to God for an odor of a sweet savor;

but those who have girded themselves with the righteousness that is in faith were called to bring, not others, but their own selves;

for it says: 'Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.' Whereupon it is also written concerning them: 'For those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.' And they too knew the mystery in Christ.

For they know the powers of the age to come, and the things that shall be in the last times, that they will receive the rewards of their own toils, and will be recompensed with the reward of their piety toward Christ.

Therefore we shall be styled righteous and friends of God, even as Abraham.

And the evangelical way of life is far more ancient than the legal one—that is, the life through faith and friendship with God—first fashioned back then in Abraham, as at the beginning of the race according to the flesh, that is, of Israel;

but coming now, as from type to truth, and being nobly fulfilled in the holy disciples themselves, as in the first-fruits of the race according to the Spirit, which is also being acquired for a people of God's own possession, which is called a holy nation and a royal priesthood;

wherefore also it is said to the mother of the Jews—I mean the Synagogue—through the voice of the psalmist: 'Instead of your fathers, your sons are born.' For though indeed the inspired disciples were sons of the synagogue of the Jews;

for they were reared in the customs of Moses;

yet they became fathers, holding the rank of Abraham, and were established as the beginning of the spiritual race; and for this reason they were ordained as rulers throughout all the inhabited world, ministering as priests the gospel of Christ, even as he in a type of Christ begot Isaac.

We say these things, not setting the blessed Abraham outside the glory that is owed and fitting to him, but showing in him, as in a type, the things dispensed in the last times through Christ.

There follows therefore, and is somehow yoked together with the freedom that is through faith, the dignity of friendship with God, which was seen back then first in Abraham;

but now again, as in first-fruits, in the holy disciples.

And the inspired Paul somehow brought us to the necessity of saying these things, contending not moderately with the Jews, that:

the righteousness that is from faith is far older than the righteousness according to the law.

For when he was giving his account of the circumcision according to the flesh, he strongly asserted that this had been given to the first-fruits of the race—that is, to Abraham—for no other reason than to become a sign and seal of the faith which he had while in uncircumcision. And if before the law there was the uncircumcision, together with which there was also the faith, but after the law came the circumcision, not having the boast that is from faith, and Abraham believed while in uncircumcision;

how shall the righteousness that is through faith not be older than the way of life under the law—those being justified and set free through friendship with God, even as Abraham? For thus he will also be a father of many nations, by promise, not according to the flesh.

And these things we have now said to good purpose, because the Lord said: 'No longer do I call you slaves;'

'you are my friends, because all things that I heard from the Father I have made known to you.'

'You did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide;'

'that whatsoever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.'

Neither does he permit the holy disciples to be overburdened with words too grievous to bear—not being ignorant, as God, of how greatly human reasonings incline toward weakness—nor yet does he allow them to be disposed toward slackness by immoderate delights;

but, having as it were blended from both a single middle course, he fittingly guides them into a secure path, and works in them the knowledge of a more stable way of life, delivered from all instability.

Having therefore most abundantly anointed them with words of comfort, and having persuaded them to rejoice, by way of reversal, over the very things at which it was likely they would be dejected, he again whets them toward a courageous frame of mind by the commandments unto diligent labor. And exhorting them, with all zeal and practicing the excellent manner of mutual love, he commands them to benefit those who are still unbelieving, and to hasten to draw in, by words and deeds unto piety, those who have gone astray, so that they may be willing through faith to cleave to God.

Setting himself forth, therefore, as an image and type of the matter, and bringing into their midst what he had already accomplished toward them, he persuades them to imitate their teacher, and to shine forth in like achievements, saying: 'You did not choose me, but I chose you,' and what follows thereupon.

For conceive of him saying, as it were: 'Gird yourselves, O disciples, with love toward one another;'

'for these things you yourselves also ought to think and do toward others, and with strenuous zeal to labor at loving, even the very things which I, going before you, have accomplished toward you.'

'I brought you near, and made you known to those who knew you not, through my surpassing gentleness, and I raised you up to so firm a mind that you may lead others up—that is, may ever be stretched out toward what is greater, and be able to bear fruit unto God.'

'and through this you may come to such boldness, that whatsoever you may henceforth ask in my name, this you may also receive.'

'Therefore, since you walk in the footstep of my words and administrations, and gird on the mind fitting for genuine disciples, it follows that you should not hold back, simply waiting for one who deserts of his own accord to the faith, and who comes self-invited to piety;'

'but rather to bring yourselves as guides by the hand to those who are still ignorant and go astray, and to bring the saving proclamation even to those who have not yet chosen to learn, and eagerly to exhort them to come to the apprehension of the true knowledge of God, even if the mind of the hearers somehow be hardened into disobedience.'

'For thus they too would be even as you—that is, they will make progress and go forth with advancement toward what is better unto fruitfulness that is in God—so as to have fruit that ever abides and is preserved, and prayer so acceptable that whatever they may wish to receive, they will, if only they ask in my name.'

For once again it is necessary, gathering up in a few words the aim of what lies before us, to make it clear to the hearers;

he persuades the disciples to have such love toward others, and wishes them to practice such eagerness, so as in no way to shrink from hunting after the souls of those who have not yet believed, to lead them unto piety, of the very kind that he himself, going before, displayed toward us—or rather toward them.

For that he himself chose the disciples is not doubtful, and I think it superfluous to say how, and in what manner, the calling of each one came about;

except that the word travails to bring forth such an aim of the Savior as I said just now, and the sequel will no less persuade us;

for it says: 'These things I have spoken to you, that you may love one another.'

For shall we not grant that it is the work of the highest of all loves, to choose out and to call unto obedience to God those who are still unbelieving and go astray? But it is beyond doubt.

Which Paul also hastened to do, saying: 'On behalf of Christ, therefore, we are ambassadors, as though God were entreating you through us;'

'we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.' And indeed Peter, speaking with boldness to the multitudes of the Jews: 'And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers;'

as teachers, but going ahead to this, even to him who does not yet wish to learn any of the necessary things.

But since to the words of our Savior there is attached, 'That you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide;'

it is fitting to inquire what then this also signifies.

For what might be meant, and in what sense, by saying that the fruit of the disciples abides? I therefore suppose that the Saviour calls that fruit abiding which comes through the instruction of the Gospel, and not the righteousness that is under the Law.

For that righteousness has grown old, because it was able to bring nothing to fulfilment.

For the Law, according to the word of Paul, made nothing perfect; but the new covenant sprang up afresh and, as it were, rose up in its place, rendering the first old and doing away with it, and bringing in the fruit that truly abides and is preserved.

Indeed, the inspired Paul too, when he speaks to us, most gladly and graciously declares that he counted the righteousness that is in the Law as loss, that he might gain Christ—that is, through faith in Him, righteousness and the fruit-bearing of the Gospel.

For such fruit will abide and be perpetual, being able to render the soul of man most fully perfect in godliness.

For into the preaching of the Gospel no other, newer teaching shall slip in to render the first one old;

as indeed happened in the case of the commandment given through Moses; but the word of the Saviour shall stand for ever, even as He Himself somewhere says: 'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.' 'If the world hate you, know that it hath hated Me before you.'

We shall find that the Saviour's method, which He employs in each matter, in no way whatever falls short of the physicians' experience and their surpassing art, for on every side He ever contrives what is profitable for His hearers.