約翰福音講道集 第 39 章

After this, Jesus finds him in the temple, and said to him:

Sin no more, lest something worse befall you. (1)

Sin is a terrible thing, a terrible plague to the soul;

and often, out of its excess, the evil overflows and lays hold even of the body.

For since for the most part, when our soul is sick, we are insensible of it;

but if the body receives even a slight injury, we make every effort to free it from the ailment, because we perceive the ailment;

for this reason God also often chastises the body on account of the sins committed in the soul, so that by the scourge of the lesser, the better part too may obtain some cure.

Thus among the Corinthians also Paul set right the man who had committed fornication, restraining the disease of the soul by the destruction of the flesh.

For by applying the knife to the body, he thus subdued the evil;

just as some excellent physician, when dropsy or a diseased spleen will not yield to the inward remedies, cauterizes from without.

This too Christ did in the case of the paralytic.

And see how, making this plain, He Himself said:

Sin no more, lest something worse befall you.

What, then, do we learn from this? First, that his infirmity was born to him from his sins;

second, that the word concerning hell is trustworthy;

and third, that the punishment is long and infinite.

Where, then, are those who say, In one hour I committed murder, and in a brief moment of time I committed adultery, and yet I am punished for ever? For behold, this man too did not sin during as many years as he was punished, and yet he consumed a whole human lifetime in the length of the punishment.

For sins are not judged by time, but by the very nature of the offenses committed.

Together with these things, that also may be seen: that even if we pay a grievous penalty for our former sins, and then fall into the same again, we shall suffer far more grievous things once more;

for he who has not become better even by punishment is thereafter led on, as one insensible and contemptuous, to a greater chastisement.

For the chastisement of itself would have sufficed to restrain and to make more temperate the man who had once slipped;

but since, not being brought to his senses by the punishment inflicted, he ventures on the same things again, such a man would justly undergo some penalty, drawing this upon himself.

And if, even when punished here and again falling into the same sins, we are the more grievously chastised;

then when, without having sinned at all, we undergo punishment, how should we not most exceedingly fear and tremble at this, seeing that we are about to suffer things beyond remedy? And for what reason, one asks, are not all thus punished? For indeed we see many wicked men in good bodily health and flourishing, and enjoying much prosperity.

But let us not take courage; rather, let us weep for them on this account most of all.

For their suffering nothing here becomes a provision for the greater punishment there.

And making this plain, Paul said:

But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened, that we may not be condemned with the world.

For the things here are of admonition;

but the things there are of punishment.

What then? Are all infirmities, one asks, from sins? Not all, indeed, but the greater part;

and some arise also from slothfulness.

For gluttony and drunkenness and idleness also beget such maladies.

But everywhere we must maintain one thing only: to bear every stroke with thanksgiving.

It comes also on account of sins, as in the Books of Kingdoms we see a certain man held fast by gout for this reason.

And it comes also for the sake of good repute, as God says to Job:

Do you think that I have dealt with you for any other reason than that you might be shown to be righteous? But why, then, in the case of these paralytics does Christ bring their sins into the midst? For indeed to that other one who lies in Matthew's account He also says:

Take courage, child, your sins are forgiven;

and to this one, Behold, you have been made whole; sin no more.

slandering this paralytic, they say that he became an accuser of Christ, and that it was for this reason he heard these words.

What, then, shall we say concerning that other man in Matthew's account, who heard almost the same words? For to him also He said:

Whence it is plain that this man too did not hear these words on account of that supposition.

This too one may learn more clearly from what follows.

For after these things, it says, Jesus finds him in the temple;

which is a sign of the greatest piety.

For he did not betake himself to the marketplaces and to strolling about, nor did he give himself over to luxury and ease;

and this, although he was about to endure so great an onset, and to be driven away from that place by all;

yet none of these things persuaded him to depart from the temple.

Having therefore found him, Christ, even after conversing with the Jews, hinted at no such thing.

But if he had wished to reproach him with this, he would have said to him:

You are again attempting the same things, and have not become better even by your healing? But he said none of these things; rather, he only secures him against the future.

Why then, having healed also the lame and the maimed, did he nowhere make mention of these matters? It seems to me that for these men the diseases came from sins, but for the others from natural weakness.

But if this be not so, then through these words and those spoken in addition to them, he discoursed to the others as well.

For since this disease was harder than all the others, through the greater he corrects also the lesser.

For just as, when he had healed another person, he charged him to give glory to God, exhorting this not to that one alone, but through that one to all;

so also to these, through these things, he exhorts and counsels all the rest to the very things which he had also said to them.

Besides these things, this too may be said: that he perceived great fortitude in his soul, and, as to one able to receive the injunction, he exhorts him, holding him fast to health both by the benefit and by the fear of the evils to come.

For he did not say, See, I have made you whole, but, You have become whole;

And again he did not say, That I may not punish you, but, That nothing worse happen to you, setting both impersonally, and showing that health belonged rather to grace than to desert.

For he did not indicate that, having paid the penalty, he was released from justice, but that he was saved by lovingkindness.

Since if this were not so, he would have said:

Behold, you have paid a sufficient penalty for your sins;

But now he did not say so, but how? Behold, you have become whole;

Let us also continually say these things to ourselves; and if, having been chastised, we are set free, let each say this to himself:

But if we do not pay the penalty, but continue in the same things, let us chant that apostolic word, that The goodness of God leads us to repentance;

but according to our hardness and impenitent heart we treasure up for ourselves wrath.

And not only by strengthening his body, but also in another way, he gave him a great sign of his own Godhead.

For by saying, Sin no more, he showed that he knew all the offenses that had been formerly committed by him;

whence also he was destined to be worthy of belief concerning the things to come.

The man therefore departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him whole.

And observe him again abiding in the same right-mindedness.

For he did not say that it was he who had said, Take up your bed.

For since those men were always bringing forward this seeming accusation, he for his part always puts forth the defense, again making the physician manifest, and eager to draw the others also and to win them over.

For he was not so senseless as, after so great a benefit and exhortation, to betray his benefactor, and to say this with a malicious intent.

For even if he had been a wild beast, even if some inhuman and stony person, the benefit and the fear were sufficient to hold him fast.

For indeed, having the threat still ringing in his ears, he would have feared lest he suffer something worse, having received the greatest proofs of the physician's power;

and besides, if he had wished to slander him, he would have kept silent about the healing and spoken of the transgression and accused him.

But this is not so, it is not;

rather, his words are full of much boldness and

right-mindedness, and he proclaims his benefactor no less than the blind man did.

For what does that man say? He made clay, and anointed my eyes;

It is Jesus who has made me whole.

The Jews therefore persecuted him, and sought to slay him, because he did these things on the Sabbath.

What then does Christ say? My Father works until now, and I work.

For when it was necessary to make a defense on behalf of the disciples, he brought forward into their midst David, their fellow-servant, saying, Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry? But when it concerned himself, he took refuge in the Father, showing from both sides the equality of honor, both by calling God his Father in a special sense, and by doing the same things as he.

And why did he not mention the things that happened at Jericho? He wished to lead them up from the earth, that they might no longer attend to him as to a man, but as to God who has the right to give laws.

But if he were not a genuine Son and of the same essence, the defense is greater than the accusation.

For not even if some prefect, having altered a royal law, then, when accused, were to defend himself thus, and to say that the king too dissolved it, would he be able to escape; but he would thus make the charge even greater.

But here, since the matters of dignity are equal, on this account the matters of defense also are perfected with all security.

For from those things, he says, from which you absolve God of accusations, from those same things absolve me also.

For this reason too he said beforehand, My Father, that he might persuade them, even against their will, to concede the same things to him, out of reverence for his exact genuineness.

And where does the Father work, having rested on the seventh day from all his works? Let him learn the manner in which he works.

What then is the manner of the working? He provides for and holds together all the things that have come into being.

Seeing therefore the sun rising, and the moon running its course, and lakes, and springs, and rivers, and rains, and the course of nature—that which is in seeds, that which is in our bodies and in those of the irrational creatures, and all the other things through which this universe holds together—learn the perpetual working of the Father.

For he makes his sun to rise, it says, on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.

And if the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the fire, God so clothes;

and again, discoursing about the birds:

Your heavenly Father feeds them.

Here, then, he did the whole thing on the Sabbath by words, and added nothing further, but from the things done in the temple, and from what they themselves do, he dissolves the accusations;

but where he also commanded a work to be done, such as the taking up of the bed, which contributed nothing great to the matter, but this one thing only, showing plainly the loosing of the Sabbath, he raises the discourse to the greater, wishing rather to strike them with awe from the Father's dignity, and to lead them up to what is more sublime.

For this reason, whenever the discourse is about the Sabbath, he defends himself neither as man only, nor as God only, but sometimes in this way, sometimes in that.

For he wished both things to be believed: both the condescension of the economy, and the dignity of the Godhead.

For this reason he now defends himself as God.

For if he were always going to discourse to them from human considerations only, he would have remained in the same lowliness.

Wherefore, that this might not happen, he brings the Father into the midst.

And yet creation itself also works on the Sabbath.

For indeed the sun runs its course, and rivers flow, and springs gush forth, and women give birth. But that you might learn that he is not of creation, he did not say, Yes, I work;

for creation too works;

but what? Yes, I work, for my Father also works.

For this reason, therefore, the Jews sought the more to slay him, it says, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

And indeed he did not manifest this alone;

for he showed this not in his words alone, but far more in his deeds. Why so? Because in his words they had ground to reproach him, and to charge him with boasting;

But seeing the truth of the matter come forth, and His power proclaimed by His very works, they were no longer able to gainsay anything.

Wishing to receive these things in a fair-minded way, they say that it was not Christ who made Himself equal to God, but that the Jews merely suspected this.

Let us then come at the matter from the beginning and go over again what has been said.

Tell me, then: did the Jews persecute Him, or did they not? It is plain to everyone that they did persecute Him.

And did they persecute Him for this reason, or for some other? This too is agreed upon, that it was for this reason.

Did He then break the Sabbath, or did He not? Not even to this could anyone raise an objection.

Did He call God His own Father, or did He not? This too is true.

Therefore what follows also holds together in the same sequence.

For just as calling God His own Father, and breaking the Sabbath, and being persecuted by the Jews both for the one and still more for the other, was no matter of a false surmise but of an actual fact,

so also His making Himself equal to God was the declaration of the same intent.

And from what was said earlier this may be seen still more clearly.

For the saying, 'My Father works, and I also work,' belongs to One who shows Himself equal to God.

For in these words He shows no difference whatever.

For He did not say, 'He works, but I minister';

but, 'As He works, so also do I.'

And He showed great equality.

But if He Himself had not wished to establish this, and the Jews had merely suspected it in vain,

He would not have left their understanding to remain in error, but would even have corrected this.

And the evangelist too would not have passed it over in silence, but would have said plainly that the Jews indeed suspected thus, but that He did not make Himself equal to God;

just as elsewhere he does this very thing, whenever he sees that something was meant in one way but understood in another.

For instance, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,' said Christ, speaking of His own flesh.

But the Jews, not understanding this and supposing it was said of the Jewish temple, said, 'This temple was forty-six years in building, and will You raise it up in three days?' Since, then, He meant one thing and they suspected another (for He was speaking of His own flesh, but they thought this was said of their own temple), the evangelist, marking this, or rather correcting their misapprehension, added, saying:

'But He spoke of the temple of His body.'

So that, if here too Christ was not making Himself equal, nor wishing to convey this, but the Jews suspected it, He would have corrected their misapprehension here also and said:

'The Jews indeed thought that He was making Himself equal to God, but He was not speaking of equality.'

And indeed, not here alone does this one evangelist do so, but elsewhere again another evangelist too is seen doing this very same thing.

For when He charged the disciples, saying:

'Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,' but they reasoned, saying that it was because they had taken no loaves;

and He meant one thing, calling the teaching leaven, but the disciples suspected another, thinking it was said of loaves, this is corrected again—no longer by the evangelist, but by Christ Himself, who speaks thus:

'How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning loaves, when I said, Beware?' But here there is nothing of the kind.

'And yet,' one says, 'in abolishing this very thing Christ added:

'The Son can do nothing of Himself.'

On the contrary, O man, He has done the opposite;

for He says this not to abolish, but even to fasten firm the equality.

But pay careful attention;

for the matter in question is no trifling one.

For the phrase 'of Himself' is set down in many places of Scripture, both concerning Him and concerning the Holy Spirit.

And we must learn the force of the expression, lest we sin in the gravest matters.

For if one should take it just as it stands, as it is easy off-hand to take it, consider how great an absurdity will follow.

For He did not say that some things He can do of Himself and others He cannot, but He spoke absolutely:

'The Son can do nothing of Himself.'

Let us then ask the one who contradicts these things:

'Can the Son then do nothing of Himself? tell me.' And if he say, 'Nothing,' we will reply, 'And yet the greatest of goods He does of Himself.'

'Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant.'

And again, Christ Himself says elsewhere:

'I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again; and no one takes it from Me: I lay it down of Myself.'

You see Him having power over both death and life, and accomplishing so great a dispensation of Himself? And why do I speak of Christ? For we ourselves, than whom nothing could be meaner, do many things of ourselves, both choosing evil of ourselves and pursuing virtue of ourselves.

But if we did not act of ourselves, having no power to do so, we should neither fall into hell by sinning, nor attain the kingdom by doing rightly.

The saying, then, 'Of Himself He can do nothing,' means nothing other than that He does nothing contrary to the Father, nothing alien, nothing strange—which above all is the mark of One showing His equality and His great concord with the Father.

And why did He not say, 'He does nothing contrary,' but, 'He cannot'? That from this too He might again show the invariable sameness and the exactness of the equality.

For the word does not accuse Him of weakness, but rather bears witness to His great power.

Since elsewhere too Paul says concerning the Father:

'That by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie';

and again, 'If we deny Him, yet He abides faithful;

He cannot deny Himself.'

And surely this 'impossible' is not indicative of weakness, but of power, and of unutterable power.

That Essence is incapable of admitting any such things.

For just as, when we too say that it is impossible for God to sin, we do not accuse Him of weakness, but bear witness to a certain unspeakable power of His;

so also, when He Himself says, 'I can do nothing of Myself,' He means this: that it is impossible and inconceivable for Me to do anything contrary to the Father.

And that you may learn that this is what is meant, let us go over what follows and see with whom Christ decides:

whether with the things said by us, or with those said by you.

For you say that the word takes away His authority and the proper sovereignty belonging to Him, and shows His power to be feeble;

but I say that it manifests the equality, and the invariable sameness, and that which comes about as it were from one mind and authority and power.

Let us then ask Christ Himself, and see, from what He says next, whether He interprets what has been said according to your surmise or according to ours.

'For whatever the Father does, these the Son also does likewise.'

Do you see how He rooted up your view utterly, and confirmed what was said by us? For if He does nothing of Himself, neither will the Father be One who does anything of Himself, seeing that He does all things likewise with Him.

For if this is not so, yet another absurdity will follow.

For He did not say, 'What He saw the Father doing, He did,' but, 'Unless He sees the Father doing something, He does not do it,' extending the statement over all time;

and, according to you, He will forever be learning the same things.

Do you see how the meaning is lofty, while the lowliness of the expression compels even the exceedingly shameless and unwilling to flee from that grovelling and utterly discordant notion so unbecoming to that dignity? For who is so wretched and miserable as to say that the Son learns day by day what He must do? And how could that be true, 'But You are the same, and Your years shall not fail'? and how, 'And all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made'?

seeing that the Father does some things, while He Himself, looking on, imitates the rest? Do you see that both from what was said above and from what is said afterward the demonstration of His authority is shown? But if some of His words proceed in a lowlier manner, do not marvel.

For since they persecuted Him when they heard lofty things, and reckoned Him to be setting Himself against God, He condescended a little by His words alone, and then again raised His discourse up to loftier things;

then again to the lowly, varying His teaching so that it might become acceptable even to the perverse.

Having said, 'My Father works, and I work,'

and having declared Himself equal to God, again He says:

'The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless He sees the Father doing something.'

Then again to the loftier point:

'For whatever things He does, these also the Son does likewise.'

again to the lowlier:

'The Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and greater works than these will He show Him.'

Do you see again how great the lowliness is? With good reason.

For what I have already said, and shall not cease to say, this I will say now also:

that whenever He says something groveling and lowly, He sets it forth with an excess of it, so that the meanness of the words may persuade even the perverse to receive the meanings with a godly mind.

For if this is not so, consider how absurd is that which was said, drawing the point from the very words themselves.

For when He says, 'And greater works than these will He show Him,' He will be found to have not yet learned many things;

which is a thing one could not say even concerning the Apostles.

For once they had received the grace of the Spirit, they at once both knew and were able to do all things.

the very things which it was fitting that they should both know and be able to do.

But this One will be found not yet to have learned many of the things which He ought to have known.

And what could be more absurd than this? What then is the meaning of what was said? Since He had strengthened the paralytic, and was about also to raise the dead, for this reason He spoke thus, all but saying this:

'Do you marvel that I strengthened a paralytic? You shall see greater things than these.'

But He did not speak thus; rather He goes through it somewhat more lowly, in order to soothe their madness.

And that you may learn that the word 'will show' is not spoken in its strict sense, listen to what follows, which He again adds.

'For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life,' He says, 'so also the Son gives life to whom He wills.'

And yet the phrase 'He can do nothing of Himself' is contrary to the phrase 'whom He wills.'

For if He gives life to whom He wills, He can do it of Himself (for willing belongs to authority);

but if He cannot of Himself, then it is no longer 'whom He wills.'

For the phrase 'As the Father raises' shows the exact equality of the power;

and the phrase 'whom He wills' shows the equality of the authority.

Do you see that the phrase 'He can do nothing of Himself' is not that of one who takes away the authority, but of one who demonstrates the exact sameness of the power and of the will? So understand also the phrase 'He will show Him.'

For elsewhere too He says:

'I will raise him up at the last day.'

And again, showing that He does not act as one receiving an operative power from another, He says, 'I am the resurrection and the life.'

Then, that you might not say that He raises and gives life to the dead whom He wills, but does not do the other things in this way, He anticipated and shut out every such contradiction, saying:

'For whatever things He does, these also the Son does likewise;'

making clear that He does both all the things that the Father does, and does them in the same way as the Father;

whether you speak of the resurrection of the dead, or the fashioning of bodies, or the remission of sins, or any other thing, He works it in like manner with Him who begot Him.

But those who neglect their own salvation give heed to none of these things;

so great an evil is the love of the chief seat.

This gave birth to the heresies; this confirmed the impiety of the Greeks.

For God willed His invisible things to be understood through the creation of this world;

but they, forsaking these things and deeming it beneath them to come by this teaching, cut out for themselves another way;

wherefore they also fell away from that which existed.

For this reason the Jews also did not believe, receiving glory from one another and not seeking the glory that comes from God.

But let us, beloved, flee this disease with all vehemence and all earnestness.

For even if we have countless good deeds, the corruption of vainglory is able to dissolve them all.

If therefore we love praises, let us seek the praises that are with God.

For the praise from men, of whatever sort it be, no sooner appears than it perishes;

and even if it does not perish, it brings us no gain, and often springs from a corrupted judgment.

For what is there admirable in the glory that comes from men, which even dancers enjoy, and corrupt young men, and corrupted women, and the covetous and the rapacious? But he who is admired by God is admired not together with these, but together with those holy ones, I mean the prophets, the apostles, those who displayed an angelic manner of life.

But if we long to lead crowds about and to be gazed upon, let us examine this thing in itself, and we shall find it to be worth nothing.

if you love crowds even so, draw to yourself the host of the angels, and become terrible to demons, and you will take no account of any human thing;

but you will thus trample upon all the splendid things as upon mire and clay;

and you will then see clearly that nothing so prepares the soul to behave shamefully as the love of glory.

For it is not possible, it is not possible, that one who loves this should not fail to live a crucified life;

just as, then, it is not possible for one who has trodden this down not to trample down the greater part of the passions.

For he who prevails over this will prevail also over envy and love of money and all the grievous diseases.

'And how,' one says, 'shall we prevail over it?' If we look to that other glory which is from the heavens, out of which this one strives to cast us.

For that glory both makes us illustrious here, and journeys with us to the life to come, and frees us from all fleshly slavery, in which we now serve with much misery, having given our whole selves over to the earth and its affairs.

Whether you enter a marketplace, or go into a house, or into the streets, or into the inns, or into the lodgings, or into the taverns, or onto a ship, or onto an island, or into the palaces, or into the courts of law, or into the council chambers, everywhere you will see the anxiety over things present and of this life, and each man toiling over these things—those who are absent and those who are coming, those who are journeying abroad and those who remain, those who sail, those who till the ground, those in the fields, those in the cities, all men without exception.

What hope of salvation then shall we have, when, dwelling on God's earth, we do not set our minds on the things of God, but, having been commanded to be strangers to the things here, are strangers to the things of heaven and citizens of the things here? What could be worse than this insensibility, when, hearing day by day of the judgment and of the kingdom, we imitate those in the days of Noah and those in Sodom, waiting to learn all things by the actual experience of events? And yet for this very reason all those things were written, that if anyone disbelieves things to come, from the things already done he may receive a clear demonstration also concerning the things to come.

Considering these things, then, both the things past and the things to come, let us at least take some little breathing space from this grievous slavery, and let us make some account also of our soul, that we may attain both the present and the coming good things, by the grace and love toward mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the might unto the ages of ages. Amen.