約翰福音註釋 第 1 章 第 27/94 段

But when He sees some of the hearers being ignorant and understanding absolutely nothing of what is spoken, He clearly makes plain whatever He might wish to show, and, stripping away as it were every mist that is in the word, He sets forth the knowledge of the mystery bare and easy to survey, thereby rendering their unbelief inexcusable also by this means.

The Saviour, therefore, having devised countless turnings for His words, since He saw that the hearers understood nothing, now says more nakedly: 'I am the bread of life,' and all but leaps upon their measureless irrationalities, saying: 'O you who have an incomparable pre-eminence over all men unto ignorance alone—when God had declared that He would supply you with loaves from heaven, and had made so great a promise unto you in the food of the manna, you defined the divine bounty, and, stopping short at these things, you do not blush at the grace from above, not knowing that it is a small thing both for you to receive such gifts from God, and for God Himself to bestow them.'

'Do not, then,' He says, 'believe that that was the bread from heaven.'

'For I am the bread of life, who of old was foretold to you as in a promise and indicated as in a type.'

And being present now, I fulfil also the promise that was owed.

I am the bread of life, not bread for the body, which merely cuts off the sufferings born of hunger and delivers the flesh from the corruption that comes thereby, but rather bread which refashions the whole living being wholly unto life eternal, and shows man—made to exist for ever—to be mightier than death.

By these words He hints at the life and grace that come through the holy flesh, whereby that which is proper to the Only-begotten is instilled within us—that is, life itself.

For I think that we ought diligently and with a love of learning to be eager to hunt out that which conduces to profit.

Manna was supplied to those of Israel by God, while Moses was still present with them.

But when Moses came to the common end of life, and Joshua was now appointed teacher and captain of the ranks of the Jews, he led them across the Jordan, as it is written, and having circumcised them with knives of stone and brought them into the land of promise, he then made ready that they should be nourished with bread, since the all-wise God had already caused the supply of manna to cease.

For the type would now be transformed into that which is truer.

When Moses was withdrawn—that is, when the types of the worship according to the Law ceased—Christ, the true Joshua, was manifested unto us.

For He it was who saved the people from their sins. Then we crossed the Jordan; then we received the circumcision in spirit through the teaching of the twelve stones—that is, of the holy disciples, concerning whom it is written in the prophets that holy stones roll upon the earth. For these who traverse and run through the whole inhabited world are surely those holy stones by whom also we were circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in spirit—that is, through the Spirit.

When, therefore, we were called through Christ into the kingdom of the heavens.

For this I think is what is signified, and nothing else again, by certain ones entering into the land of promise.

Then the typical manna is no longer for us.

For we are no longer nourished by the writings of Moses.

But henceforth the bread from heaven—that is, Christ—nourishes us unto long-enduring life, both through the supply of the Holy Spirit and by partaking of His own flesh, which instils in us participation in God and abolishes the deadness that came from the ancient curse.

He that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst.

Something again is hidden in these words, which it is necessary to declare.

For it is the custom of Christ the Saviour not to contend vehemently against the glories of the saints, but on the contrary to crown them with honours worthy of admiration.

Yet whenever some of the more unlearned, not recognising how great is His superiority over those saints, ascribe to them the greater glory, then indeed most profitably He persuades them to think what is more fitting, that they should consider who the Only-begotten is, and that assuredly He surpasses them by incomparable superiorities.

But He does not make His discourse concerning these things very plain, but rather somewhat veiled, and without any boasting, snatching the verdict in favour of the greater things from the contemplation—or rather comparison—inherent in the matters themselves.

For example, let me say, He once conversed with the woman of Samaria, to whom He also promised to give living water.

But the woman, understanding nothing of what was said, replied: Art Thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well? And since the Saviour wished to persuade her that He was indeed greater than Jacob, and more worthy of credence not merely by a few small measures, He proceeds to the difference of the waters, saying: Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up unto life eternal. And what follows from this, but that He assuredly persuades one to conceive that of necessity the supplier of the better things must himself lie among things better than those in which he might chance to be with whom the comparison is made? Such a manner of instruction and teaching He employs now also.

For since the Jews were somehow arrogant against Him and dared to be haughty, holding up Moses the lawgiver on every side, and strongly maintaining time and again that men ought rather to follow the things through him than the things through Christ, reckoning the supply of the manna and the outpouring of the waters from the rock as a most weighty proof of superiority over all, even over our Saviour Jesus Christ Himself—henceforth of necessity He proceeded to His accustomed method, and does not say more nakedly that He is greater than Moses, on account of the unbridled boldness of His hearers and their being very greatly disposed to wrath.

For He that cometh to Me, He says, shall never hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst.

Yea indeed, He says, I too will grant to you that the manna was given through Moses; but they that ate it hungered.

And I will say that from the rocks also water was brought forth for you as from travail; but they that drank thirsted, and the giving of the things spoken of wrought but a wholly temporary enjoyment.

But he that walketh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst.

What then, therefore, does Christ promise? Nothing corruptible, but rather the blessing in the partaking of the holy flesh and blood, which wholly restores man unto incorruption, so that he has need of none of those things which drive away the death of the flesh—I mean, of course, food and drink.

And He seems again in these words to name as water the sanctification through the Spirit, or the divine and Holy Spirit Himself, so often thus named in the divine Scriptures.

The holy body of Christ, therefore, gives life to those in whom it comes to be, and holds them together unto incorruption, being mingled with our bodies.

For it is understood to be the body not of any other, but of the very Life according to nature, having in itself the whole power of the Word who was united to it, and being as it were endued with quality—or rather already filled full of His energy—through which all things are made alive and are preserved unto being.

And since these things are thus, let those who have been baptized and have tasted of the divine grace now henceforth know that, by walking sluggishly and scarcely to the churches, and by absenting themselves for long periods from the blessing that comes through Christ, and by feigning a harmful reverence through not being willing to partake of Him mystically, they send themselves away from eternal life, refusing to be made alive.

And it turns into a snare and a stumbling-block, this refusal, although it somehow seems among them to be a fruit of reverence.

For they ought rather to hasten to bring in the power and eagerness that is in them, that they might appear vigorous unto the cleansing away of sin, and rather to endeavour to pursue a most seemly conduct of life, and thus henceforth to run also very confidently unto the partaking of life.

But since Satan is manifold in deception, he in no way permits them to reckon what would be fitting for them to be sober-minded, but having defiled them with evils, he persuades them to shudder even at the very grace, through which it were likely that, as though sobering up from wine and the drunkenness of pleasure that calls to baseness, they should see and consider carefully what is profitable.

Therefore, having broken the bond of that one and shaken off the yoke cast upon us from greed, let us serve the Lord in fear, as it is written, and showing ourselves now, through self-control, superior to the pleasures of the flesh, let us draw near to the divine and heavenly grace, and ascend unto the holy partaking of Christ.

For thus, even thus, we shall both prevail over the deception of the devil, and, having become partakers of the divine nature, we shall ascend unto life and incorruption.

But I said unto you that ye have both seen Me and believe not.

But as God He was again not ignorant that they would run to unbelief as to a sister and familiar foster-companion, and would disregard as nothing Him who calls them unto life.

Therefore, that they might know that Jesus was not ignorant what sort of men they would again be found to be, or rather—which is more fitting to say—that they might learn that they were under divine wrath, He adds again: But I said unto you that ye have both seen Me and believe not.

I foreknew, He says, and have clearly foretold, that ye will assuredly remain hard, and clinging fast to the disobedience most dear to you, ye shall be left without part in My gifts of grace.

And when did Christ say any such thing concerning them? Call to mind Him saying to the blessed prophet Isaiah: Go and say to this people, By hearing ye shall hear and shall in no wise understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall in no wise perceive.

For will not the word be shown to be true also through the matters that lie in our hands? For I saw, yea I saw the Lord being God according to nature, when He fed the multitude—greater than number—of those who came to Him with five barley loaves and two fishes which He had broken.

But having seen, they do not believe, on account of the hardening which, in the manner of a mist, fell upon their understandings from the divine wrath.

For they were surely and beyond dispute worthy to suffer this, since, being held fast in immeasurable transgressions and bound tight with unbreakable cords of lawlessness, they did not receive even Him who had come and was mighty to set free.

For this cause the heart of this people was made gross.

But that through the greatness of the sign the multitude of the Jews beheld Jesus to be God according to nature, you will be best able to understand from this.

For having marvelled at what had happened—as indeed the Evangelist says in the passages above—they sought to seize Him that they might make Him king. No pretext, therefore, for their madness is left to the Jews.

For being astounded, and very reasonably so, at the divine signs, and proportionately coming from the works to the power of Him who wrought the wonder, they all but shudder at obedience, and leap away from good ways, plunging headlong as it were pleasurably into Him—no, rather into the very abyss of destruction.

All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me.

It was not enough for the Lord simply to say, That ye have both seen Me and believe not, but it was necessary also to bring in, to what had been said, the reason of their being hardened, that they might learn that they had fallen under divine wrath.

For He would never have grieved unjustly, nor yet would He who knows how to judge righteous things have passed any such judgment upon them, had not reason called to this, leaping from every side to show that they deserved to be accused.

But the Saviour by these words affirmed that there would come to Him all that God and Father might give, not as though He Himself were too weak to bring the believers unto Himself.

For had He willed, He would have accomplished even this very easily, according to the energy of His being able also to subject all things unto Himself, according to the voice of Paul.

But since it seems in some way necessary and more fitting to say that those in ignorance are led into light through the divine nature, He again as man ascribes to the Father the energy in the more godlike matters.

For this is His custom to do, as indeed we have often said.

And it is likely that in saying that there shall be brought to Him by God and the Father all that He gives Him, He hints at the people from among the nations, who would already now, and before very long, be present and believing.

And this was as though He were threatening skilfully, that both they themselves would fall away from grace, and all those from among the nations, being brought in through the gentleness of God and the Father, would ascend in their place—the Son being Saviour and life-giver according to nature—so that, having partaken of the blessing that comes from Him, they might now be made partakers of the divine nature, and might thus be restored unto incorruption and life, and be refashioned into the ancient form of their nature.

Therefore, just as if one should bring a sick man to a physician, that he might drive away the disease which has assailed him, so we shall say that God and the Father brings to the Son those who may appear worthy of the salvation that comes from Him.

Bitter, therefore, and utterly destructive to those who have it is hardness of heart.

For this cause also the prophetic word charges the Jews, crying out expressly: Be circumcised unto God, and circumcise the hardness of your heart, ye men of Judah and ye that dwell in Jerusalem. But not for them, but rather for us, has God and the Father reserved the circumcision in the heart—that, of course, which is accomplished through the Holy Spirit, according to the Jew that is inwardly, in secret.

We ought to be eager to renounce hardness of heart, and rather to be transformed into a tender mind, if we would shun as destructive the wrath that came upon those men.

And him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.

He says that the turning through faith will not be without profit to those who come to Him.

For it was needful indeed to show that being brought unto God and the Father is a most desirable thing, and the cause of countless blessings.

There shall be therefore, He says, and there shall belong the fairest things to those who are called through the grace from above unto Me and who walk thither.

For I will not cast out him that cometh—that is, I will not send him away like some useless vessel, according to that which was said through one of the prophets: Jechoniah was dishonoured like a vessel for which there is no use; he was cast away and thrown out into a land which he knew not.

O earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord: write this man down as a man cast out from proclamation. He shall not therefore, He says, be cast out from proclamation, nor yet shall he be thrown outside as one without honour, nor shall he remain without part in My bounty; but he shall be brought into the storehouse, and shall lodge in the heavenly mansions, and shall behold himself become within the whole hope that surpasses the human mind.

For eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard, and it hath not entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. And it is likely again that His saying, I will in no wise cast out him that cometh to Me, hints at this: that the believer and the one who draws near to the divine grace shall not be delivered up to judgment.

For the word 'outside' you will find signifying some such thing, as in that parable in the blessed Matthew: For the kingdom of the heavens, He says, is like unto a net cast into the sea and gathering of every kind, which, when they had drawn up and dragged onto the shore, they gathered the good into vessels, but the bad they cast outside. For the gathering of the good into the divine and heavenly courts we shall understand by His saying that the good were gathered into vessels.

And by the useless being cast outside, we shall contemplate that the ungodly shall fall away from all good things and shall depart unto judgment.

Therefore, when Christ says, 'Him who comes to me I will in no wise cast out,' let us understand that the people who draw near to him through faith shall nowhere fall into punishment.

And it seems to me that by these words he most wisely holds a veiled threat over those who are strangely puffed up with pride, namely, that unless someone should be willing very speedily to reshape them into a good obedience, they shall lie outside every good thing, and even against their will shall be exiled from friendship with him.

For by the very words in which he promises not to cast out the one who comes, by these same words he signifies that he will assuredly cast out the one who does not come.

That the Son is in no way inferior to God the Father, because he subsists from him according to nature, even if by some he is said to be subject; on the text set forth, 'Because I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the Father who sent me.'

And in this very section there is also a most useful discourse concerning the precious Cross of Christ.

That the holy body of Christ is life-giving; on the text set forth, 'I am the bread of life,' and what follows, in which he speaks of his own body as of bread.

That the Son is not a partaker of a life derived from another, but is rather life according to nature, as one begotten of God the Father, life from life according to nature; on the text set forth, 'As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he that eats me, even he shall live because of me.'

The holy tabernacle of the people in the wilderness, and the ark within it, and the lampstand, and the altars—both that of incense and that of the burnt offerings—signified Christ himself.

On the text set forth, 'Whither shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.'

Concerning the Feast of Tabernacles, that it makes plain the restoration of the hope owed to the saints, and the coming to life again from the dead.

On the text set forth, 'Now the Jews' feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, was at hand.'

A discourse concerning the rest on the Sabbath, showing in manifold ways of what it is significative; on the text set forth, 'If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, are you angry with me because I made a whole man well on the Sabbath?' Chapter 7.

A discourse concerning the circumcision on the eighth day, showing in manifold ways of what it is significative; on the text set forth, 'If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath,' and what follows.

That the Son is in no way inferior to God the Father, because he subsists from him according to nature, even if by some he is said to be subject.

'Because I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the Father who sent me.'

'And this is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.'

But there is nothing difficult in this at all, 'For all things are plain to those who understand,' as it is written, 'and right to those who find knowledge'—that is, to those who piously make it their study to interpret and to understand the mysteries in the divine Scriptures.

In these words, then, Christ furnishes us with a kind of demonstration and clear assurance that the one who comes to him shall not be cast out.

'For it was for this cause,' he says, 'that I came down from heaven'—that is, 'I became man according to the good pleasure of God the Father, and I did not decline even to consort with things unwished-for, until I might accomplish for those who believe in me the eternal life and the coming to life again from the dead, having abolished the power of death.'

But what then was that which was unwished-for yet willed by Christ? The dishonour at the hands of the Jews, the revilings and insults and blows and scourgings and spittings, and besides these still the false accusations, and last of all upon all these, the death of the flesh.

For these things Christ willingly endured for our sake; but if it had been possible, without his suffering, to accomplish what was being sought on our behalf, he would not have willed to suffer.

But since the Jews were wholly and inexorably about to dare what was done against him, he accepts to suffer, and makes willed that which was unwished-for, on account of the profit that comes from the Passion—God the Father consenting together with him, and agreeing that he ought readily to bear all things for the salvation of all.

For in this especially shall we behold the immeasurable goodness of the divine nature, in that it does not decline, for our sake, even to make choiceworthy that which is to be shunned.

And that the suffering on the Cross was in some manner unwished-for by Christ the Saviour, yet willed for our sake and for the good pleasure of God the Father, you will understand from what follows.

For when he was about to go up upon it, he held converse with God, speaking as it were in the form of prayer: 'Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.'

'Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.' For that, inasmuch as he was God the Word, immortal and incorruptible, and himself life according to nature, he did not know how to cower before death, is, I think, most manifest to all.

But to endure the things proper to the flesh, and, having come now to the very door, to cower before death, was that he might appear in truth to be man.

On this account he says, 'If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.' 'If it be admissible,' he says, 'O Father, that, without my suffering death, I should establish life for those who have fallen into him'—that is, if death should die without my dying, according to the flesh that is—'let the cup pass away,' he says.

'Nevertheless, since it cannot come to pass otherwise,' he says, 'not as I will, but as thou wilt.'

Do you see how the nature of man, growing feeble again even in Christ himself, is found to be so as far as concerns itself?

But it is restored, through the Word who is united to it, to a boldness befitting God, and is retrained into a youthful and manly resolve, so as not to entrust the outcome to its own wishes, but rather to follow the divine purpose, and to press on and hasten toward that unto which the law of the Maker may call us.

And that we speak these things truthfully you may also learn from that which is joined to it: 'For the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.' For Christ was not ignorant that it fell far short of the dignity befitting God, to seem to be overcome by death and to feel the fear that comes from it.

On this account he added a most fervent apology to what had been said.

For having said that the flesh had grown weak on account of what is fitting to it and inherent in its nature,

yet that nevertheless the spirit is willing, knowing nothing of suffering any of the things that do it wrong.

Do you see how death was unwished-for by Christ, both on account of the flesh and on account of the ill repute arising from the Passion,

yet nevertheless willed, until the good pleasure of the Father should be brought to an auspicious end for the whole world—that is, the salvation and life of all? For is he not seen to be signifying to us assuredly and truly such a thing, when he says that this is the will of the Father, that of those brought to him he should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day? For as we have already taught beforehand, God the Father, being a lover of mankind, brings to Christ, as to life and Saviour, the one who is in need of life and salvation.

But I perceive again that I am speaking out of tune to the enemy of the truth.

For he will by no means assent to what we have just now said;

but he will come crying aloud, having shouted out something great and piercing: 'Whither again, sir, do you lead our contemplations astray, and devise intricate importations of notions, while you drag the discourse away from the truth? You blush, as is likely,' he says, 'to confess the involuntary subjection of the Son.'

'For will it not also become clear to us through these things, that he by no means rules or takes the lead in the ordering of affairs, but is rather subject to the wills of the Father? For he knows himself to be so far vanquished from equality with him, that he is even in some way compelled to make willed the things unwished-for, and to do not at all what seems good to himself, but rather what seems good to the Father.'

'And do not again say to me,' he says, 'dragging the saying over to the Incarnation, that he is made subject as man.'

'For behold, as you see, being still God and the Word, bare and unentangled with the flesh, he has come down from heaven, and before the form of the servant was ever put around him, he was subject, evidently, to the Father who is pre-eminent and rules.'

'For you strain at it in vain against us, saying up and down that the Son obeys the Father, as though someone accustomed to think rightly were of the mind that one ought to maintain the contrary, and had by no means resolved rather to plead the case on your side in this matter.'

Let our long discourse concerning these matters, then, be laid to rest, and let that which persuades to contentiousness in things where it least ought to be, keep silence;

for since no one is vexed at this matter, it is superfluous for you still to strain at it.

But since, being accustomed to think and conceive in a most perverse manner, you name the Son's being in accord with the wills of the Father a subjection as of necessity, against this too we shall once more discourse with you what is fitting.

For if such an utterance had been put forward by you in simplicity, we, keeping silence as would be fitting, would by no means have scrutinized the indifferent matter concerning the word.

But since we see it put forward with much malice, we must of necessity set ourselves against it, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and not taking courage in the words that are in us.

For most of all, the Son did not maintain absolutely, nor for every case whatever, nor even in every matter, that he does not by all means and in every way hold to his own wishes; but he says that he keeps the will of the Father with regard to a definite matter, having, because of your quibblings—as it is given me to understand—made provision for our safety, as God.

And he endures that which is unwished-for, and makes it willed for our sake;

and I mean the Passion upon the Cross, which manifestly was thus well-pleasing also to him who begot him, just as has already been said by us.

And indeed it is possible to see the demonstration set down at once, and the subject-matter lying clearly at hand, unto which, as he himself says, he departed from his own wishes, but fulfils that of the Father.

'For this,' he says, 'is the will of the Father, that of all that he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.'

And that the suffering upon the Cross is truly seen to be at once unwished-for and willed by the Only-begotten, has already been plainly stated; but we shall treat of it again hereafter with more exact inquiries, laying the truth open to those who will read.

But I shall first proceed to an inquiry into the subjection spoken of by you, it being of course presupposed and undoubtedly confessed by you, that the wills of the Holy Trinity ever concur into one counsel and mind;

let then those clever sophists tell us, whether at some time the very being of the Son consists in the name and reality of subjection, and this is nature to him, as manhood is perhaps to a man, or whether, existing beforehand himself as in his own proper account, he is made subject to the Father, just as one might perhaps conceive in the case of an angel or of some other rational power.

For it is when these already exist and subsist that they receive the mode of subjection.

If, then, you say that the being of the Son consists in his being made subject to the Father, there will rather be subjection, and not a son.