Chapter Three

¹ There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that you do, except God be with him. Some seemed to believe in the name of Jesus while He was at the feast, but their faith was not firm. For attending to Christ for a season, not as God, but as a man inspired of God, they fell away again even from this paltry faith. And that they were such is plain from what follows. For Jesus Himself, he says, did not commit Himself to them, nor entrust all His gifts to them as to men truly faithful, searching their hearts and knowing what was in them concerning Him. For it was not hidden from Him what kind of reasoning was in each man who seemed to believe. And Nicodemus too was nearly such a one. For he also believed in Jesus, and appears to speak to the Jews on the Lord’s behalf, that they ought to condemn Him only after search and examination; and after the cross he shows much care and ambition toward the burial. Yet he did not believe as he ought; but, still cleaving to the Jewish weakness, he comes to Jesus by night for fear of the Jews, and calls Him teacher, as a mere man; for such was the opinion he had of Him; wherefore he adds, “No man can do these things, except God be with him.” Do you see that he comes to Jesus as to a man, a prophet, and beloved of God? What, then, does the Lord? He does not reprove him sharply, nor say, Why do you come by night to the teacher sent from God? Why do you not speak boldly? He says none of these things, but cheerfully discourses to him concerning things divine and lofty. And note that, though Christ did many wonders, the present evangelist relates none of them, either as having been told by the other evangelists, or for another reason.

² Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. What the Savior said to Nicodemus seems to have no connection with what Nicodemus had said; but to him who attends, much connection will appear. For since Nicodemus had a lowly opinion of Christ — that He is a teacher, and that God is with Him — the Lord says to him: It is reasonable that you should have such an opinion of Me. For you are not yet born from above — that is, with the spiritual birth that is of God — but are still fleshly, and the knowledge you have concerning Me is not spiritual, but psychic and human. But I tell you that both you, and any other whoever, unless you are born from above and of God, and so receive the worthy opinion concerning Me, are outside the kingdom. For the birth through baptism, working illumination in the soul, gives one to see — that is, to apprehend — the kingdom of God, that is, His only-begotten Son. For as the Son is the wisdom of God, so also He might be called the kingdom of God. And this kingdom no one can see — that is, apprehend — O Nicodemus, unless he be born of God. So that you too, since you are not yet born spiritually, do not for this cause behold Me, the kingdom of God, as you ought, but have a lowly opinion concerning Me.

³ Nicodemus says to him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Hearing things greater than human teaching, Nicodemus is astonished, and, suffering a human passion, asks, “How can this be?” — which is a token of unbelief. For where faith is not, there is the “How is this?” and, “Why this?” Wherefore the words of Nicodemus appear ridiculous. For he conceived not of a spiritual birth, but makes mention of a bodily womb. For since he heard the “Except a man be born from above,” he supposed the “from above” to be said for “from the beginning, a second time”; so that the saying was such as this: Except a man be born from the beginning and a second time. For this cause, then, he says, “How can a man, being old, enter the second time into his mother’s womb?” For two things made him perplexed: both the spiritual birth, and the kingdom. For not even the name “kingdom of heaven” had ever been heard among the Jews. For the present, then, he is perplexed concerning the birth; wherefore Christ reveals to him more clearly the manner of the spiritual birth, saying, “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit.” For man being twofold, of soul and body, has also a twofold manner of birth. For the water, visibly received, is understood to the cleansing of the body; and the Spirit, invisibly concurring, to the regeneration of the invisible soul. And if you ask, How can water give birth? — I too will ask, How can the seed, being itself watery, be moulded into a man? As, then, in the case of the bodily seed, the whole is of the grace of God, so also in baptism water is the underlying element. But the Spirit works all things, and the invocation through the prayers, and rather the presence of God. For symbols and an image of burial and resurrection are accomplished in this water. The three immersions are symbols of the three days’ burial; then the man rises up, as the Lord did, wearing a garment, and having sunk his corruption in the water.

⁴ That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said to you, You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound thereof, but can not tell whence it comes, and where it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. Leading Nicodemus away from the fleshly birth, the Lord says: That which is born of the flesh is flesh; but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit — that is, spiritual is the man born through baptism; for the “spirit” you ought to understand as “spiritual.” For the baptized man does not become a divine Spirit, but, receiving in the Spirit the adoption and grace and honor, is deemed worthy to be spiritual. And seeing Nicodemus still troubled, He said, “Marvel not.” Then from a sensible example He tries to teach him. “The wind,” He says, “blows where it wishes.” From the wind, He says, learn the greater things. For the wind (for this He here calls “spirit”) blows where it wishes; and you hear the sound thereof, yet know not its course. For it is uncontrollable and unhindered, and has its impulse, whithersoever it be, by a natural authority. And the “Where it wishes it blows” He says, not as though the wind were a thing of choice and had a will, but, as I said, wishing to show the impulse that belongs to it by nature, and its unhindered power. If, then, you know not the wind, this spirit that falls under sense — how and where it blows — how do you busy yourself about the regeneration from the divine Spirit? If this wind cannot be controlled, much more shall the grace of the Holy Spirit not be brought under the laws of nature. Let Macedonius the Pneumatomachian be ashamed, and before him Eunomius: the one making the Spirit a slave, though he heard here that “the wind blows where it wishes” — much more, then, shall the Spirit have a more sovereign motion, and shall work where He wills and as He wills; and Eunomius, who first sinned in these very things, and called the Spirit a creature, and moreover spoke insolently, thus knowing not even the course and impulse of the wind.

⁵ Nicodemus answered and said to him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him, Are you a master of Israel, and know not these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and you receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? Nicodemus still stands upon the Jewish lowliness; for this cause he asks again, “How can these things be?” Wherefore the Lord also, showing him that he utters these things from simplicity, says: You, being a teacher of Israel — if you would remember the marvelous wonders in the Old Testament, from the moulding of man and what follows, how he was moulded, how the woman was from the rib, how the prodigies in Egypt, how the things at the Red Sea, how barren women bore children, and the like — if you would reckon these things, as a teacher of Israel, you would not disbelieve even the things I now speak. But I speak what I know, and what I have seen — that is, what I have accurately known. For the “We have seen” signifies not bodily sight, but the most accurate knowledge. But you receive not our witness — that is, mine. And these things the Lord says, not to Nicodemus, but directing them against the race of the Jews, who disbelieved to the end. If, then, I have told you earthly things, and you believe not — that is, if I have told you of the regeneration that takes place in baptism, and you received it not, but asked, “How?” (and He calls this birth earthly, as being accomplished on earth for the benefit of men on earth; for though it is heavenly according to grace and honor, yet we are baptized while on earth) — if, then, having spoken of this earthly birth, I find you unbelieving, how shall you believe when you hear of the heavenly birth, the unutterable one, by which the only-begotten Son was begotten of the Father? But some have understood the “earthly” to be the example of the wind; so that the saying is such as this: If I have given you the example from earthly things, and not even thus were you persuaded, how shall you be able to learn the higher things?

⁶ And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. Neither does this seem to have any connection with what precedes. But if one accurately sees the mind of the Lord, it will appear most connected with what went before. For since Nicodemus named the Lord teacher and prophet, He says: Do not suppose Me, as a prophet, to be of the earth, sent from God to teach; but suppose Me to have come down from above, as Son, and not to be of the earth. No one, then, of the prophets has ascended into heaven; but I alone am to ascend, even as I also came down. And hearing that the Son of man came down from heaven, do not suppose that the flesh came down from heaven (for this is the doctrine of Apollinarius, who taught that Christ had His body from heaven, and came through the Virgin as through a channel); but, since Christ was one hypostasis — that is, one person — composed of two natures, the names of the man are spoken of the Word, and again the things of the Word are attributed to the man. So then here also the Son of man is said to have come down from heaven, as being one person, and one hypostasis. Then, lest hearing that He came down you should think that, having come down, He is no longer in heaven, He says, “Which is in heaven.” For do not, because you have heard that I came down, suppose that I am not there also; but here I am present bodily, and there I sit together with the Father divinely.

⁷ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Having spoken before of the regeneration through baptism, He speaks thereafter also of the benefit that came to us through the cross. For the cross and the death are the cause to us of the grace through baptism, seeing that, being baptized, we figure forth the death of the Lord. He does not say plainly that He is to be crucified, but makes mention of the serpent and of the Old Testament history; at once teaching us that the old things are akin to the new, and that one and the same is the lawgiver of the Old and the New Covenant — even though Marcion, and Manes, and the rest of the catalogue of such heretics, set aside the Old, saying that it is the legislation of the evil demiurge; and at the same time also instructing us, that if the Jews, looking to the bronze image of a serpent, escaped death, much more we, looking to the Crucified and believing, escape the death of the soul. And mark for me the type in relation to the truth. There, a likeness of a serpent, having the form of the beast, but not having the venom; so here also the Lord is a man, but free from the venom of sin, having come in the likeness of sinful flesh — that is, in the likeness of flesh subject to sin, yet not being flesh of sin. And there those who looked escaped a bodily death; but we escape the death of the soul: and there the one hung up healed the bites of serpents; but now Christ heals the wounds of the intelligible dragon. And hearing “be lifted up,” understand the “be hung up.” For He was hung on high, that He might sanctify the air also, who sanctified the earth by walking upon it. And understand also the “be glorified.” For truly the cross became the exaltation and glory of Christ. For in that wherein He seemed to be condemned, in that He condemned the ruler of this world. As I mean to say: Adam died justly, for he sinned; but the Lord died unjustly, for He sinned not. Until the crucifixion of the Lord, then, death justly held sway over men; but since the Lord was found sinless, what just claim had the devil over Him thereafter, that he should put Him to death? Wherefore, since He was unjustly put to death, He vanquished the one who put Him to death, and thus freed Adam also from the death justly brought upon him as a sinner. And in another way: Two things held sway over the human race — pleasure and pain; through these two, then, the Lord came, and was found unconquered. For the tempter first assailed Him on the mountain through pleasure; but finding Him in this unassailable, afterward he brought to bear his great engine, pain, that by this at least he might master His mind. And for this cause he stirred up all things against Him: the disciples to deny, the soldiers to mock, the passers-by to blaspheme, and in a word the Jews to put Him to death. But even thus he found Him unconquered. For pain could not on the cross persuade the Lord to hate those who crucified Him; nay, He loved them still, and prayed for them, saying, “Lay not this to their charge,” in that wherein He seemed to be vanquished. Thus, then, the exaltation also—

⁸ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. Great is the intensity of the love of God toward the world, and so great that He gave not an angel, not a prophet, but His Son, and Him the Only-begotten. For had He given an angel, the matter would not have been so small a thing. Why? Because the angel is His faithful servant and minister; but we are enemies and apostates. But now, having given His Son, what surpassing excess of love did He leave undone? Again, one having many sons, and giving one, does an exceeding great thing; but here He gave the Only-begotten. Surely, then, it is fitting to hymn His goodness. But the Arians say that He is called Only-begotten because He alone came to be and was created by God, while all other things were made by Him. To whom the answer is simple: that if He were called Only-begotten without the “Son,” your foolish invention would have some force; but now, the “Son” being said together with the “Only-begotten,” it does not allow us so to understand the Only-begotten, but as the only One begotten of the Father. And mark for me that, as above He said that the Son of man came down from heaven (although the flesh did not come down from heaven, yet, because of the one person and the one hypostasis, He attributed the things of God to the man), so here, on the contrary, He attributes the things of the man to God the Word. For He says that God gave His Son to death — although God remained impassible; but since one and the same according to hypostasis was both the Word of God and the man who underwent the sufferings, the Son is said to be given, and truly suffered in His own flesh. And what is the gain of the Son’s being given? How great and beyond human conceiving — that everyone who believes in Him might gain these two things: one, not to perish; the other, to have life, and that eternal. For the Old Testament promised to fill those who in it pleased God with length of days; but the Gospel bestows not a temporal life, but one eternal and indissoluble. And since there are two comings of Christ — one already accomplished, and one to come — He speaks concerning the former coming, that the Son was not sent to condemn the world. For if He had come for this, all would have been condemned; for all sinned, as Paul also says; but He came principally to save the world, and this was His aim; while incidentally He judges those who did not believe. The Mosaic law, however, came principally for the reproof of sin and the condemnation of transgressors. For it pardoned no one, but at once found one sinning, and at once brought the penalty. The first coming, then, had not for its aim to judge, except incidentally, those who disbelieved; for these are already judged. But the second coming will assuredly be for the judging of all, and the rendering to each according to his works.

⁹ He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. What is, “He that believes on Him is not condemned”? Is it then, that even if he have an unclean life, he is not condemned? Such men, indeed, Paul says are not even genuinely faithful; for he says, “They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him.” Yet here He says this, that in respect of the very believing, one is not condemned; but for his wicked works he shall give the more grievous account; yet for unbelief he is not punished, since he once believed. But he that believes not is condemned already. How? First, because this very unbelief is a condemnation. For to be outside the light is itself the greatest punishment. Then, even if he is not from now already given over to hell, yet he has gathered from now the occasions of the punishment to come; even as the murderer, though he be not yet condemned by the vote of the judge, is condemned already by the nature of the deed; and Adam too, in the day he ate of the tree, died, although he lived — but by the sentence and by the nature of the deed he was dead. Every unbeliever, then, is condemned already from now, as one assuredly to be delivered to punishment, and not even to be brought to judgment, according to the “The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment”; for the ungodly are not deemed worthy of a reckoning, even as neither is the devil. They shall not, then, rise in judgment, but in condemnation. So also in the Gospel the Lord says that the ruler of this world is judged already — not only as having himself disbelieved, but also as having made Judas a traitor, and become to others the procurer of perdition. And if the Lord, in parables, brings in those to be punished as deemed worthy of a reckoning, marvel not; first, because the things said are parables, and one ought not to take all that is said in parables as laws and canons. For in that day each man, having his conscience as an unerring judge, needs no other reproof, but goes away self-bridled. Then, the Lord brings in as deemed worthy of a reckoning, not unbelievers, but believers who are without compassion and unmerciful. But we are speaking of the ungodly and unbelievers; and one thing is the ungodly and unbeliever, and another the unmerciful and sinner. He shows here that those who did not believe are deprived of all defense. For this, He says, is the condemnation, that the light came to them, and not even thus did they run to it. For they sinned not only in this, that they did not themselves seek the light, but the worst is this, that it came to them, and yet they received it not; for this cause also they are condemned. For had the light not come, men could have alleged ignorance of the good; but since God the Word came, and gave His word to enlighten, and they received it not, they are thereafter deprived of all defense. And lest any should say that no one would prefer darkness to light, He sets down also the cause from which men came to the darkness. For their deeds, He says, were evil. For since Christianity demands not only right doctrines, but also a holy manner of life, and they wished to wallow in the mire of sin, for this cause those who do evil deeds did not wish to come to the light of Christianity, and to subject themselves to My laws. But he that does the truth — he that inclines, that is, toward a holy and God-pleasing life — runs to Christianity as to a light, that he may make the more progress in the good, and that his works may appear to be according to God. For such a one, together with believing rightly, and achieving a holy manner of life, shines before all men, and God is glorified in him. So that the cause of unbelief to the Greeks was the impurity of their life. But perhaps one will say: What then? Are there not wicked Christians, and Greeks praiseworthy in life? That there are wicked Christians, I too affirm; but that Greeks are found good, I would never say. For by nature some may be found fair and good (and this is not virtue); but from discipline and the practice of the good, none. And if some seemed good, yet they did all things for glory; and he that acts for glory, and not for the good itself, will, when he finds occasion, rejoice in the wicked desire. For if among us the threat of hell, and every other care, and the lives of countless saints, scarcely hold men in virtue, hardly will the trifling babblings and defilements among the Greeks hold those among them in the good. It were much, indeed, if they did not make them altogether wicked.

¹⁰ After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. For John was not yet cast into prison. So long as the feast of the Passover lasted, Jesus was in Jerusalem; but when it was past, He went out into the land of Judaea, and tarried near the Jordan, where many ran together. He did not seek the crowded places out of empty ambition or display, but wishing to share the benefit and the good with more; since for this very cause He also went up to the feasts, that He might profit the more, both by word and by the display of wonders. And hearing that He baptized, do not suppose that He Himself baptized, but His disciples; and the work of the disciples the evangelist refers to the Teacher. For indeed, going on, this same evangelist says that Jesus baptized not, but His disciples. And you ask, For what cause did He Himself not baptize? Learn. John had said beforehand that He should baptize them in the Holy Spirit; but the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because it was not yet the season. If, then, He had baptized, He would either have baptized without the Spirit — and wherein then would He have differed from John? — or He would have given the Spirit before the season, which is unworthy of God who does all things in their season. And what was the season of the giving of the Spirit? That after the ascension. For it behooved that the human nature should be presented sinless to the Father in Christ Jesus; and so, God being reconciled to us, the Spirit should be sent down as a wealth and a largess. The disciples of Jesus, then, baptized, that they might bring more men to the saving teaching. And while these baptized, John too still baptizes, and ceased not, accomplishing two things at once: one, the speaking to those who came to him concerning Christ, and the bringing of them to Him; the other, the not stirring up his disciples to envy and greater contention. For had he ceased baptizing, what would his disciples not have done, being more enviously disposed toward Christ? For if, crying out a thousand times, and ever yielding the first place to Christ, he did not persuade them to run to Him, into how great envy would he not have stirred them, had he ceased baptizing? Wherefore also Christ began to preach especially then, when John was shut up, because of the envy of the Baptist’s disciples. And I think that the death of John too was for this cause permitted to come most quickly, that all the disposition of the multitude might pass over to Christ, and that they might no longer be divided in their opinions concerning both, John and Christ. The disciples of Christ, then, baptize a baptism having nothing more than the baptism of John. For both were incomplete, as being without the Spirit; yet the cause of both was one — to bring beforehand to Christ those who were baptized.

¹¹ Then there arose a question between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purifying. And they came to John, and said to him, Rabbi, he that was with you beyond Jordan, to whom you bore witness, behold, the same baptizes, and all men come to him. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. There arose a question about baptism, John’s disciples disputing with a certain Jew. For the Jew set forth the baptism of Christ’s disciples, while John’s disciples set forth that of their teacher. And having disputed about the purifying — that is, the baptism — they come to their teacher, and begin to nettle him, saying: Rabbi, he that was with you, who held the rank of a disciple, having broken away, baptizes. “To whom you bore witness” — that is, whom you did baptize, whom you did make illustrious, dares such things against you; and another thing too, that no one attends to you, but all to him. For all, they say, come to him, despising you. But John, wishing to frighten them, and to show that they fight against God in hindering Christ and barring Him from being glorified, says: A man can receive nothing of himself, and so forth. For unless it had been given from above, he says, the one you envy would not be increasing. So that you sin in two things at once: one, in opposing the will of God; the other, in attempting the impossible. And at the same time he gently comforts them, that it is not a man who overcomes you, but God. But we too, he says, had from above what we had, not of ourselves. And if the things of Christ are more illustrious, one ought not to marvel; for it is God who wills it.

¹² You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that has the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. You yourselves, he says, know that I bore witness to Him that He is greater than I. If, then, you attend at all to my witness, learn that He is to be preferred before me, and this is my joy, that all should come to Him. For if the bride did not come to the bridegroom — that is, the people — then should I, the bringer of the bride, have grieved; but now that this has come to pass, I rejoice with joy. For I behold the Bridegroom Christ calling to the bride, the people, and teaching them. And not without purpose did he say also “which stands.” For he shows that his own work has ceased, and stands no longer in operation, and that it behooves him thereafter to stand, and only to hear Christ teaching and discoursing to the bride. For my work, he says, is accomplished, and I have delivered to Him the people. It behooves, then, that my glory decrease, but His increase. And how, then, does the glory of the Forerunner decrease? Surely as the morning star is hidden by the sun, and it seems to the many that its light is quenched, while in truth it is not quenched, but hidden by the greater; so also the Forerunner, the morning star, hidden by the intelligible Sun, is said to decrease. But Christ increases, in that little by little He manifests Himself through the wonders — not increasing by progress in virtue (far be it! for this is the raving of Nestorius), but by the manifestation and display of His Godhead. For little by little He manifested that He is God, and not all at once. My joy, then, he says, is fulfilled over the Bridegroom; for the work which I was entrusted with as bringer of the bride, I behold gone forward. The Bridegroom, then, of every soul, is the Lord; and the bridal chamber, where the union takes place, is the place of baptism, that is, the Church. And He gives an earnest to the bride — remission of sins, communion of the Holy Spirit; but the more perfect things in the age to come, when He shall initiate the worthy into things greater and loftier. And note that there is no other bridegroom but Christ alone; and all who teach are bringers of the bride, even as also the Forerunner was. For there is no other giver of good things but the Lord; and all the rest are mediators, and ministers of the good things given by the Lord.

¹³ He that comes from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaks of the earth: he that comes from heaven is above all. And what he has seen and heard, that he testifies; and no man receives his testimony. He that has received his testimony has set to his seal that God is true. For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God: for God gives not the Spirit by measure to him. The Forerunner compares himself to Christ, and says: He comes from above, from the Father, and is above all, set apart from all, and preserving the Father’s pre-eminence; but I, being of the earth, speak earthly things, mean and lowly, in comparison with the teaching of Christ. For indeed the things of the Forerunner himself were divine; but compared with the things of Christ, they have much that is lowly. He, he says, speaks what He has seen and heard — that is, what He heard from the Father, and what He has seen, that is, what He accurately knows, these He speaks and testifies. But His witness no one of those who attend not to the truth receives. And he that receives His witness — that is, His teaching — has set to his seal, that is, has shown, has confirmed, that God is true. For he that believes in the One sent from God, believes God, and thereafter seals and demonstrates that he believed Him as being true; even as, on the contrary, he that disbelieves the One sent from God shows that he is a liar, and for this cause did not believe Him, as though He lied; so that he who believes in Christ shows God to be true, by this very thing assuredly, the believing in the One sent from Him. For it is plain that he believed Him as being true, and rightly. For all the others, he says, received the working of the Spirit by measure; but to Christ Himself He gave not by measure perhaps one or two workings, but He Himself has the whole Spirit essentially. To the prophets, then, God both gives the Spirit — that is, the working of the Spirit — and gives it in measure; but to Christ He gives neither in measure, nor at all does He give; for Christ has it essentially. And when you hear that Christ speaks the things He heard from the Father, do not suppose Him to be in need of knowledge, and to learn from the Father; but, since all things, as many as the Son knows, He has all from the Father, as being consubstantial with Him, for this cause He is said to hear from the Father whatever He knows; even as, if you should see a son in all things like his father, you say that he has all from his father — that is, that he became like to no other than his father. And hearing of His being sent, understand it as a ray sent from the sun, the Father. Or do we not say thus, “The sun sent forth its rays,” and, “The sun let go its light,” instead of, “It sent it to the earth”? And nowhere do we say that the ray is of another essence, or later than the sun. So then also the Son was sent into the world by the intelligible Sun, the Father, as a radiance and a ray, and a light, and as you may, so far as is possible, call Him. And it is not unseasonable to say, the discourse having come to this point, how the Son has the Spirit, and how the Spirit is said to be of the Son. For the Apostle says, “He has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father”; and again, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” For the Latins, taking these things amiss and misunderstanding them, say that the Spirit proceeds from the Son. But we say to them, first, this: that one thing is to be from someone, and another to be of someone; for instance, that the Spirit is the Spirit of the Son is unquestionable, and confirmed by all Scripture; but that He is from the Son no Scripture testifies, lest we introduce two causes of the Spirit, both the Father and the Son. “Yes,” they say, “but He breathed on the disciples, and said, Receive you the Holy Ghost.” O the drunken folly! If He then gave the disciples the Spirit, when He breathed, how then did He afterward say to them, “You shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, not many days hence”? And how do we believe that the descent of the Spirit took place at Pentecost, if He gave Him in the evening of the day of the resurrection? For then assuredly He breathed. But these things are a broad jest. For it is plain that He then gave them not the Holy Spirit, but one gift of the Spirit, the remitting of sins. For He straightway adds, “Whosesoever sins you remit.” But the Son has the Spirit essentially, as being consubstantial with Him, not as being energized by Him; for the prophets are energized. And the Spirit is said to be of the Son, inasmuch as the Son is truth, and power, and wisdom, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth and of power and of wisdom. And in another way: believe you that the Spirit is of the Father — that is, proceeds from the Father; this shall be for you a canon of Orthodoxy.

¹⁴ The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him. Having spoken of Christ the lofty things, now again he utters the lowly, making his discourse easy to be received by the hearers. For this cause, he says, the Father loves the Son — discoursing as concerning some wonderful man — and has given all things into the hand of the Son, according to the human. And if also according to the divine, what of it? The Father has given all things to the Son by the law of nature, not of grace. For since He has His very being from the Father, fitly also He is said to have all things from the Father. The Son, then, has all things, both the things in heaven and the things on earth; for He is Master of all, even though they will it not. Yet afterward, when at the second coming every knee shall bow to Him, He shall receive the complete dominion of all; when wickedness shall no more have power, but, remaining without operation, shall show the nature of the good to have been from the beginning present in all, and holding all things together. He that believes on the Son has eternal life in Him — I mean Christ Himself, who is truly life. For in Him we live and move. But he that believes not shall not see life. For he that willingly departs from life, how shall he have it, which is Christ? As Paul also says, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also” — you who have become dead and unmoved toward wickedness — “appear in glory.” But the wrath of God abides on him. He did not say, “shall abide with him,” but, “upon him,” showing that it shall never depart from him. For lest, hearing of death, you should understand it temporal, he says that it abides upon him, upon the disobedient, and the punishment shall be everlasting. And through all these words the Baptist leads and urges all his hearers to faith in Christ. For not in vain does he say these things, but instructs both his own disciples and all the rest to envy Christ no longer, but to attend to Him as God.