Chapter Eight

¹ Then spoke Jesus again to them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Nicodemus having most prudently reproved the Pharisees as commanding things unlawful, they, being at a loss, used a more boorish, or rather more brutish, answer, saying, “Are you also of Galilee?” For what connection has this with the things said by Nicodemus? He said that one ought not to condemn a man without examination and judgment; they ought altogether to have answered to this, and shown that they condemn Jesus not without judgment, but lawfully, and that they sent the officers to seize Him, and do all things fittingly. But what say they? “Are you also of Galilee?” Do you see the senselessness? do you see the incoherence of their words? Then, insulting Him as unlearned, they say, “Search, and look: for out of Galilee arises no prophet”—that is, Go, learn, since until now you have not learned, that “Out of Galilee arises no prophet.” And mocking Him for unlearnedness, they say these things. But what said Nicodemus, O Pharisees? Did he say that Jesus is a prophet? He said that one ought not to slay without judgment. How, then, do you thus answer one that said such things? But Christ, since up and down they brought Galilee against Him, and disputed about Him as about one of the prophets, showing them that He is not one of the prophets, says that “I am the light”—the proper light, not a prophetic light, partial, namely, and having a small shining, but the true light, not bounded by the limits of Galilee or Palestine, but I am the light of the world, and the Master of all men; and concerning me the prophet said the, “Behold, I have set you for a light of the Gentiles.” And you shall use against Nestorius the present saying also; for He said not, “In me is the light of the world,” but, “I am the light of the world.” For He Himself, the manifest man, the same was both Son of God and light of the world; not, as Nestorius raved, that in the mere man the Son of God dwelt—far from it!—for one, as has been said, was the Son of Mary and of God. And “He that follows me,” He says, “shall not walk in darkness”—that is, shall not abide in error, but shall be freed from error and from the darkness. And at the same time He darkly hints also at Nicodemus and them that are like him, as being in the light; and at the Pharisees as being in darkness, and secretly weaving their wiles.

² The Pharisees therefore said to him, You bear record of yourself; your record is not true. Jesus answered and said to them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and where I go; but you cannot tell whence I come, and where I go. Since He said, “I am the light of the world,” they blame Him as bearing witness concerning Himself. O the folly! He up and down drew the Scriptures that witnessed concerning Himself, and they blame Him as witnessing concerning Himself; wherefore, to their malignity He also answers them: “Be it so, I bear witness concerning myself—and yet I do not this, but have three witnesses, my Father, and the works, and the Scriptures, even as has been said above; yet let us grant that I bear witness concerning myself. Though, then, I bear witness to myself, my witness is true, because I know that I am of God, and not a mere man, but coming from above and God. How, then, shall my witness be false, who am God, and therefore worthy to be believed? For surely God is a witness worthy of belief to Himself. But also, being about to depart to God who is true, how should I lie, being about to depart to Him that is true?”

³ You judge after the flesh; I judge no man. And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. “I indeed,” He says, “being God, and having come from above, bear true witness concerning myself; but you, looking only to the appearance, and because I am in the flesh, suppose me to be mere flesh, and not also God, and come from God. You judge after the flesh”—that is, unsafely. For as he that lives in the flesh is said to live basely, so also he that judges after the flesh would be said to judge unjustly. Then, as though one said, “If we the Jews judge unjustly, why do you not punish, why do you not condemn?” He says that “I came not for this, that I should judge. For I judge no man now; and even if I judge, my judgment is true.” For you would have been condemned, had I wished to judge. But now you escape the condemnation, not because I am unable to condemn you, but because it is not now the time. For to the second coming I store up your condemnation; as also elsewhere He says, that I came not to judge the world, but to save it. Since that He Himself is the judge of all, hear the unlying mouth, that the Father has given all judgment to the Son. So that when you hear, “I judge no man,” understand this said not concerning the coming to be, but the former coming. And in saying that “I am not alone, but my Father also is with me,” He showed that “Not I alone condemn you, but the Father also.” For I judge not in one way and the Father in another; but as I, so also He; and as He, so also I.

⁴ It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me bears witness of me. Let the Arians and the Eunomians speak here, who say that the Son is not consubstantial with the Father. If He were not consubstantial, how would He have dared to say that “I am of the same authority and trustworthiness with the Father”? For as, when two men bear witness concerning something, and their witness is true, it is manifest that their trustworthiness also is one; so here too He shows His own witness to be in nothing less than that of the Father. For hear what follows, spoken with authority: “I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father also bears witness of me.” Do you see the equal authority, and how He makes Himself worthy of belief, even as the Father? Which He would not have dared to say, were He inferior to the Father in worth, and not equal to Him and consubstantial. For if He had wished to show some subjection and lessening, He would not have numbered Himself with the Father, and ranged His own witness with the Father’s; but, being a servant, as the heretics impiously hold, He would have looked to one of His fellow-servants, and made him a co-witness—John, I mean, or the prophets; or simply, if He wished such witnesses, He would have found ten thousand. But now, wishing to show the consubstantiality which He has with the Father, He numbers Himself with the Father. And marvel not, if elsewhere He brings forward both John, and Moses, and the prophets, as witnessing concerning Him; for He does this with a view to the supposition of the hearers; and since they set John and Moses before Him, for this cause He draws to witness those esteemed by them glorious and great. So that, since they had a great opinion concerning God the Father also (and what else but that they glorified Him as God?), He brings forward now even that very One who is God over all, as witness. And since He ranges Himself also with such a witness, the indisputable and most unlying, it is most manifest that He is of the same authority and power with the Father. And let them be ashamed who call Him a servant and in all things less than the Father.

⁵ Then said they to him, Where is your Father? Jesus answered, You neither know me, nor my Father: if you had known me, you should have known my Father also. These words spoke Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come. Since as tempting Him they asked concerning the Father, and not for the sake of learning, for this cause He vouchsafes them not even an answer, but says, “You neither know me, nor my Father”—that is, You cannot know my Father without me; so that, though you seem to honour God, yet if you believe not Him to be Father of me the true Son, you are nothing profited. Neither do you know Him as you ought to know Him, since you would have known and honoured me also; but now, since you know not me, neither honour me, neither know you Him, nor render Him honour, though you seem to. And of your not knowing me none other is to you the cause, but you yourselves. Do you hear, you that impiously subject the Son to the Father? If He were not consubstantial with the Father, how could He have said, “If you had known me, you should have known my Father also”? For if, according to you, the Son is a creature, how does he that knows the creature know also God? For surely he that knows the essence of the angel knows not also that of God. Since, then, he that knows the Son knows also the Father, the Son is therefore of the same essence with Him. “Yea,” one says, “but he that knows the creation knows also God.” By no means; for many, or rather all, both see and know the creation, but God neither does any one see nor know. And these things Jesus spoke in the treasury, in the midst of the temple, and thus He spoke with boldness. And yet, thirsting for His blood, and having Him in their hands, they dared not seize Him. Not even thus did they understand that it is the work of divine power, in truth, to be encompassed in the midst of enemies and yet preserved unharmed and unassailed, and that too while they sought Him before the Passover and lay in wait for Him. Him, then, whom, when absent, they sought, and against whom, even absent, they were savage, when they had Him in the midst of their nets, and then could not take Him, not even thus did they recognise His power. “For his hour,” he says, “was not yet come”—that is, the fitting season of His death was not yet at hand, in which He was about to give Himself. For not even then would they have prevailed against Him, had it not been the befitting time, which He Himself stored up for Himself. For the being crucified was not of weakness, but of permission. For He permitted it, when He willed; since they indeed of old longed to slay Him, but were held back by the invisible bonds of His strength. For He had to abide yet longer in the life according to the flesh, that He might become an author of more profit to men, both through the showing of more signs, and through the words of teaching. And some understand the “Where is your Father?” to be said by the Jews to the Lord thus, as for insult and reproach. For insulting Him as born of fornication, and as not knowing His Father, they say these things; or also they say this as of His reputed father Joseph being of mean estate: “Where is your Father?” as if saying, “He is obscure and of low degree.”

⁶ Then said Jesus again to them, I go my way, and you shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: where I go, you cannot come. Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he says, Where I go, you cannot come. And he said to them, You are from beneath; I am from above: you are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins: for if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins. Wherefore does He often say to them the “I go my way, and you shall seek me”? That He may shake and frighten their souls. For observe how they straightway fell into anxiety, who in perplexity said, “Will he kill himself?” though they longed to be rid of Him, and prayed that He should be taken out of the way, and somewhere even wished to slay Him; yet they imagined something so great concerning the matter as to be in perplexity about it. And He often says, “I go my way,” showing that He foreknows His own death, and that the cross is not the work of their power, but of His own will. “For I go my way,” He says; you lead me not, but I go willingly. And in saying that “You cannot come where I go,” He shows that He shall rise in glory, and shall sit at the right hand of God, but they shall die in their sins. They, then, what say they to this? “Will he kill himself?” But the Lord, taking away this their suspicion, and showing that the killing of oneself is not without condemnation, says: You, being from beneath, and able to conceive nothing divine, consequently conceive such things; but I, not being of this world—that is, minding nothing worldly and earthly—would never come to such madness as to kill myself; for this is devilish, and not divine. But here Apollinarius, laying hold of the saying, says, altogether following the Manichaeans, that “Do you see? the body of the Lord was not of this world, but from above out of heaven, as Paul also says, that The second man is the Lord from heaven.” What, then, is to be said? He must by all means be asked, how he understands the saying spoken to the apostles by the Lord, that “You are not of the world.” Was it as though their bodies also were from heaven, and not of this creation, or because they minded not the things of the world, that the Lord said this? It is altogether plain that, since they minded not the things of the world, for this cause He said this to them. So then also is to be understood the “I am not of the world”—that is, I am not as one of you that mind the things of the world; as Paul also says to certain, “You are not in the flesh”; he says not that they are bodiless, but bears witness to them of a philosophic life and of deliverance from carnal passions. What, then, says the Lord again to them? “Except you believe me,” He says, “you shall die in your sins.” For if He came for this, that He might take away the sin of the world, and it is not possible otherwise to receive remission of sins than through baptism, but it is impossible for him that has not believed to be baptized; there is then every necessity that the unbeliever die in his own sin. For he put not off the old man, because he was not baptized; and he that believes not is already judged, and so departs.

⁷ Then said they to him, Who are you? And Jesus says to them, Even the same that I said to you from the beginning. I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. They understood not that he spoke to them of the Father. After so long a time, after the showing of so many signs, they ask Him, “Who are you?” So senseless were they, and insolent, and mockers. But the Lord says, “Even the same that I said to you from the beginning.” You, He says, are unworthy even to hear at all the words from me, much less to learn who I am; for all things you say as tempting, and willing to attend to nothing of the things from me. But I was able both to reprove you, and not only to reprove, but also to punish. For these two things He hints at, in saying, “I have many things to say and to judge of you”; by the “to say,” signifying the reproving; by the “to judge,” the condemning and sentencing. “But he that sent me,” He says, sent me not for this, that I should judge and reprove. For God sent not His Son to judge the world, but to save the world. Since, then, my Father sent me to save, and He is true, fitly I judge no man now, but only speak the things I heard from my Father—the things, namely, to salvation, not the things to reproof. And these things He said, that they might not suppose that He punishes them not as being unable; He shows, then, that not as being unable, but as not willing to punish them, He does it not, inasmuch as He came not to punish, but to save. And while He said these things, so senseless were they that they understood not, he says, that He spoke to them of His Father. And yet how much had He discoursed to them concerning the Father? But truly their foolish heart was darkened. And some understand thus the “But he that sent me is true”: “I was able even now to judge you, but I keep this for the age to come. And you disbelieve, and reckon not on the time of recompense. But though you disbelieve, yet my Father is true, who appointed a day in which it shall be recompensed to you, who also sent me to proclaim these things, and to manifest to the world His righteousness and power.”

⁸ Then said Jesus to them, When you have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me: the Father has not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. Since, having done many signs, He drew not these men, He discourses to them concerning the cross. “For you,” He says, “shall then seem to be in complete freedom from care, and to be rid of me, when, namely, you shall crucify me. But I say that you shall know that I am he”—that is, the Christ, the Son of God, who bears and leads all things, and that I am not contrary to the Father, neither do nor speak of myself; for I have no private will separated from the Father’s. And how were they about to know Him in the cross? From the signs at that time, from the resurrection and from the capture of the city. For all these things were sufficient to manifest His strength. Both things, then, you shall know—both my strength, when you crucify me, and my concord with the Father. For the Father would not have either avenged me, delivering up your city to the Romans, or wrought signs in the cross, were I not His Son, and of one mind with Him, and not an adversary of God. Then, therefore, you shall know that whatever I teach and say are from Him, divine altogether and words of God, and not mine, but His that sent me. Then, lest they should suppose that the being sent and dispatched signifies subjection, He says that “My Father is with me.” For though He sent me as man, yet I was not separated from Him, but He is with me, as God present with God. And again bringing down the discourse to the lowlier, He says, “And he has not left me alone; for I do the things that please him.” And these lowly things He utters because of the Jews. For since they said, “He is not of God, because he keeps not the sabbath,” He says, “I do the things that please him. So that, even if I loose the sabbath, this is pleasing to Him.” And by these lowly words He Himself in nothing harmed His own glory, but wrought profit to the hearers, or rather established His glory also thereby. For they that heard Him referring all things to the Father were the more attached to Him, and believed on Him; so that the lowly things rather exalted Him. Do you see the achievements of blessed lowliness? And that these things are so, hear what follows.

⁹ As he spoke these words, many believed on him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Since I said that by the lowlier words the hearers were the more drawn, this also the evangelist notes. “For as He spoke these words,” he says, “many believed”—these lowly words, and seemingly unworthy of His glory. So that everywhere, when you hear Him saying certain small and mean things concerning Himself, be not troubled. For because of the hearers He utters these things, who could conceive nothing loftier, but straightway grew savage. And why should they not suffer this, being unable to reach the depth of the theological mystery, when even to Christians who have known His power, and have been saved through Him, the height of His glory has become unattainable? And when you hear that “many believed,” understand thus, that these believed simply, and at random, not as they ought, but as it were pleased and resting upon the lowliness of the words. And that they were not such believers—exact, namely—is plain. For He said, he says, to the Jews which believed, “If you continue in my word.” For He hints that they had believed indeed, but superficially, and for this cause would not abide in the faith. And reproving them as being thus disposed, He shows that He saw their hearts, and is God. And since some had departed, who before seemed to be His disciples, for this cause to those that now believed He says, that “Those indeed departed; but if you continue in my word and faith, you shall know the truth”—that is, Me; for I am the truth. For now you know not the truth; for not truth, but type and shadow, are all the things of the law, which you think to keep. But if you know me, who am the truth, the truth shall make you free—that is, I, namely, from your sins. For he that believes on Him that takes away the sin of the world is wholly freed from sins. As, then, to the unbelievers He said, “You shall die in your sins,” so to them that continue in the faith He promises the freedom from sins. For the things of the law freed not from sins; for they were types. But the spiritual freedom sets us free, who are no longer servants.

¹⁰ They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how do you say, You shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abides not in the house for ever: but the Son abides ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Again the boasters, looking to their reputed nobility, grow savage, saying, “We be Abraham’s seed.” And yet they ought to have been indignant at another thing, if indeed they ought to be indignant at all. For He said to them, “You shall know the truth.” They ought, then, to have said, “What? do we not now know the truth, but is all that is of the law, and our knowledge, a lie?” But of none of these things had they care, but they grieve over worldly matters, supposing such bondage and low birth to be reproached to them: “We be Abraham’s seed.” Nowhere do they make mention of their own good deeds, but run up to the fathers; wherefore also John says to them, “Begin not to say, We have Abraham to our father.” And yet they manifestly lied, saying that they had been in bondage to none. For they served, as often as they were led captive—the Egyptians, and the Babylonians, and many others. But the Lord reproves them not as lying, since He was not earnest to show them servants of men, but of sin, which is also the most grievous bondage, from which God alone can deliver. For to remit sins is of God alone. Wherefore He says, “Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin”; and you, then, are servants, inasmuch as you are sinners. Then, since it was likely that they would say, “Even if we are subject to such bondage, yet we have sacrifices, yea, priests, who shall cleanse us from our sins,” He says that “Those also are servants. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” And so those priests of yours, being themselves also servants, have no authority to remit to others sins. Which Paul also says more plainly, that “The priest is bound to offer for himself, as also for the people, since he himself also is compassed with infirmities.” “The servant,” He says, “abides not in the house”—that is, has no authority to bestow favours, inasmuch as he is not master of the house; but the Son is master of the house, and abides in the house. And by “house” He means the authority, as also elsewhere He so names the rule, saying, “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” Those priests of yours, then, being servants, had no authority to remit; but I the Son, abiding in the house—in the authority, I mean, and the lordly sovereignty, and being master of the house—bestow on you freedom. For all things are mine, and I am of equal power, and of equal authority with the Father; and if I make you free, then shall you be honoured with the true freedom, whereas now you falsely ascribe to yourselves a false freedom; and you shall be in very truth free.

¹¹ I know that you are Abraham’s seed; but you seek to kill me, because my word has no place in you. I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and you do that which you have seen with your father. “You indeed,” He says, “make yourselves Abraham’s seed; and I too agree to this, that you preserve the fleshly kinship toward that holy man; only the kinship according to the spirit is absent from you. He was just, and loving to men, and hospitable; but you, that I may pass over the rest of your life, and examine only the manifest thing which you now do, are murderous and unloving; for you seek to kill me, and cry out against me. How, then, are you truly his sons, falling so far short of the fatherly characters? If, then, you boast of the kinship, you ought also to imitate his virtue.” Then, lest they should be able to say, “Justly we seek to kill you,” He sets down the cause: “For you rave against me,” He says, “for no other reason than because my word is loftier than your understanding, and not to be contained by you.” And yet you ought not for this to slay, but rather to deem me worthy, that I might teach you the loftiness of the doctrines, and to honour and attend me. Then, lest they should say to Him, “And with reason we hate you for your word; for you speak to us not from God, but from yourself, and for this cause neither can we contain your teaching,” He says that “I speak not of myself, but the things I have seen with my Father, these I speak; and you also do the things you have seen with your father. For I,” He says, “utter divine and heavenly things, and through these I make manifest my Father; and you also image your own father, by the things you do—the devil, namely.” And when you hear Him saying, “What I have seen I speak,” conceive not a bodily seeing, but a natural knowledge, both true and assured. For as eyes seeing soundly that which is, and true, see truly, and lie not; so I also truly speak those things which I have known with the Father.

¹² They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus says to them, If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. You do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. He indeed inscribes the devil to them as father; for He sees them to be like to him from their works. But they up and down bring forward Abraham. And continually the Lord makes mention of their murderous purpose, and leads them away from the kinship of the just one; that He may both cut off their superfluous boasting, and persuade them to set their hopes not in this vain pride over the fleshly kinship, but in the likeness according to purpose. For truly, as a physician of souls, He allays the inflammation arising from the conceit over Abraham’s kinship, by which they were hindered from coming to Christ, deeming such kinship sufficient for them to salvation. “You are not, then, children of Abraham, being murderous, and seeking to kill me.” Then, lest any say, “Justly they seek to kill you,” He says, “a man” not an adversary of God, nor establishing His own glory, but one that speaks the things He heard from the Father, and proclaims the truth. And what was this truth? Even that He is equal to the Father, and not a servant, as one of the prophets, but Son, doing nothing nor speaking anything of His own, but all the things of the Father. For these things they sought to kill Him. But they again say, “We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.” Behold a senseless puffing-up. The Lord casts them even out of the kinship of Abraham; but they so boast as out of madness to make themselves sons even of God Himself. For since they heard, “Israel is my firstborn son,” they boast of the divine adoption. And yet they ought to have heard God saying again elsewhere, “I have begotten and exalted sons, but they have set me at nought.” And though the Lord was able to reprove them, that many of them were born of fornication (for Hebrew women mingled, contrary to the law, with Gentiles, and Gentile women with Jews), yet He does not this. For not this was His earnest care, but the whole was, not to leave them in their base-born conceit, but to lead them up to the spiritual nobility.

¹³ Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? even because you cannot hear my word. Since He cast them out of the kinship toward Abraham, they rose to the greater, making God their father. For as He reproached them that they are murderous, they, as it were pleading in their own defence that they avenge God, and for this cause take counsel against Him, say such things. Wherefore also the Lord, showing that they neither avenge God, nor are children of God by this very thing, the plotting murder against Him (as they thought), but rather set themselves against God, says that “If God were your Father, you would love me. For I proceeded forth from God”—into the world, namely, according to the coming in the flesh. For am I an adversary of God? I came from Him; so that you are enemies of Him, in warring against me. “Why do you not understand my speech,” nor perceive and conceive the things I say? For no other cause assuredly than the not being able to hear my word—that is, the not willing (for the “not being able” stands for “not willing”). For so long as envy has its citizenship in you, and a murderous mind, how shall you be able to hear the things I say?

¹⁴ You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, you believe me not. He said, “You cannot hear my word,” instead of, “You will not.” Then He adds also the cause, why they would not: “Because you are of your own father; of whom, I say? of the devil. For you indeed inscribe to yourselves God as father out of madness; but your works bear witness to the devil as your more genuine father; for his lusts you will do.” And He said not, “the works,” but, “the lusts,” showing that they were very lustfully disposed toward both the lie and murder, the special evils of the devil. For he was a murderer from the beginning; so that you also, seeking to kill me, are like to him that put Adam to death. But also he abode not in the truth, but is the father of the lie; and you, then, lying against me, and saying that I am not of God, and not standing in the truth, nor abiding in my word, are children of him that fathered the lie. For he both slandered God to men, saying to Eve, “Out of envy he forbade you the tree”; and again slandered men to God, saying of Job, “Does Job serve God for nought?” “When, therefore, he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own”—that is, men indeed using the lie use it as a thing alien to them; but the devil uses the lie as his own; for it is his offspring, and he is properly the liar, and the father of it—that is, of the lie—is he himself. For he said to Eve, “In the day you eat, you shall be as gods.” But they reaped rather death. “And I, because I tell the truth,” He says, “you believe me not.” For having nothing else to charge against me but the truth alone, for this cause you rave against me, as children of the father of the lie.

¹⁵ Which of you convinces me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me? He that is of God hears God’s words: you therefore hear them not, because you are not of God. Then answered the Jews, and said to him, Say we not well that you are a Samaritan, and have a devil? Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and you do dishonour me. And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeks and judges. Since they named themselves sons of God, He says that “If you are sons of God, you ought by all means to hate the sinner. If, then, you can convict me also, whom you hate, as sinning, it is plain that you justly hate; but if no one can convict me, it is manifest that for the truth’s sake you hate me.” And what truth? Even surely that He called Himself Son of God, which is wholly true. “And he that is of God hears God’s words”; so that you also, if you were children of God, would not disobey me, nor would you thirst for murder against the Son of God come from above, and uttering the things of God. The Lord, then, thus meekly; but they pass over into insults. “Say we not well,” they say, “that you are a Samaritan, and have a devil?” A Samaritan they called Him, as loosing the Jewish customs, such as that of the sabbath; for the Samaritans Judaized not exactly. And they call Him possessed, perhaps in that manner according to which they said also that He cast out the demons by the prince of the demons. For all that slandered Him as casting out the demons by Beelzebub said that He had the demon of Beelzebub, by whom He wrought the wonders. And perhaps also, inasmuch as He uncovered their thoughts and devices, they thought Him to have a demon, supposing that by demons the hidden things of their heart were recognised by Him. And when did they call Him a Samaritan? Nowhere has the evangelist said this. From this, then, it is plain that the evangelists passed over many things, and wrote not all, as elsewhere also we have noted this same thing. They, then, thus insult Him, but He with longsuffering receives the insults against Him. For when they called themselves sons of God, He vehemently reproves them, avenging the truth; but when they insult Him, He avenges not Himself, teaching us also to avenge the things against God, but to bear meekly the things against ourselves; as therefore He Himself meekly says, “I have not a devil, but I honour my Father.” And how did He honour the Father? By avenging Him, and not enduring that they, the murderous and lying, should be named sons of the true Saviour. “You, then,” He says, “because I honour my Father, insulted by you, who slander Him to be your father, for this cause dishonour me. But though I avenge not myself, and bear with being insulted, think not that this insult shall be left unavenged. For there is the Father, who shall avenge me, that am insulted for this cause, that I avenge Him, and endure not your making yourselves sons of His. There is, then, one that seeks my glory, and not only seeks, but is also able to judge and condemn those that unreasonably insult me.” For often one seeks indeed that the insult be avenged, but is not himself able to judge; but the Father both seeks the glory of the Son, and is able to judge. For this cause, then, He said, “There is one that seeks and judges.”

¹⁶ Truly, truly, I say to you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. Then said the Jews to him, Now we know that you have a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and you say, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. O the love to man! They insult, but He, committing the seeking and the avenging of His glory to the Father, turns to exhortation and teaching, benefiting them that insult Him. So ought we also to requite our enemies. What, then, said He to them? “If a man keep my saying”—that is, if, together with believing, he have also a pure life; for then a man truly keeps the Lord’s teaching, when he has also a pure life. Such a one, then, shall not see death, the death by which sinners die, being delivered in the age to come to immortal punishment, and falling away from the real life. And at the same time He hints to them, that “If he that keeps my word dies not, much more I. Why, then, do you thirst for murder against me, who can so little be holden by death, as rather to bestow on others the real life?” For they that believe, even if they die naturally, yet live in God. But the Jews, what say they to this? They think Him to be possessed, as saying certain strange things out of derangement. “For they that gave ear to the words of God died, Abraham and the prophets; and they that give ear to yours, shall they not die? Truly now,” they say, “we have known, fully assured and surely, that you are possessed, saying such things.”

¹⁷ Are you greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom do you make yourself? Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honours me; of whom you say, that he is your God: yet you have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like to you: but I know him, and keep his saying. The senseless ones, not understanding what death the Lord said touches not them that believe on Him, utter to Him certain unreasonable and foolish things. For observe how they answer: “Are you greater than our father Abraham?” And yet thus they ought to have said: “Are you greater than God? They that heard the word of God died; and they that hear yours, shall they not die?” But not so; but what say they? Wishing to show Him even less than Abraham, “Are you greater,” they say, “than our father Abraham?” But the Lord, concerning what death He spoke, reveals not to them; but that He is better than Abraham, He persuades them, going down a little. And the “Whom do you make yourself?” they say insolently: “You that are worthy of no account, the carpenter’s son, He of Galilee, whom do you make yourself? Not the works, nor the truth, nor the Scriptures, but you—whom do you make yourself? for you snatch glory.” But the Lord: “If I honour myself, my honour is nothing,” as you suppose; but now there is another that honours me, my Father. For He honoured Him continually, both through the prophecies concerning Him, and through the witness from heaven, and through the countless and boundless wonders. “And this Father you,” He says, “say that He is your God; but neither do you recognise Him as my Father, nor as your God. For if you recognised Him as my Father, you would have honoured the Son also; but now, not honouring the Son, it is plain that you know Him not as my Father. But neither do you recognise Him as God simply; for else you would have trembled at His words as God’s; but now you so despise Him, that, though He commanded, ‘You shall not kill,’ you thirst for murder against me, and that having nothing whereof to convict me of sin. From these things, then, it is plain that you are wholly ignorant of Him. But I know Him naturally, having altogether the knowledge of Him. For such as I am, such also is the Father; since, then, I know myself, I know Him also. And if I should say, I know Him not, I shall be a liar like you. For you, boasting to know Him, lie; but I, knowing Him, if I should say I know Him not, deny the truth.” And what proof do you give of knowing Him? “Because,” He says, “I keep his word,” calling “word” His commandments. For neither do I set myself against Him, nor boast as an adversary of God, nor loose His commandments. But you, since you are caught as transgressors of His commandments, held by evil lusts, and thirsting for murder, and lustfully accomplishing the other things forbidden in the law, are manifestly known to be ignorant of Him. For if you knew Him, you would keep His word—that is, the commandments. And some understand thus the “I keep his word”—that is, For this cause I know Him, because I have in myself unaltered the word of His essence, that is, the definition; and whatever word of nature the Father has, such a word I also have; for the same is the nature, and the same the word of the essence, in the Father and in the Son; so that I know the Father, for I preserve the word of His essence unaltered. And this figure of speech is usual with the Scripture, as the, “Give us help from trouble, and vain is the salvation of man.” For here the “and” stands for “for”; so that the meaning is of this kind: “Give us help, for vain is the salvation of man.” So here also: “I know Him, and keep His word”; for the “and” stands for “for”: “For I keep His word,” He says.

¹⁸ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews to him, You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by. Here He establishes that He is greater than Abraham. For since they brought forward against Him, “Are you greater than our father Abraham?” He says here, “Yea, I am greater. For he rejoiced to see my day”—that is, he held it earnestly desired and prayed for and an occasion of joy, namely as being altogether for benefit, and as being a day not of some small or chance thing, but of a greater. And by “day” He means the cross. For this Abraham foretypified in the offering of Isaac, and the sacrifice of the ram. For as he bore the wood, so the Lord bore the cross; and as Isaac was let go, but the ram was sacrificed; so God remained without suffering, but in the human nature and the flesh He suffered. This day of the cross Abraham foreseeing rejoiced, as of the salvation of the world about to come. And at the same time He shows them here aliens from Abraham, since at the things over which he rejoiced these rave and are mad. And He makes plain that He comes not unwilling to the passion, since He praises him that was gladdened at the cross; for this, as has been said, is the salvation of the world. And others understand by “day” the whole time of the coming of Christ, which Abraham foreseeing rejoiced, that out of him and his seed the Saviour should arise. And perhaps not Abraham alone rejoiced, but all, as David says, “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it.” He, then, says these things. But they, not able to reach to the height of the things spoken, neither endure to ask and learn what day He means which Abraham saw; but rather they mock, as one uttering certain mad things. “For you are not yet fifty years old,” they say, “and have you seen Abraham?” And this they said, supposing the Lord to be near fifty, though He was then about thirty-three years old. And wherefore said they not, “You are not yet forty years old,” but “fifty”? Superfluous indeed is such a question; for it came to them simply, and so they made mention of the fifty years. Yet some say that it was because the fiftieth year was held by them in honour—the jubilee year, I mean, in which also they freed slaves, and gave up purchased possessions, and accomplished all the other things that brought honour to God. But the Lord, what says He? “Before Abraham was, I am.” Observe, He said not, “Before Abraham was, I was,” but, “I am.” For this expression, “I am,” is more proper to God, as signifying the being continually and ever; as therefore His Father also in the Old Testament uses this: “I am that I am.” But concerning Abraham He said “was,” fitly, as of a corruptible being. For that which has come to be is also corrupted; but the “I am” shows a divine unpartaking of all corruption and an eternity. Wherefore also they, deeming the saying blasphemous (for it befits God alone), took up stones against Him; but He hides Himself again, withdrawing, that He might not die before the time. And how does He hide Himself? Not by slipping into a corner of the temple, nor by fleeing into some chamber, or bending behind a wall and a pillar, but by making Himself, by divine authority, invisible to them that plotted against Him, though He went out through the midst of them. “And so passed by”—that is, He went through simply thus and without effect for the time being. And observe me, how He indeed fulfilled all His own part. For He both sufficiently taught them, both concerning Himself and the Father, and showed the real nobility and the freedom from sins, and that the only shameful bondage is that of sin, and simply, in nothing of what was needful was He lacking; but they even stone Him. Wherefore also He leaves them, as no longer receiving correction. And he noted that these that stoned Him were the very men of whom the evangelist said that they believed on Him; so then their faith was not faith, but a certain temporary and cold disposition toward the things spoken by Christ.