Excerpts adapted from the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series. Passages attributed to “Anonymous” are from unnamed Christian writers from the patristic era (2nd–8th century), preserved in a reliably ancient source.
Reading 1 (Acts 6:1-7)
OVERVIEW: This incident, which has its own interest for an understanding of church order (see Ammonius and Chrysostom on the imposition of hands and Chrysostom and Bede on the manner of choice), is intended by Luke to introduce Stephen, whose discourse and martyrdom are a key factor in his narrative. The pastoral implications of the passage are pointed out by Chrysostom, Didymus and Arator: difficulties in the community, the qualities of a leader, the relation between fruitfulness and suffering.
6:1 The Hellenists and the Hebrews
DIFFICULTIES FROM WITHOUT AND WITHIN. CHRYSOSTOM: “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Hellenists against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.” It was not absolutely in those immediate days, for it is the custom of Scripture to speak of things that are about to happen as taking place in immediate succession. But by “Hellenists” I suppose he means those who spoke Greek, for these, being Hebrew, spoke Greek. Behold another trial! Observe how from within and from without there are warrings, from the very first! “Then,” it says, “the twelve called the multitude of the disciples to them, and said, It is reasonable that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.” Well said: for the needful must give precedence to the more needful. But see, how they take thought directly for these inferior matters and yet do not neglect the preaching. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 14.
UNEQUAL TREATMENT OF WIDOWS. BEDE: The cause of this grumbling was the fact that the Hebrews gave preferential treatment in the ministry to their own widows, inasmuch as they were more fully instructed, over the widows of the Hellenists. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 6.1.
6:2 Continuing to Preach the Word
NOURISHMENT OF THE APOSTLES’ WORDS. ARATOR: Oh, rich glory of the apostles’ speech, never to permit people to feel a famine of virtues! A distributed sum of money desires increase. The coin of language entrusted to them was displeasing when it remained alone. That passage shows that food for the mind is better for an uncultivated people than victuals spread through their limbs and that the richness of the heavenly word nourishes a broadly skilled mind. For of what advantage are the foods of bodily nourishment when the soul is hungry? ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.
6:3 Seven Men of Good Repute
THE PEOPLE CHOOSE. CHRYSOSTOM: Now when Matthias was to be presented, it was said, “It must be someone who has been with us the whole time.” But not so here, since this was different. No longer did they put it to the lot, and although they could have made the choice themselves, moved as they were by the Spirit, they wanted the testimony of the people. Determining the number, ordaining the chosen and other such business rested with them, but the choice itself they entrusted to the people, so as not to give the appearance of showing favor. For even God entrusted it to Moses to choose as elders the men he knew. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 14.
LIKE COLUMNS OF THE ALTAR. BEDE: For this reason, the apostles or the successors of the apostles throughout all of the churches now decided upon seven deacons who would be of higher rank than the others and who would stand closer around the altar, like the columns of the altar. Their being seven in number is not without some symbolism. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 6.3.
THE DIGNITY OF SERVICE. ARATOR: lest, however, the circumstance waiting on tables forsaken by the apostles be thought more lowly, the handling of it was entrusted to distinguished deacons, and that precious service possessed a heavenly number. ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.
6:5 Full of Faith and of the Holy Spirit
HAVING FAITH AND FULL OF FAITH. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: Of those who have a share in virtue, some possess it perfectly and others imperfectly. Hence it is said of Stephen that he was selected because he was full of faith and the Spirit, as every believer is not full of faith. Someone upon whom Peter looked is said to “have faith” but not to be full of faith. CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
WISDOM AS WELL AS FAITH. CHRYSOSTOM: For indeed great wisdom is needed in such ministries. Do not think, just because he was not entrusted with the word, that such a person does not need wisdom; on the contrary, he is in great need of it. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 14.
6:6 Prayer and Laying on of Hands
GOD’S HAND ORDAINS. CHRYSOSTOM: They set them apart from the multitude. The people themselves drew them to the ordination, and the apostles did not lead. Notice how he does nothing excessive. He does not say how it was done but only that they were ordained through prayer. For this is the meaning of “ordination” (in Greek, “stretching out the hand”): the hand that is laid upon the head belongs to a person, but God effects it all, and it is his hand that touches the head of the ordained one, if he is duly ordained. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 14.
AN ANCIENT CUSTOM. AMMONIUS: It is to be noted that the ordination comes by the word of the leaders through their prayer and the imposition of their hands, and that the rank of deacons was given to deacons from the beginning, and that this custom has been observed until now. CATENA ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 6.6.
6:7 The Word of God Increased
THE WORD INCREASES AFTER TRIALS. CHRYSOSTOM: In Jerusalem the number increased. It is wonderful that where Christ was slain, there the preaching increased! Not only did it not happen that some people were offended in the case of Ananias, but the awe became even greater; all the while some were flogged, others threatening, others tempting the Spirit and others murmuring. Notice, if you please, under what circumstances the number increased. It was after the trials—not before—that the number increased. And see how great is the mercy of God. The chief priests who were shouting such things, who were indignant, highly vexed, who said, “he saved others. He cannot save himself.” It was from the ranks of these that many priests, it says, “were obedient to the faith.” HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 14.
Psalm (33:1-5, 18-19)
OVERVIEW: Rejoice in the Lord, not in human conditions (BASIL). In order to rejoice like this, submit the will to God (AUGUSTINE). To rejoice in the Lord is to rejoice in wisdom (EVAGRIUS). Its object is an everlasting joy (AUGUSTINE). The harp by which we make melody to God is our own selves (CASSIODORUS), the harp of our bodily actions (BASIL) empowered by love (AUGUSTINE). The new song is the new covenant sung by new people (AUGUSTINE). The loud shout comes from their unity and harmony by the Spirit (BASIL). The work of God is firm and permanent (THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA), and we attribute all to the providence of God (BASIL). It is typical of God to show both kindness and justice (DIODORE, THEODORE), and we see an order in which kindness is followed by justice in the case of the unrepentant (HESYCHIUS, BASIL). These are two realities in God (AUGUSTINE). But we especially note that he is full of mercy (CASSIODORUS) and that the present time is the time for mercy (AUGUSTINE).
The Lord created all things immediately by his Word and his Spirit (THEODORET, HILARY OF POITIERS). Some see only metaphor here (THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA). But most see a clear reference to the Trinity (JEROME, CASSIODORUS, NICETAS), in fact, the very rule of truth concerning God’s act in creation (IRENAEUS). Specifically, we see the equal dignity of the divine Spirit (BASIL, JOHN OF DAMASCUS, ORIGEN). Nevertheless, many have fallen into the error of idolatry (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA). The rationale of divine providence is hidden in the depths of God (BASIL), but we move in the direction of understanding when we praise him in all things (EVAGRIUS). Humanity especially needs to be brought under the divine will (CASSIODORUS).
The counsel of the nations is contrary to the will of God (EVAGRIUS), as is seen especially in the matter of the Lord’s passion (BASIL). Such is the mystery of Christ (CASSIODORUS). The Lord’s counsel prevails (THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA). His plan is unchanging (AUGUSTINE, FULGENTIUS), which is a blessing for his people (THEODORET, THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA). The Lord himself is our true happiness (AUGUSTINE). The Lord is the lofty spectator who sees and knows all (BASIL) and especially looks on us in grace (CASSIODORUS) from his human vantage point (AUGUSTINE). It is not that he is ignorant of anything (THEODORET). Rather, he has formed us individually (THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA) according to his purpose (CASSIODORUS), knowing us completely, even to the intentions of our hearts (AUGUSTINE, THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA). Demons, however, do not have this knowledge (EVAGRIUS). Consequently, only he can truly help us (ORIGEN, CHRYSOSTOM).
True help comes only from heaven (HESYCHIUS, BASIL). Consequently, we need to recognize God as God (AUGUSTINE), for no one is safe apart from God (ARNOBIUS THE YOUNGER). Specifically, we hope in his mercy (ARNOBIUS THE YOUNGER, BASIL, AUGUSTINE). Watchfulness is precisely his relationship with us (SALVIAN). He grants us salvation in the present and in the future (PSEUDO-ATHANASIUS, CASSIODORUS), teaching us the virtue of patience (CASSIODORUS) as he shields us with his protection (THEODORE). The Lord thus sustains us (ARNOBIUS THE YOUNGER) with higher delights (EVAGRIUS). We rejoice in him, not in ourselves (AUGUSTINE).
33:1 Rejoice in the Lord
REJOICE IN GOD. BASIL THE GREAT: “Rejoice,” therefore, “in the Lord, O you righteous,” not when the interests of your home are flourishing, not when you are in good health of body, not when your fields are filled with all sorts of fruits, but when you have the Lord—such immeasurable Beauty, Goodness, Wisdom. Let the joy that is in him suffice for you. . . . For the just person, the divine and heavenly joy is lasting, since the Holy Spirit dwells in him once and for all. “But the firstfruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace.” Therefore, “rejoice in the Lord, O you just.” The Lord is like a place capable of containing the just, and there is every reason for one who is in him to be delighted and to make merry. Moreover, the just person becomes a place for the Lord when he receives God in himself . . . . Let us, then, who are in the Lord and who, as much as we are able, observe closely his wonders, so draw joy to our hearts from the contemplation of them. HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 15.1 (PS 33).
THE WILL OF THE RIGHTEOUS. AUGUSTINE: Who are the upright? Those who direct their hearts in accordance with the will of God. If human frailty unsettles them, divine tranquility consoles them, for although they may privately in their mortal hearts want something that serves their present purpose, or promotes their business or meets their immediate need, once they have understood and recognized that God wants something different, they prefer the will of One better than themselves to their own, the will of the Almighty to that of a weakling, the will of God to that of a human being. As God is infinitely above his human creatures, so is God’s will far above the will of men and women. This is why Christ took the mantle of humanity, set us an example, taught us how to live and gave us the grace to live as he taught. To this end he let his human will be seen. In his human will he embodied ours in advance, since he is our Head and we all belong to him as his members, as you know well. “Father,” he said, “if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.” . . . “See yourself reflected in me,” Christ says, because you have the capacity to want something on your own account that is at variance with God’s will. This is natural to human frailty, characteristic of human weakness and difficult for you to avoid. But when it happens, think immediately about who is above you. Think of God above you, and yourself below him, of him as your Creator and yourself as his creature, of him as Lord and yourself as servant, of him as almighty and yourself as weak. Correct yourself, subject yourself to his will, and say, “Not what I will, but what your will be done, Father.” EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 33.2.
REJOICE IN WISDOM. EVAGRIUS OF PONTUS: The Lord is wise, so by rejoicing in the Lord, the righteous rejoice in wisdom. NOTES ON THE PSALMS 32[33].1.
EVERLASTING JOY. AUGUSTINE: Let the unjust dance for joy in this world, by all means; but when this world comes to an end, there will be an end to their dancing. Let the just dance for joy in the Lord, for the Lord abides forever, and so will the exultation of the just. EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 33.1.
33:2 The Harp of Ten Strings
WE ARE THE HARP. CASSIODORUS: The harp and the lute are within us, or rather, we ourselves are the instruments when in their likeness we sing by the Lord’s grace through the quality of our actions. EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 33.2.
THE BODILY HARP. BASIL THE GREAT: It is necessary to praise the Lord on the harp; that is, to render harmoniously the actions of the body. Since, indeed, we sinned in the body, “when we yielded our members as slaves of sin, to lawlessness,” let us give praise with our body, using the same instrument for the destruction of sin. Have you reviled? Bless. Have you defrauded? Make restitution. Have you been intoxicated? Fast. Have you made false pretensions? Be humble. Have you been envious? Console. Have you murdered? Bear witness, or afflict your body with the equivalent of martyrdom through confession. And then, after confession you are worthy to play for God on the ten-stringed psaltery. For it is necessary, first, to correct the actions of our body, so that we perform them harmoniously with the divine Word and thus mount up to the contemplation of things intellectual. . . . One, therefore, who observes all the precepts and makes, as it were, harmony and symphony from them, this one, I say, plays for God an a ten-stringed psaltery. HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 15.2 (PS 33).
EMPOWERED BY LOVE. AUGUSTINE: Take up the psaltery and sing psalms to God on this psaltery with its ten strings. There are ten commandments in the law, and in these ten commandments you find the psaltery. . . . All these commandments are from God. They were granted to us as the gift of divine wisdom and are trumpeted from heaven. Pluck your psaltery, then, and fulfill the law, for the Lord your God came not to supersede it but to bring it to perfect fulfillment. . . . For the Lord will grant sweetness and our earth shall yield its fruit, so that you are enabled to carry through by love what you found difficult when your motive was fear. EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 33.6.
33:3 Sing a New Song
NEW PEOPLE SING IT. AUGUSTINE: Strip off your oldness; you know a new song. A new person, a New Covenant, a new song. People stuck in the old life have no business with this new song; only those who are new persons can learn it, renewed by grace and throwing off the old, sharers already in the New Covenant, which is the kingdom of heaven. All our love yearns toward that, and in its longing our love sings a new song. Let us sing this new song not with our tongues but with our lives. EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 33.8.
THE LOUD SHOUT. BASIL THE GREAT: The loud noise is a certain inarticulate sound, when those who are fighting side by side in a war shout out in unison with each other. Sing, then, in harmony and in agreement and in union through charity. HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 15.3 (PS 33).
33:4 All God’s Work
FIRM AND PERMANENT. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Everything done by God is firm and permanent. The insertion of both these phrases was necessary in the light of the foregoing: he had to recommend thanksgiving and show the justice of the victory and the permanence of the gift so that the thanksgiving and hymn singing to him would emerge as a response to both, the provision of just assistance and the gift of abiding beneficence. He is saying, then, that both these features characterize what is done by God, and if either is missing, the level of thanksgiving could be diminished. That is to say, if the assistance were unjust, it would not be appropriate to offer thanks on their behalf, even though thanks are due for what is received, or if it underwent rapid change, it thus would be unnecessary to give thanks for good things that do not last. COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 33.4B.
THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD. BASIL THE GREAT: “If you see the heavens,” he says, “and the order in them,” they are a guide to faith, for through themselves they show the Craftsman; and, if you see the orderly arrangement about the earth, again through these things also your faith in God is increased. In fact, it is not by acquiring knowledge of God with our carnal eyes that we believe in him, but by the power of the mind we have perceived the invisible God through visible things. Therefore, “all his works are done with faithfulness.” Even if you consider the stone, it also possesses a certain proof of the power of its Maker. Likewise, if you consider the ant or the gnat or the bee. Frequently in the smallest objects the wisdom of the Creator shines forth. He who unfolded the heavens and poured out the boundless expanses of the seas, he it is who hollowed out the very delicate sting of the bee like a tube, so that through it the poison might be poured out. Therefore “all his works are done with faithfulness.” Do not say, “This happened by chance” and “that occurred accidentally.” Nothing is casual, nothing indeterminate, nothing happens at random, nothing among things that exist is caused by chance. And do not say, “It is a bad mishap,” or “it is an evil hour.” These are the words of the untaught. “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And yet not one of them will fall without the divine will. How many are the hairs of your head? Not one of them will be forgotten. Do you see the divine eye, how none of the least trifles escapes its glance? HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 15.3 (PS 33).
33:5 Righteousness and Justice
TYPICAL OF GOD. DIODORE OF TARSUS: This is typical of God, both to show lovingkindness and to judge—to show lovingkindness for those who hope in him and to condemn those who trust in themselves. COMMENTARY ON PSALM 33.
GRACE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Grace and righteousness are characteristic of what is done by God. In other words, he said that loving is characteristic of him, speaking perhaps excessively and meaning that not only does what has been done in the past have these two characteristics, but also he is very fond of doing such things as happen to have these two characteristics. COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 33.5A.
KINDNESS, THEN JUDGMENT. HESYCHIUS OF JERUSALEM: He places kindness before judgment because God uses kindness, then judgment against those who continue in sin. LARGE COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 33.5.
THE MERCIFUL JUDGE DESIRES REPENTANCE. BASIL THE GREAT: The Judge wishes to have mercy on you and to share his own compassion. . . . But if he sees your heart unrepentant, your mind proud, your disbelief of the future life and your fearlessness of the judgment, then he desires the judgment for you, just as a reasonable and kind doctor tries at first with hot applications and soft poultices to reduce a tumor, but, when he sees that the mass is rigidly and obstinately resisting, casting away the olive oil and the gentle method of treatment, he prefers henceforth the use of the knife. Therefore, God loves mercy in the case of those repenting, but he also loves judgment in the case of the unyielding. HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 15.3 (PS 33).
TWO REALITIES IN GOD. AUGUSTINE: Make no mistake, brothers and sisters: in God these two realities cannot be separated. We might think that they are mutually exclusive, so that a person who is merciful is not allowing judgment its rights, while someone who insists on judgment is forgetting mercy. But God is almighty, and he neither loses sight of judgment when exercising mercy nor abandons mercy when passing judgment. He looks mercifully on his image, taking our frailty into account, and our mistakes and our blindness; he calls us, and when we turn back to him, he forgives our sins. But he does not forgive those who refuse to turn back. Is he merciful to the unjust? He has lost sight of judgment, has he? Is he not right to judge between the converted and the unconverted? Or does it seem just to you that the converted and unconverted should receive the same treatment, that one who confesses and one who lies, the humble and the proud, should all be welcomed without distinction? Even as he exercises mercy, God has a place for judgment. EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 33.11.
FULL OF MERCY. CASSIODORUS: He describes the Lord by telling what he has done or what he does every day. We say that we love the things in which we are often engaged. So here the Lord’s love of mercy is celebrated in song . . . because he often imparts this mercy as a gift. . . . Since in this world he shows his love of mercy when he scatters it far and wide, when he bears with sinners, when he patiently waits for blasphemers, when he offers life to the unworthy and other similar acts that plainly ought to be attributed to divine compassion. . . . What follows is the statement that “the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord.” It is just this mercy that preserves us when we are miserable, when we struggle in the battle because of the devil’s attack, when we are distracted from the commands of heaven by the weakness of our flesh. . . . Therefore let us seek the mercy with which the entire world is filled. EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 33.5.
THE TIME FOR MERCY. AUGUSTINE: This present time is the season for mercy, but the season for judgment will come later. Why do we say that this is the season for mercy? Because at this present time God calls those who have turned away from him and forgives their sins when they return; he is patient with sinners until they are converted, and when they are converted at last he forgets everything in their past and promises them a future, encouraging the sluggish, comforting the troubled, guiding the eager and helping the embattled. He deserts no one who struggles and calls out to him; he bestows on us the wherewithal to offer him sacrifice; and he himself gives us the means of winning his favor. Let us not allow this time of mercy to pass away, my brothers and sisters, let it not pass us by. Judgment is coming. EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 33.10.
33:18 The Eye of the Lord
HOPE IN GOD’S MERCY. ARNOBIUS THE YOUNGER: For the eyes of the Lord are not looking on those trusting in their own strength but those hoping in his mercy. He will snatch their spirits from death and shelter them. COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 33.
DO NOT TRUST YOUR OWN GOOD DEEDS. BASIL THE GREAT: He who does not trust in his own good deeds or expect to be justified by his works has, as his only hope of salvation, the mercies of God. For, when he considers that the expression “Behold the Lord and his reward” refers to each according to his work, and when he ponders his own evil deeds, he fears the punishment and cowers beneath the threats. There is good hope that gazes steadfastly at the mercies and kindness of God lest it be swallowed up by grief. He hopes that his soul will be delivered from death and will be fed by him in famine. HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 15.10 (PS 33).
SEEKING SALVATION. AUGUSTINE: If it is salvation that you seek, be aware that the elective love of the Lord rests on those who fear him “and trust in his mercy,” rather than putting their hope in their own strength. EXPOSITIONS OF THE PSALMS 33.18.
WATCHFULNESS. SALVIAN THE PRESBYTER: God is said to watch over the just, that he may maintain and protect them. Watchfulness by his gracious divinity is the function of his relationship with people. THE GOVERNANCE OF GOD 2.1.
33:19 God Delivers Their Souls
SALVATION, PRESENT AND FUTURE. PSEUDO-ATHANASIUS: Those who fear him, those who hope for his mercy, he saves from spiritual death and nourishes in a spiritual way, that they may also say, “Let your mercy be on us, Lord, as we have hoped in you.” EXPOSITION ON PSALMS 33.
THE TWO PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL. CASSIODORUS: These are the two prayers of the most faithful Christian: to be rescued from eternal death at the coming judgment and to spend time here with spiritual nourishment. The Lord rescues the souls of the just from death when he raises them from the power of the devil, when by his kindness he frees those held captive by sin. In hunger, he feeds them while they are in this world, when there is a lack of good things. He does not cease to nourish with spiritual food those whom he has redeemed. EXPLANATION OF THE PSALMS 33.19.
Reading 2 (1 Peter 2:4-9)
OVERVIEW: Having described what it means to be born again in Christ, Peter outlines what those born anew are called to strive for in their lives. We must grow to be more like Christ, and we must also be built into the structure of his temple, which is the church. Since you are children of God, act like it (Didymus, Bede). Be immune to all deceit, pretense, envy and disparagement, which are the opposite of the truth preached to you (Hilary of Arles, Oecumenius). The newborn baby must first drink milk before growing stronger (Andreas). The pure spiritual milk you long for is found in the Scripture taken in its literal, moral and spiritual sense (Hilary of Arles), in the elementary teaching of the gospel (Bede). Therefore taste the kindness of the Lord in the vital nourishment of the bread of life (Basil, Bede).
Believers are being fashioned together into a single living edifice (Origen), a spiritual house (Didymus, Andreas), cemented by charity (Augustine), having the same mind together with Christ (Theodoret). Believers all stand as if in one house, built on a good foundation (Hilary of Arles, Bede), in relation to a single, living cornerstone (Andreas). There is no unity of the edifice without its unique cornerstone, Jesus Christ (Hilary of Arles, Bede), who binds together believers of all cultures into one community of faith (Augustine, Cyril of Alexandria). Christ gives honor to those who join themselves to him in faith and reveals himself as a reliable foundation, but to those who do not believe he is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, considered worthless by the builders who have rejected him (Didymus). He will reject those who reject his divine sonship (Chrysostom, Hilary of Arles, Bede). They stumble because of their own unwillingness to believe (Didymus). Though their decisions are foreknown by God, God is not to be held responsible for this, for no cause of damnation can come from him who wants everyone to be saved. It is they who have made themselves into vessels of wrath and unbelief has followed naturally from that (Oecumenius, Andreas).
Christians are integrated into a new nation, which is described here as a royal priesthood. This means that we share in the government of his kingdom because we have benefitted from the sacrifice that he made on our behalf. We are a royal people because we have been called to share Christ’s kingdom (Bede). We are a priesthood because of the offering that is made in prayers by which the people are offered to God (Clement of Alexandria, Origen). The gospel unites the kingly and priestly offices in Christ (Didymus). All believers are therefore anointed (Augustine), being made kings by the sign of the cross and priests by the anointing of the Holy Spirit (Leo) and a holy people by participating in God’s holiness (Severus, Andreas). Believing Gentiles are now rightly called God’s people (Origen, Didymus), united by faith (Andreas), brought near to God by the blood of Christ (Bede). The Christian church has been formed on this spiritual foundation by people from every corner of the world, thereby fulfilling the prophecy of Hosea, who foretold that a time would come when God would create a new nation that would glorify him forever (Didymus, Bede).
2:4 That Living Stone
COME TO HIM. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: Those who have accepted the gospel and who have been born again of incorruptible seed are an elect and approved race. At the same time they have been made living stones, built on top of the living Stone, who is chosen and honored, the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, in order to build a spiritual house for God toward whom they are being led and to whom spiritual sacrifices are offered. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.
THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE. ANDREAS: This refers to the scribes and the Pharisees and the whole body of the Sanhedrin, about whom it was said: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” CATENA.
2:5a Built into a Spiritual House
CEMENTED BY CHARITY. AUGUSTINE: The Lord will repay his faithful followers who are so lovingly, so cheerfully, so devotedly carrying out these works, to the effect that he includes them in the construction of his own building, into which they hasten to fit as living stones, fashioned by faith, made solidly firm by hope, cemented together by charity. SERMONS 337.
HAVING THE SAME MIND. THEODORET OF CYR: This is how Peter describes the way in which those who have been accepted by God are integrated into the church. It is by sharing a common origin, and by being in harmony with one another, by thinking and by saying the same things, by having the same mind and the same thoughts, that we are built into one house for the Lord. CATENA.
2:5b To Be a Holy Priesthood
FASHIONED INTO A LIVING STONE. ORIGEN: Even though a man may have departed out of this life insufficiently instructed but with a record of acceptable works, he can be instructed in that Jerusalem, the city of the saints, that is, he can be taught and informed and fashioned into a “living stone,” a stone precious and elect, because he has borne with courage and endurance the trials of life and the struggle for piety. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2.11.3.
A HOUSE OF GOD. ORIGEN: We learn from Peter that the church is a body and a house of God built from living stones. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 10.266.
BUILT ON A GOOD FOUNDATION. HILARY OF ARLES: You have been built on a good foundation, that of the apostles, prophets and patriarchs. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.
IN ONE EDIFICE. BEDE: The temple which Christ built is the universal church, which he gathers into the one structure of his faith and love from all the believers throughout the world, as it were from living stones. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.24.
2:6 The Cornerstone in Zion
NO BUILDING WITHOUT CORNERSTONE. AUGUSTINE: Without the cornerstone which is Christ, I do not see how men can be built into a house of God, to contain God dwelling in them, without being born again, which cannot happen before they are born the first time. LETTERS 187.31.
BELIEVERS OF ALL CULTURES. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Peter calls our Lord Jesus Christ a chosen and precious stone, fashioned by the glory and splendor of divinity. He calls it the cornerstone, because through one faith it binds together in unity the two peoples, Israel and the Gentiles. CATENA.
ONLY ONE CORNERSTONE. HILARY OF ARLES: Everything in this prophecy is written about Christ. There are many living stones in God’s temple, but here we are contemplating only the One. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.
CHRIST THE ROCK. BEDE: Peter reinforces the reliability of Christ as our Lord and Savior by reminding us that he was called a rock by the prophets. ON 1 PETER.
2:7 The Head of the Corner
BELIEF AND REJECTION. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: Just as the Lord is the true light who has come into the world for judgment, so that at his coming he may give sight to the blind and blind those who see in the wrong way, so he is also a chosen cornerstone, giving honor to those who join themselves to him in faith and revealing himself to them as a reliable foundation, but to those who do not believe he is not precious but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, considered worthless by the builders who have rejected him. These builders are the scribes and the Pharisees. CATENA.
THE REVERSAL. CHRYSOSTOM: These words refer to Christ, who himself prophesied in the Gospels, saying: “Have you not read, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner?’” CATENA.
SONS OR STONES? HILARY OF ARLES: Those of you who believe in Christ are more than just stones—you are sons of God! INTRODUCTORY COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.
THOSE WHO REJECT HIM. BEDE: Just as those who refused to make Christ the foundation of their heart in effect condemned him by their actions, so too will they be condemned by him when he comes again, for then he will be unwilling to receive those who rejected him into his house, which is in the heavens. ON 1 PETER.
2:8a The Stone of Stumbling
WICKEDNESS BRINGS DAMNATION. ANDREAS: They stumble because of their wicked mind and because they were chosen for damnation. For it is that which has brought them to this position. CATENA.
2:8b They Disobey the Word
THEIR OWN UNWILLINGNESS. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: The position in which they find themselves is one which they have chosen, for it starts with their unbelief. For just as the world, which has been placed under evil, is not evil by nature but has attained this position by its own desire, so also those who are being talked about here have been so placed because of their own unwillingness to believe, for they are cousins of those who have been handed over to the wickednesses of their desires. For God was very patient with those who despised his goodness and mercy, but in the end he left them to follow their own will. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.
GOD WILLS EVERYONE TO BE SAVED. OECUMENIUS: God is not to be held responsible for this, for no cause of damnation can come from him who wants everyone to be saved. It is they who have made themselves into vessels of wrath, and unbelief has followed naturally from that. Therefore they have been established in the order for which they have prepared themselves. For if a human being is made with free will, that free will cannot be forced, nor can anyone accuse him who has decreed their fate of having done anything to them which they did not fully deserve as a result of their own actions. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.
2:9 A Chosen Race, a Royal Priesthood
A ROYAL PEOPLE. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: That we are a chosen people is clear enough, but Peter said that we are a royal people because we have been called to share Christ’s kingdom and we belong to him. We are a priesthood because of the offering which is made in prayers and in the teachings by which souls which are offered to God are won. ADUMBRATIONS.
THE APPROACH TO THE SANCTUARY. ORIGEN: Because you are a priestly race you are able to approach the sanctuary of God. SERMONS ON LEVITICUS 9.9.
THE ALTAR FIRE MAINTAINED. ORIGEN: If you want to exercise the priesthood of your soul, do not let the fire depart from your altar. SERMONS ON LEVITICUS 4.6.
KING AND PRIEST TOGETHER. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: Under the old dispensation, the priesthood and the kingship were two different things. No one could be both a king and a priest. But afterwards came the gospel, which united these two offices in Christ. From this it follows that the people whom he has chosen will be both royal and priestly at the same time. Some people wonder how it is possible, seeing that we are called from all the nations on earth, for us to be regarded as one holy people. The answer to this is that although we are from many different nations, the fact that we have all repented of our sins and accepted a common will and a common mind gives those who have repented one doctrine and one faith. When there is a soul and heart common to all believers, then they are called one people. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.
ALL BELIEVERS ANOINTED. AUGUSTINE: In ancient times only one high priest was anointed, but now all Christians are anointed. SERMONS 198a.
ALL CHRISTIANS ARE MADE PRIESTS. LEO THE GREAT: All who have been born again in Christ are made kings by the sign of the cross and consecrated priests by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. SERMONS 4.
A HOLY PEOPLE. ANDREAS: We are royal from the fact that Christ is a king, and we are a priesthood from the fact that he is a priest. Furthermore, we are also a holy people, so called by the one who is called holy in himself. CATENA.
A PEOPLE APART. SEVERUS OF ANTIOCH: As believers in Christ we have received exactly the same things as he already has. Since he is of the royal tribe and became a high priest, so too have we been enriched by these gifts. Having them, we have become a holy nation and a people for safekeeping, that is, for being kept apart from the world; for we have entered into his rest. CATENA.
BELIEVING GENTILES A CHOSEN RACE. BEDE: This title of honor, which God gave to his ancient people through Moses, the apostle Peter now applies to the Gentiles, and rightly so, because they have believed in Christ who was the true cornerstone of Israel’s faith. The Gentiles are therefore a chosen race, in contradistinction to those who have been rejected because they themselves rejected the living stone. They are a royal priesthood because they are joined to the body of him who is both the king and the true high priest. As their king, Christ grants them a share in his kingdom, and as their priest he purifies them with the sacrifice of his own blood. ON 1 PETER.
2:10 You Are God’s People
THE NEW PEOPLE OF THE CIRCUMCISION. ORIGEN: O people of God, chosen to expound the virtues of the Lord: take up the circumcision worthy of the Word of God in your ears, on your lips, in your heart and in the foreskin of your flesh, as well as in every part of you. SERMONS ON GENESIS 3.5.
BELIEVING GENTILES NOW GOD’S PEOPLE. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: This verse means that Gentiles who were not God’s people before they believed have now been called by him and have come to him. Some people think that Peter is talking about a mixture of beings who are both good and bad by nature, but their interpretation comes up against many serious objections. You cannot say of spiritual beings that there was once a time when they were not a people and when they lacked mercy, nor can you say of earthly beings that they have been turned into a people or received mercy. Therefore I believe that that is the wrong interpretation of this verse. COMMENTARY ON 1 PETER.
ONE HOLY PEOPLE. ANDREAS: When people from different races and nations are called to abandon all their differences and to take on one mind, drawing near to him by one faith and one teaching, by which the soul and the heart become one, they are one holy people. CATENA.
BROUGHT NEAR BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. BEDE: These words are taken from the prophet Hosea and confirm what Paul also said: “You were strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now you who were once far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ.” ON 1 PETER.
Gospel (John 14:1-12)
OVERVIEW: Jesus sees that his disciples are needlessly afraid for their Lord (AUGUSTINE), caught between the hope of his mercy and fear of their own stumbling (CYRIL) and the trials that awaited them (AUGUSTINE). He calls for faith in them, which is more powerful than anything (CHRYSOSTOM), making soldiers out of recent cowards (CYRIL). This statement, “Believe in God and believe in me also,” demonstrates his unity with the divine nature while also distinguishing his person as Christ the Son in the Trinity (HILARY).
Jesus then speaks of the many mansions in his Father’s house for the many members of his body, each allotted according to their readiness to trust (IRENAEUS, TERTULLIAN). He will rehabilitate our present fleshly houses into mansions, providing us better living through resurrection (TERTULLIAN). And so, as he prepares the mansions, he is also preparing the dwellers (AUGUSTINE). There will be abundance and rest in these plentiful mansions (GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS), and Christ has already taken care of the reservations (THEODORE). The mansions are already fully prepared, and so Christ goes ahead of us not so much to prepare them but to prepare the way by making our human nature capable of living in those divine dwellings (CYRIL). He is going to leave his disciples here in order to elicit faith, which, by definition, would not be possible had he remained (AUGUSTINE). But he is coming for them and us to bring all of us into himself where there is life, since he himself is life (AUGUSTINE) and the way to the place where we will all go (CYRIL).
Thomas’s question evidences that they did indeed know the way—they just did not know that they knew (AUGUSTINE). To follow Christ as the way is to follow the cross (LEO) toward perfection (BASIL) as we come to God through God (PETER CHRYSOLOGUS). The disciples understand and are comforted by the fact that Christ is the way, but they are not as comprehending of what follows (CHRYSOSTOM). Since Jesus is also the truth, he will not mislead us along the way (HILARY). In fact, not only is his name “Truth” (AMBROSE), but he is the truth, being equal to the Father (AMBROSE). We should then walk by faith in the truth that is Christ so that we may one day see that truth (AUGUSTINE).
Our Lord is also “the life” because he is the only one who can restore us to the life of incorruptibility that we hope for and for which we were made (CYRIL). What the soul is to the body, Christ is to the soul (PETER CHRYSOLOGUS), as he himself is immortality, which he gives to us (GREGORY OF NYSSA). Christ is the only way to the Father (AUGUSTINE), and no one can understand the Father apart from the Son (HILARY), nor can anyone partake of the divine nature apart from Christ’s mediation (CYRIL). May Christ be the way that receives us, the truth that strengthens us and the life that invigorates us (AMBROSE).
14:1a Calm for Troubled Hearts
THE DISCIPLES NEEDLESSLY AFRAID FOR THEIR LORD. AUGUSTINE: Our Lord consoles his disciples who, as men, would be naturally alarmed and troubled at the idea of his death, by assuring them of his divinity, . . . “Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me,” as if they must believe in him if they believed in God. This would not follow unless Christ were God. . . . You are in fear for this form of a servant. Let not your heart be troubled. The form of God shall raise it up. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 67.1.
BETWEEN HOPE AND FEAR. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: In commanding them not to be troubled, Jesus placed them, as it were, on the threshold between hope and fear. This way, if they fell into weakness and suffering in their human frailty, the hope of his mercy might help them to recover. On the other hand, the fear of stumbling might urge them to fall less often inasmuch as they had not yet been endowed with the power from above, from on high—I mean the grace that comes through the Spirit that always keeps them from failure. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 9.
JESUS CALMS THE DISCIPLES’ FEAR OF DEATH. AUGUSTINE: And as the disciples were afraid for themselves when Peter, the boldest and most zealous of them, had been told, “The rooster will not crow until you have denied me thrice, . . . ” Jesus adds, “In my Father’s house are many mansions,” . . . by way of an assurance to them in their trouble that they might with confidence and certainty look forward, after all their trials, to dwelling together with Christ in the presence of God. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 67.2.
FAITH MORE POWERFUL THAN ANYTHING. CHRYSOSTOM: He shows the power of the Godhead within him, discerning their inward feelings when he says, “Let not your heart be troubled.” “Believe in God, believe also in me.” . . . Faith, too, in me, and in the Father who begat me, is more powerful than anything that shall come on you. And it will permit no evil thing to prevail against you. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 73.1.
FAITH AS A WEAPON. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Here, Jesus makes an able soldier out of one who recently was a coward. And while the disciples were suffering with the anxieties of fear, he commands them to cling to the intense power of faith. . . . Faith is a weapon whose blade is stout and broad; it drives away all cowardice that may spring from the expectation of coming suffering and renders the darts of evildoers utterly void of effect and makes their temptations utterly profitless. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 9.
UNITY OF NATURE, DISTINCTION OF PERSONS. HILARY OF POITIERS: Our Lord speaks in words deliberately chosen, so that whatever he claims for the Father, he signifies in modest language to be appropriate to himself. Take for example the command, “Believe in God, and believe in me.” He is identified with God in honor. How, I ask you, can he be separated from his nature? He says, “Believe in me also,” just as he said “Believe in God.” Do not the words “in me” signify his nature? Separate the two natures, but then you must also separate the two beliefs. If it is life that we should believe in God without Christ, strip Christ of the name and qualities of God. But if perfect life is given to those who believe in God only when they believe in Christ also, let the careful reader ponder the meaning of the saying, “Believe in God, and believe in me also,” for these words, uniting faith in him with faith in God, unite his nature to God’s. He enjoins first of all the duty of belief in God but adds to it the command that we should believe in himself also, which implies that he is God, since those who believe in God must also believe in him. Yet he excludes the suggestion of a unity contrary to religion, for the exhortation “Believe in God, believe in me also” forbids us to think of him as alone in solitude. ON THE TRINITY 9.19.
14:2 Many Rooms in the Father’s House
SHARES ALLOTTED ACCORDING TO WORTHINESS. IRENAEUS: All things belong to God, who supplies all with a suitable dwelling place, even as his Word says that a share is allotted to all by the Father, according as each person is or shall be worthy. And this is the couch on which the guests shall recline, having been invited to the wedding. AGAINST HERESIES 5.36.2.
MANSIONS IN THE REALM OF REWARDS. TERTULLIAN: How will there be many mansions in our Father’s house, if not to match the diversity of what each deserves? How will one star also differ from another star in glory, unless in virtue of disparity in their rays? SCORPIACE 6.
BETTER LIVING THROUGH RESURRECTION. TERTULLIAN: Owing to the fact that our flesh is undergoing dissolution through its sufferings, we shall be provided with a home in heaven. . . . Because he had called the flesh a house, he wanted to use the same term elegantly in his comparison of the ultimate reward, promising to the very house that undergoes dissolution through suffering a better house through the resurrection, just as the Lord also promises us many mansions like that of a house in his Father’s home. ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 41.1, 3.
PREPARING THE DWELLERS. AUGUSTINE: But he is in a certain sense preparing the dwellings by preparing for them the dwellers. As, for instance, when he said, “In my Father’s house are many dwellings.” What else can we suppose the house of God to mean but the temple of God? And what that is, ask the apostle, and he will reply, “For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” This is also the kingdom of God that the Son is yet to deliver up to the Father. . . . For it is to this kingdom, standing then at the right hand, that it shall be said in the end, “Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom.” In other words, you who were the kingdom but without the power to rule, come and reign so that what you formerly were only in hope, you may now have the power to be in reality. This house of God, therefore, this temple of God, this kingdom of God and kingdom of heaven, is as yet in the process of building, of construction, of preparation, of assembling. There will be dwellings in it even as the Lord is now preparing them. There are in fact such dwellings already even as the Lord has already ordained them. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 68.2.
PLENTIFUL MANSIONS. GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: Are there many mansions in God’s house, as you have heard, or only one? Of course you will admit that there are many, and not just one. Now, are they all to be filled, or only some, and others not, so that some will be left empty and will have been prepared to no purpose? Of course all will be filled, for nothing can be in vain that has been done by God. AGAINST THE EUNOMIANS, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 1(27).8.
RESERVATIONS ARE ALREADY MADE. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: With my Father there is such an abundance that he can give everyone the delights of eternal happiness. . . . He tells us that here since the custom among us, when space is scarce, is to reserve a place to stay in advance due to lack of available rooms. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 6. 14.2.
14:3 Jesus Prepares a Place for Us with Him
THE MANSIONS ARE ALREADY PREPARED. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: If there were not many mansions in God the Father’s home, he would have said that he was going on before them to prepare beforehand the homes of the saints. But since he already knew that there were many homes already fully prepared and awaiting the arrival of those who love God, he says that he will depart, but not for this purpose. Rather, he leaves in order to secure the way to the mansions above, to prepare a passage of safety for you and to smooth the paths that were formerly impassible. For in times of old, heaven was utterly inaccessible to mortals, and no flesh as yet had ever traveled that pure and all-holy realm of the angels. But Christ was the first who consecrated for us the means of access to himself and granted to flesh a way of entrance into heaven. He did this by presenting himself as an offering to God the Father, the “firstfruits of those who are asleep” and are lying in the tomb, and by presenting himself as the first human being that ever appeared in heaven. . . . For Christ did not ascend on high in order to present himself before the presence of God the Father. He always was and is and will be continually in the Father, in the sight of him who begat him. For he is the one in whom the Father takes delight. Rather, he who of old was the Word with no part or lot in human nature has now ascended in human form so that he may appear in heaven in a strange and unusual manner. And this he has done on our account and for our sakes in order that he, though “found as a man,” may still in his absolute power as Son—while yet in human form—obey the command, “Sit at my right hand,” and in this way transfer the glory of adoption through himself to the entire human race. For because he has appeared in human form, he is still one of us as he sits at the right hand of God the Father, even though he is far above all creation. He is also consubstantial with his Father due to the fact that he has come forth from him as truly God of God and Light of Light. He has presented himself therefore as man to the Father on our behalf so that he may restore us again, as it were, to behold the Father’s face—we who were removed from the Father’s presence by the ancient transgression. . . .
“I shall not then,” he says, “depart to prepare mansions for you. There are already enough there. There is no need to make new homes for my creation. But I go to prepare a place for you because of the sin that has mastery over you in order that those of you who are on the earth will be able to be mingled with the holy angels. Otherwise, the holy multitude of those above would never mingle with those [below] who were so defiled. But now, when I shall have accomplished the work of uniting the world below with that above—giving you a way of access to the city on high as well—I will return again at the time of regeneration and ‘receive you with myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.’” COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 9.
HE LEAVES TO ELICIT FAITH. AUGUSTINE: But why has he gone away to prepare it, if it is ourselves that he prepares? If he leaves us, how can he prepare us? The meaning is that in order that those mansions may be prepared, the just must live by faith . . . and if you see, there is no faith. . . . Let Christ go away then so that he is not seen. Let him remain concealed that faith may be exercised. Then a place is prepared if you live by faith. Let faith desire so that the place desired may itself be possessed. The longing of love is the preparation of the mansion. In this way, Lord, prepare what you are preparing. For you are preparing us for yourself and yourself for us, inasmuch as you are preparing a place both for yourself in us and for us in you. For you have said, “Abide in me, and I in you.” As far as each one has been a partaker of you, some less, some more, such will be the diversity of rewards in proportion to the diversity of merits. The multitude of mansions will suit the multitude of inequalities among their occupants. But all of them, nonetheless, will live eternally and will be endlessly blessed. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 68.3.
LIFE HIMSELF. AUGUSTINE: When he says, therefore, “That where I am, there you may be also,” where else were they to be but in himself? In this way he is also in himself, and they, therefore, are just where he is, that is, in himself. Accordingly, he himself is that eternal life that is yet to be ours, when he has received us unto himself. As he is that life eternal, so is it in him, that where he is there shall we be also, that is to say, in himself. “For as the Father has life in himself”—and certainly that life that he has is in no way different from what he is himself as its possessor—“so has he given to the Son to have life in himself.” This is so because he is the very life that he has in himself. But will we then actually be what he is, [namely], the life when we begin our existence in that life, that is, in himself? Certainly not, for he, by his very existence as the life, has life. He is himself what he has. And just as the life is in him, so he is in himself. But we are not that life. We are partakers of his life. And we shall be there in such a way as to be wholly incapable of being in ourselves what he is. But even while we ourselves are not the life, we will be able to have him as our life. And he himself has life because of the very fact that he himself is the life. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 70.1.
14:4 You Know the Way to the Place Where I Am Going
“THE WAY” IS JESUS. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: “I myself,” he seems to say, “am going ahead to prepare the path of entry into the heavens.” But if you wish, and if it is the delight of your heart to rest within those mansions, and if you have devoted everything to reaching that city above and dwelling in the company of the holy spirits—then “you know the way,” which is myself. For assuredly it is through me and no one else that you will ever gain that marvelous blessing. No other will ever open the heavens to you or smooth over the ground that one on earth could ever walk—except myself alone. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 9.
14:5 Thomas’s Question
THE DISCIPLES DO NOT KNOW THEY KNOW. AUGUSTINE: The Lord said they knew the place to which and the way whereby he was going. Thomas declares he does not know either the place or the way. But Thomas does not know he is speaking falsely. They knew, but they did not know that they knew. Jesus, however, will convince them of what they already know even though they themselves imagine that they are ignorant about it. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 69.1.
14:6 The Way, the Truth and the Life
THE WAY OF THE CROSS. LEO THE GREAT: The cross of Christ, which was set up for the salvation of mortals, is both a sacrament and an example: a sacrament whereby the divine power takes effect, an example whereby one’s devotion is excited. For to those who are rescued from the prisoner’s yoke, redemption further procures the power of following the way of the cross by imitation. For if the world’s wisdom so prides itself in its error that everyone follows the opinions and habits and whole manner of life of him whom he has chosen as his leader, how shall we share in the name of Christ except by being inseparably united to him who is, as he himself asserted, “the way, the truth and the life”—the way, that is, of holy living, the truth of divine doctrine and the life of eternal happiness. SERMON 72.1.
THE PERFECT WAY. BASIL THE GREAT: We understand the “way” to be the road to perfection, advancing in order step by step through the words of righteousness and the illumination of knowledge, always yearning for that which lies ahead and straining toward the last mile, until we reach that blessed end, the knowledge of God, with which the Lord blesses those who believe in him. For truly our Lord is a good way, a straight road with no confusing forks or turns, leading us directly to the Father. For “no one comes to the Father,” he says, “except through me.” Such is our way up to God through his Son. ON THE HOLY SPIRIT 8.18.
TO GOD THROUGH GOD. PETER CHRYSOLOGUS: “I am the way,” he says, so that the power of demons may not prevail in impeding those coming to the way through the Way, to God through God. It is not possible to attain to God except through God. SERMON 16.4.
DISCIPLES UNDERSTAND THE WAY BUT NOT THE REST. CHRYSOSTOM: “I am the way.” This is the proof that “No one comes to the Father but by me.” “The truth and the life” prove that these statements will be carried out. “There is, then, no falsehood with me if I am ‘the truth.’ It is also the same if I am ‘life,’ since not even death shall be able to stop you from coming to me. Besides, if I am ‘the way,’ you will need no one to lead you by the hand. And if I am also ‘the truth,’ my words are not false. If I am also ‘life,’ although you die you shall obtain what I have told you.” His being “the way” they both understood and allowed, but the rest they did not understand. Indeed they did not venture to say what they did not know. Still they gained great consolation from his being “the way.” “If,” he says, “I have sole authority to bring you to the Father, you shall surely come this way. For neither is it possible to come by any other way.” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 73.2.
JESUS DOES NOT MISLEAD US. HILARY OF POITIERS: He who is the way does not lead us into by-paths or trackless wastes. He who is the truth does not mock us with lies. He who is the life does not betray us into delusions, which are death. He himself has chosen these winning names to indicate the methods that he has appointed for our salvation. As the way, he will guide us to the truth. As the truth, he will establish us in the life. And therefore it is all-important for us to know what the mysterious mode is that he reveals for attaining this life. “No one comes to the Father except through me.” The way to the Father is through the Son. The apostle, therefore, although still on the way . . . had already passed over the beginning of the way and had now no further need of it. And yet, everyone who wants to attain to the truth and to rest in eternal life has to start the journey by this way. For Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth and the life”; that is, by me men and women come. To me they come, in me they rest. For when we come to him, we come to the Father also, because through an equal an equal is known. ON THE TRINITY 7.33.
JESUS’ NAME IS TRUTH. AMBROSE: Christ is not only God but true God indeed—true God of true God—and I approach the true one inasmuch as he himself is the truth. If, then, we inquire his name, it is “the truth.” If we seek to know his natural rank and dignity, he is so truly the very Son of God, that he is indeed God’s own Son. ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 1.17.108.
BEING THE TRUTH, THE SON IS EQUAL TO THE FATHER. AMBROSE: If they say that the Father alone is true God, they cannot deny that God the Son alone is the truth. For Christ is the truth. Is the truth then something inferior to him that is true, seeing that according to the use of terms a person is called true from the word truth, as also wise from wisdom, just from justice? We do not consider it so between the Father and the Son. For there is nothing lacking in the Father, because the Father is full of truth. And the Son, because he is the truth, is equal to him who is true. ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 5.2.28.
WALK BY FAITH IN THE TRUTH. AUGUSTINE: Persevere now in walking by faith in the truth, that you may succeed in coming at a definite and due time to the sight of the same truth. For as the apostle says, “While staying here in the body, we are away from the Lord. For we are walking by faith, not by sight.” We are led to the direct sight and vision of the Father by Christian faith. That is why the Lord says, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” SERMON 12.5.
HE WILL RAISE US AGAIN TO WHAT WE WERE INTENDED. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: There are three means by which we shall reach the divine courts that are above and enter the church of the firstborn: by practicing every kind of virtue; by faith in right doctrine; by hope of the life to come. Is there anyone other than our Lord Jesus the Christ who could ever be a leader, a helper or a means for granting us success in these kinds of things? Surely not! Do not even entertain such an idea! For he himself has taught us things beyond the Law. He has pointed out to us the way that anyone might safely take that would lead to a life of incredible virtue and to a highly motivated and unhindered performance of those actions that follow the pattern of Christ. And so he himself is the truth, he is the way, that is, the true boundary of faith and the exact rule and standard of an unerring conception concerning God. For by a true belief in the Son, namely, as begotten of the very essence of God the Father and as bearing the title of Son in its fullest and truest meaning—and not even in any sense a made or created being—we shall then clothe ourselves in the confidence of a true faith. For one who has received the Son as a Son has fully confessed a belief also in him of whose essence the Son is, and that person knows and will immediately accept God as the Father. Therefore he is the truth, he is the life, for no one else will restore to us the life that is within our hopes, namely, that life that is in incorruption, blessedness and sanctification. For it is he that raises us up and who will bring us back again from the death we died under the ancient curse to the state in which we were at the beginning. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 9.
JESUS ENLIVENS THE SOUL WITH LIFE. PETER CHRYSOLOGUS: He himself has said, “I am the life.” What the soul is to the body is what Christ is to the soul. Without the soul, the body does not live. The soul does not live without Christ. As soon as the soul leaves the body, stench, corruption, rottenness, the worm, ashes, horror and everything that is loathsome to the sight take its place. When God leaves, immediately the stench of faithlessness, the corruption of sin, the rottenness of the vices, the worm of guilt, the ashes of vanities and the horror of infidelity enter the soul, and there comes to pass in the living tomb of the body the death of the soul now buried. SERMON 19.5.
THE SON IS IMMORTALITY. GREGORY OF NYSSA: [Eunomius] speaks of God as “without beginning, eternally without end, alone.” Once more “understand, you simple ones,” as Solomon says, “his subtlety,” in case you might be deceived and fall headlong into the denial of the Godhead of the only-begotten Son. Whatever is devoid of death or decay is that which is without end. That, likewise, is called everlasting that does not exist only for a time. That, therefore, which is neither everlasting nor without end is surely seen in the nature that is perishable and mortal. And so, the one who predicates “unendingness” of the one and only God and does not include the Son in the assertion of “unendingness” and “eternity” maintains by such a proposition that he whom he thus contrasts with the eternal and unending is perishable and temporary. But we, even when we are told that God “alone has immortality,” understand by “immortality” the Son. For life is immortality, and the Lord is that life who said, “I am the Life.” AGAINST EUNOMIUS 2.4.
CHRIST IS THE WAY TO THE FATHER. AUGUSTINE: The one who is himself the Truth and the Word, by whom all things were made, was made flesh so that he might dwell among us. And yet, the apostle still says, “Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet from now on we know him no more.” For Christ, desiring not only to give the possession to those who had completed the journey but also to be himself the way to those who were just setting out, determined to take a fleshly body. This is the source of that expression, “The Lord created me in the beginning of his way.” Those who desire to come [to the Father] begin their journey in [the Son]. The apostle, therefore, although still on the way . . . had already passed over the beginning of the way and had now no further need of it. And yet, everyone who wants to attain to the truth and to rest in eternal life has to start the journey by this way. For Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth and the life”; that is, by me men and women come. To me they come, in me they rest. For when we come to him, we come to the Father also, because through an equal an equal is known. CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION 1.34.38.
GOD THE FATHER SHOWS US HIMSELF IN CHRIST. HILARY OF POITIERS: Except through him there is no approach to the Father. But there is also no approach to him unless the Father draws us. Understanding him to be the Son of God, we recognize in him the true nature of the Father. And so, when we learn to know the Son, God the Father calls us. When we believe the Son, God the Father receives us. For our recognition and knowledge of the Father is in the Son who shows us in himself God the Father. The Father draws us by his fatherly love, if we are devout, into a mutual bond with his Son. ON THE TRINITY 11.33.
WE CANNOT PARTAKE OF DIVINE NATURE APART FROM CHRIST. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: We approach the Father in two ways: either by becoming holy, as far as is possible for humanity . . . or else we arrive, through faith and contemplation, at that knowledge of the Father which is as it were “in a mirror darkly.” But no one would ever be holy and make progress in a life according to the rule of virtue unless Christ were the guide of his footsteps in everything. And no one would ever be united to God the Father except through the mediation of Christ, for he is the mediator between God and humanity, through himself and in himself uniting humanity to God. . . . No one, therefore, will come to the Father, that is, will appear as a partaker of the divine nature, except through Christ alone. For if he had not become a mediator by taking human form, our condition could never have advanced to such a height of blessedness. But now, if anyone approaches the Father in a spirit of faith and reverent knowledge, he will do so by the help of our Savior Christ himself. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 9.
OUR STRENGTH, CONFIDENCE AND REWARD. AMBROSE: Lord Jesus, we do follow you, but we can come only at your bidding. No one can make the ascent without you, for you are our way, our truth, our life, our strength, our confidence, our reward. Be the way that receives us, the truth that strengthens us, the life that invigorates us. DEATH AS A GOOD 12.55.
OVERVIEW: Christ reveals knowledge of the Father, who is invisible, through his own manifestations in the flesh (IRENAEUS, HILARY). But it is not Christ’s human nature that makes the Father known; rather, the Father is known through the evidence of the divine powers and authority Christ has (HILARY). And while it is true that the disciples did know something of God, they did not yet know him as Father (CHRYSOSTOM). Philip then asks to be shown the Father, not quite yet understanding how the Father is to be seen in the Son (HILARY) because he did not yet have the eyes of faith (AUGUSTINE).
The Son is like a portrait of his Father (AMBROSE). The Old Testament says no one can see God’s face and live, but Christ is the perfect divine vision, showing in himself the image of the one who begot him (CHRYSOSTOM), an image spoken of in Genesis (AMBROSE). Such an image has nothing to do with bodily likeness (HILARY) but rather of the will that is the same in both (BASIL). In this, there is a perfect likeness between Father and Son (THEODORE). If the disciples had known this about Jesus, especially with all the time they had spent with him, they surely would have recognized the Godhead in him that belongs to his Father’s nature (HILARY).
The mutual indwelling of the Father and the Son remains incomprehensible (HILARY) as they are, in the entirety of their persons, in one another without any variation in glory or essence of either (GREGORY OF NYSSA). The Father is in the Son because their substance is one (AMBROSIASTER). There is no subterfuge going on here so that one might think he at one time poses as the Son and then at another time poses as the Father; nor can Father and Son be separate and divided when one speaks through the voice of the other (HILARY). It is self-evident that the Father would not have used any different words than the Son has, had he chosen to speak himself (CYRIL).
The Father works together with the Son (AUGUSTINE), and all three persons of the Trinity are inseparable so that the actions of any one person in the Trinity do not occur without the other two (AUGUSTINE). The Son as the image of the Father shares the attributes of the Father (ATHANASIUS). Here again Christ reveals the perfect likeness of his nature, ideas, virtue and even of his very words with that of the Father (THEODORE). Christ’s actions also show that there is a unity of nature (HILARY) since he could never have performed the miracles unique to the divine nature that he did unless he himself was essentially of the same divine nature (CYRIL).
We can do similar works when empowered by Christ, but we do not have the same unity of nature with Christ as Christ has with the Father (AMBROSE, AUGUSTINE). Christ has equal dignity and consubstantiality with the Father as his words and works demonstrate his unity with the Father—works that he shall also do through us (THEODORE). Even our very believing, which is one of the great works to which Christ refers, is the work of Christ (AUGUSTINE). But he is also referring to the miracles the apostles would accomplish by his power (THEODORE OF HERACLEA).
Because Father and Son share in the divine nature, we can also go to the Son with our requests (AMBROSE). But believers do not always receive what they ask for, not because the Son is not able to grant their request, but because, like a physician, God knows when what we ask for is beneficial and when it is not (AUGUSTINE).
14:7 Knowing Christ, You Know the Father
CHRIST’S APPEARANCE PROVIDES KNOWLEDGE OF THE FATHER. IRENAEUS: The Son reveals the knowledge of the Father through his own manifestation. For the manifestation of the Son is the knowledge of the Father, since all things are manifested through the Word. AGAINST HERESIES 4.6.3.
THE TIME OF SEEING AND THE TIME OF KNOWING. HILARY OF POITIERS: How can knowledge of him be knowledge of the Father? For the apostles see him wearing the aspect of that human nature that belongs to him. But God is not encumbered with body and flesh and is unrecognizable by those who dwell in our weak and fleshly body. The answer is given by the Lord, who asserts that under the flesh that, in a mystery, he had taken, his Father’s nature dwells within him. . . . He makes a distinction between the time of seeing and the time of knowing. He says that from this time onward they shall know him whom they had already seen and so shall possess, from the time of this revelation onward, the knowledge of that nature on which, in him, they had gazed for so long. ON THE TRINITY 7.34.
DIVINE SONSHIP PRODUCES RECOGNITION OF DIVINE FATHER. HILARY OF POITIERS: It was not the carnal body that he had received by birth from the Virgin that could manifest to them the image and likeness of God. The human aspect that he wore could be no aid toward the mental vision of the incorporeal God. But God was recognized in Christ by those who recognized Christ as the Son on the evidence of the powers of his divine nature. And a recognition of God the Son produces a recognition of God the Father. For the Son is in such a sense the image as to be one in kind with the Father and yet in a way that indicates that the Father is his origin. ON THE TRINITY 7.37.
SEEING THE FATHER IN THE SON. CHRYSOSTOM: He does not contradict himself. They knew him indeed, but not as they should have. God they knew, but they did not yet know the Father. For afterward, when the Spirit came upon them, he formed in them all knowledge. It is as if he had said, “If you had known my essence and my dignity, you would have known that of the Father also. And from this time onward you shall know him, and you have seen him.” The [knowing] belongs to the future; the [seeing] belongs to the present. Both are brought about “by me.” By “sight,” he means knowledge by intellectual perception. For those who are seen we may see but not know. Those, however, who are known we cannot both know and not know. . . . These words are used so that you may learn that the one who has seen him knows him who begat him. But they beheld him not in his unveiled essence but clothed with flesh. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 73.2.
14:8 Lord, Show Us the Father
PHILIP WAS NOT TAMPERING WITH THE FAITH. HILARY OF POITIERS: The novel sound of these words of Jesus disturbed the apostle Philip. A man is before their eyes. This man asserts that he is the Son of God and declares that when they have known him they will know the Father. He tells them that they have seen the Father and that, because they have seen him, they shall know him hereafter. . . . And so Philip spoke out with the loyalty and confidence of an apostle, requesting, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will suffice.” He was not tampering with the faith. It was only a mistake made in ignorance. . . . Philip did not deny that the Father could be seen but only asked that he might see him. He did not ask that the Father should be unveiled so that he could see him with his bodily eyes, but that he might have some further indication that would enlighten him concerning how the Father could be seen. For he had seen the Son under the aspect of humanity but cannot understand how he could thereby have seen the Father. ON THE TRINITY 7.35.
SHOW US THE FATHER? AUGUSTINE: When Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that is enough for us,” he understood well enough that being shown the Father could satisfy him. But if the one who is equal to the Father was not enough for him, how would the Father be enough? And why wasn’t he enough for him? Because he was not seen. Why wasn’t he seen? Because the eye he could be seen with was not yet whole. As for the Lord’s body, which could be seen with these eyes, it was not only the ones who revered him who saw him but also the Jews who crucified him. So if he wanted to be seen in another way, it means he was requiring other eyes. And that is why he gave this reply to the one who said, “Show us the Father, and that is enough for us: Have I been with you all this time, and you do not know me? Philip, whoever sees me also sees the Father.” And to heal the eyes of faith in the meantime, he is first admonished in terms of faith, so that he may be enabled to attain to sight. And in case Philip should assume that God is to be thought of in the same way as he saw the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh, he immediately added, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me?” SERMON 88.4.
14:9 Seeing the Father in and Through the Son
THE FATHER’S PORTRAIT IN THE SON. AMBROSE: By means of this image the Lord showed Philip the Father. Yes, he who looks on the Son sees, in portrait, the Father. Notice what kind of portrait is spoken of. It is truth, righteousness, the power of God. It is not silent, for it is the Word. It is not insensible, for it is Wisdom. It is not vain and foolish, for it is power. It is not soulless, for it is the life. It is not dead, for it is the resurrection. ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 1.7.50.
SEEING THE FATHER IN THE SON. CHRYSOSTOM: In the Old Testament it says, “No one shall see my face and live.” What does Christ say? Very reprovingly he says, “Have I been with you for so long, and have you not known me, Philip?” He did not say “have you not seen” but “have you not known me.” “Why,” Philip might say, “would I want to learn anything concerning you? At present I want to see your Father, and you say to me, ‘Have you not known me?’” What connection then does this have with the question? Surely a very close one. For if he is that which the Father is, yet continues to be a Son, there is a definite reason for showing in himself the one who begat him. Then to distinguish the persons he says, “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” in case anyone should assert that the same person is Father and Son. For had he been the Father, he would not have said, “He who has seen me has seen him.” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 74.1.
ONLY ONE IMAGE OF GOD SPOKEN OF IN SCRIPTURE. AMBROSE: In the church, I know of only one image, that is, the image of the unseen God. God has said about this image, “Let us make man [humankind] in our image.” Of this image it is written that Christ is the “effulgence of the glory and impress of his hypostasis.” In that image, I perceive the Father as the Lord Jesus himself has said, “The one who has seen me has seen the Father.” For this image is not separated from the Father, which indeed has taught me the unity of the Trinity, saying, “I and the Father are one,” and again, “All things whatever the Father has are mine.” [In this image, also perceive] the Holy Spirit, seeing that the Spirit is Christ’s and has received of Christ, as it is written, “He shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you.” SERMON AGAINST AUXENTIUS 32.
NOT SPEAKING OF A BODILY LIKENESS HERE. HILARY OF POITIERS: I ask whether he is the visible likeness of the invisible God and whether the infinite God can also be presented to view under the likeness of a finite form. For a likeness must necessarily repeat the form of that of which it is the likeness. Let those, however, who want there to be a nature of a different sort in the Son determine what sort of likeness of the invisible God they wish the Son to be. Is it a bodily likeness exposed to the gaze and moving from place to place with human gait and motion? No, rather let them remember that according to the Gospels and the prophets both Christ is a Spirit and God is a Spirit. If they confine this Christ the spirit within the bounds of shape and body, such a corporeal Christ will not be the likeness of the invisible God, nor will a finite limitation represent that which is infinite. ON THE TRINITY 8.48.
THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE DIVINE WILL. BASIL THE GREAT: “He who has seen me has seen the Father”; this does not mean that he has seen the image and the form of the divine nature, since the divine nature is simple, not composed of various parts. Goodness of will is a current in the stream of the divine essence, and thus is perceived to be the same in the Father and the Son. ON THE HOLY SPIRIT 8.21.
A PERFECT LIKENESS BETWEEN FATHER AND SON. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: So, he says, was not such a long time sufficient to teach you about my Father and me? And yet you still are looking to see him. If you had known me, you would have known the Father through me and would have not thought that he can be seen with bodily eyes. Since the expression “you still do not know me” seemed not to fit in with the words “show us the Father,” he clearly explains this by saying, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’” There is no difference, he says, so that whoever sees me sees the Father himself. There is a perfect similarity between us two that shows the Father himself in me. Very aptly he adds, “How can you say?” as he confirms through his open amazement the words said above. How can you ask me, he says, to show you the Father, if not for the fact that you ignore me completely? Therefore what I said is true, “You neither know my Father nor me. If you had known me, you would have known him too,” because the perfect likeness would have shown him. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 6.14.8-9.
NOT RECOGNIZING THE FATHER’S NATURE. HILARY OF POITIERS: He rebukes the apostle for defective knowledge of himself. For previously he had said that when he was known the Father was known also. But what did they mean when he complained that for so long they had not known him? It means this: that if they had known him, they must have recognized in him the Godhead that belongs to his Father’s nature. For his works were the peculiar works of God. ON THE TRINITY 7.36.
14:10a Mutual Indwelling
THE MUTUAL INDWELLING IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE. HILARY OF POITIERS: The words of the Lord, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me,” confuse many minds, and this is only natural since the powers of human reason cannot provide them with any intelligible meaning. It seems impossible that one object should be both within and without another, or that—since it is laid down that the beings of whom we are treating, although they do not dwell apart, retain their separate existence and condition—these beings can reciprocally contain one another so that one should permanently envelope and be permanently enveloped by the other whom yet he envelopes. This is a problem that human wisdom will never solve, nor will human research ever find an analogy for this condition of divine existence. But God can be what human beings cannot understand. ON THE TRINITY 3.1.
FATHER AND SON ARE IN EACH OTHER. GREGORY OF NYSSA: The Lord speaks the truth who says, “I am in the Father and the Father in me”—plainly, the one in his entirety is in the other in his entirety. The Father does not have an overwhelming presence in the Son. The Son is not deficient in the Father. And the Lord also says that the Son should be honored. And, “The one who has seen me has seen the Father,” and, “No one fully knows the Father except the Son.” In all of this, there is no hint . . . of any variation in glory or of essence or anything else between the Father and the Son. AGAINST EUNOMIUS 2.4.
THE SON IS GOD’S ENVOY ACCORDING TO NATURE. AMBROSIASTER: For the Son is the envoy of God the Father in accordance with nature. And so he says . . . “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” For the Father is understood through this to be in the Son, because their substance is one. For where there is unity, there is no differentiation. And they are interchangeable, because both their appearance and likeness are the same, with the consequence that he who sees the Son is said to have seen the Father too. As the Lord himself says, “He who has seen me has seen the Father too.” Therefore it is correct to say, God was in Christ. COMMENTARY ON 2 CORINTHIANS 5.19-21.2.
THE SON IS NOT FALSELY CONCEALING THAT HE IS THE FATHER. HILARY OF POITIERS: In no other words than these that the Son has used can the fact be stated that Father and Son, being alike in nature, are inseparable. The Son, who is the way and the truth and the life, is not deceiving us by some theatrical transformation of names and aspects when he, while wearing manhood, styles himself the Son of God. He is not falsely concealing the fact that he is God the Father. He is not a single person who hides his features under a mask so that we might imagine that two are present. He is not a solitary being, now posing as his own Son, and then again calling himself the Father, adorning the one unchanging nature with varying names. . . . It is the height of impiety to believe that Father and Son are two gods. It is sacrilege to assert that Father and Son are singularly God. It is blasphemy to deny the unity, consisting in sameness of kind, of God from God. ON THE TRINITY 7.39.
NO SEPARATION OR DIVISION. HILARY OF POITIERS: That the Father dwells in the Son proves that the Father is not isolated and alone. That the Father works through the Son proves that the Son is not an alien or a stranger. There cannot be one person only, for he speaks not of himself. And, conversely, they cannot be separate and divided when the one speaks through the voice of the other. These words are the revelation of the mystery of their unity. ON THE TRINITY 7.40.
14:10b Mutual Words and Works
THE FATHER WOULD NOT HAVE USED DIFFERENT WORDS. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: If, he would say, my Father had spoken anything to you, he would not have used any other words than these that I am now speaking. For so great is the equality in essence between myself and him that my words are his words, and whatever I do may be believed to be his actions. For, because he “abides in me,” by reason of the exact equivalence in essence, he himself does the works. For the Godhead is one in the Father, in the Son and in the Spirit, every word that comes from the Father comes always through the Son by the Spirit. Every work or miracle is through the Son by the Spirit, and yet it is considered as coming from the Father. For the Son is not apart from the essence of the Father, nor indeed is the Holy Spirit. But the Son, being in the Father and having the Father again in himself, claims that the Father is the doer of the works. For the nature of the Father is mighty in operation and shines out clearly in the Son. And one might add to this another meaning that is involved, suggested clearly by the principles that underlie the incarnation. He says, “I speak not of myself,” meaning, not in separation from or in lack of agreement with God the Father. For since he appeared to those who saw him in human form, he refers his words to the divine nature, as speaking in the person of the Father. It is the same with his actions. He almost seems to say, Do not let this human form deprive me of that reverent estimation that is due and befitting to me, and do not suppose that my words are those of a mere human or of one like yourselves. Rather, believe them to be in very truth divine words that would be just as fitting for the Father as they are for me. And he is the one who works, “abiding in me.” For I am in him, and he is in me. Do not think therefore that a mighty and extraordinary privilege was granted to the people of former days because they saw God in a vision of fire and heard his voice speaking to them. For you have in reality seen the Father through me and in me, since I have appeared among you, being in my nature God, and “have come visibly,” according to the words of the psalmist. And be well assured that in hearing my words, you heard the words of the Father. And you have been spectators of his works and of the might that is in him. For by me he speaks as by his own Word. And in me he carries out and achieves his wondrous works, as though by his own power. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 9.
THE FATHER WORKS TOGETHER WITH THE SON. AUGUSTINE: The Father was not born of the Virgin, and yet this birth of the Son from the Virgin was the work of both Father and Son. The Father did not suffer on the cross, and yet the passion of the Son was the work of both Father and Son. The Father did not rise again from the dead, and yet the resurrection of the Son was the work of both Father and Son. You have the persons quite distinct, and their working inseparable. So let us never say that the Father worked anything without the Son, the Son anything without the Father. Or perhaps you are worried about the miracles Jesus did, in case perhaps he did some that the Father did not do? Then what about “But the Father abiding in me does his works”? SERMON 52.14.
THE DIVINE THREE ARE INSEPARABLE. AUGUSTINE: So then, with all these ways of speaking we still have to understand that the activities of the divine three are inseparable, so that when an activity is attributed to the Father he is not taken to engage in it without the Son and the Holy Spirit. And when it is an activity of the Son, it is not without the Son and the Holy Spirit. And when it is an activity of the Son, it is not without the Father and the Son. That being the case, those who have the right faith, or better still the right understanding as far as they can, know well enough that the reason it is said about the Father, “He does the works,” is that the works have their origin in the one from whom the co-working persons have their very existence. The Son, you see, is born of him, and the Holy Spirit proceeds primarily from him of whom the Son is born, being the Spirit common to them both. SERMON 71.26.
THE IMAGE SHARES ATTRIBUTES OF THE FATHER. ATHANASIUS: Let us proceed then to consider the attributes of the Father, and we shall come to know whether this Image is really his. The Father is eternal, immortal, powerful, light, King, Sovereign, God, Lord, Creator and Maker. These attributes must be in the Image to make it true that whoever “has seen” the Son “has seen the Father.” If the Son is not all this, but, as the Arians consider, he is originate and not eternal, this is not a true image of the Father, unless indeed they give up shame and go on to say that the title of image, given to the Son, is not a token of a similar essence, but his name only. DISCOURSES AGAINST THE ARIANS 1.21.
PERFECT LIKENESS. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Among all the words said so far, especially here, he clearly shows that he talks about their likeness. Indeed, in the same way, by turning the speech to the Father and him, he reveals the perfect likeness of their nature, so that, as the Father lives in him, and he in the Father, a perfect likeness can be shown in each of them. Then he proves and confirms his words by saying, “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own.” If you do not believe, he says, in these words, know that so perfect is the conformity of nature, ideas, and virtue that there is no difference in the words either. Whatever I say is in common, and do not only speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me does his works. It would have been opportune to add, “My Father speaks through the words: I do not speak.” But he had said above, “The words that I say,” and here, “The Father does his works,” in order to show that the nature is common, the words are common and the works are common as well. From this it is evident that through the words, “I do not speak on my own,” he does not signify an inferior state, but a perfect communion and an inseparable union. And this appears especially from the context. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 6.14.10.
14:11 Believe There Is Mutual Indwelling and Works
UNITY WITH THE FATHER IS RECOGNIZED. HILARY OF POITIERS: His power belonged to his nature, and his working was the exercise of that power. In the exercise of that power, then, they might recognize in him the unity with the Father’s nature. To the extent that anyone recognized him to be God in the power of his nature, that person would come to know God the Father who was present in that mighty nature. The Son, who is equal with the Father, showed by his works that the Father could be seen in him so that when we perceived in the Son a nature like the Father’s in its power, we might know that in Father and Son there is no distinction of nature. ON THE TRINITY 9.52.
AGAINST THOSE WHO DENY THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: In these words Christ distinctly says that he could never have worked and accomplished those miracles that are unique to the divine nature if he, himself, had not been essentially of the same divine nature. . . . [Only heretics] whose hearts are devoid of the Holy Spirit make separations between the Father and the Son and assert that the Son is essentially and completely severed from the Father in the way that created things and divine works are separate from God the Father. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 9.
14:12 Believers Also Do Even Greater Works
WE CAN DO SIMILAR WORKS. AMBROSE: Skillfully inserting here the word also, he has allowed us similarity and yet has not ascribed natural unity. The work of the Father and the work of the Son, therefore, are one. ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 3.11.91.
WORKING IN CHRIST. AUGUSTINE: And so he promised that he himself would also do those greater works. Do not let the servant exalt himself above his Lord or the disciple above his Master. He says that they will do greater works than he does himself, but it is all by his doing such works in or by them, and not as if they did them of themselves. And so we have the song that is addressed to him, “I will love you, O Lord, my strength.” But what, then, are those greater works? Was it that their very shadow, as they themselves passed by, that healed the sick? For it is a mightier thing for a shadow, than for the hem of a garment, to possess the power of healing. The one work was done by Christ himself, the other by them. And yet it was he that did both. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 71.3.
OUR BELIEVING IS THE WORK OF CHRIST. AUGUSTINE: And so he promised that he himself would also do those greater works. Do not let the servant exalt himself above his Lord or the disciple above his Master. He says that they will do greater works than he does himself, but it is all by his doing such works in or by them, and not as if they did them of themselves. And so we have the song that is addressed to him, “I will love you, O Lord, my strength.” But what, then, are those greater works? Was it that their very shadow, as they themselves passed by, that healed the sick? For it is a mightier thing for a shadow, than for the hem of a garment, to possess the power of healing. The one work was done by Christ himself, the other by them. And yet it was he that did both. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 72.2.
EXCEEDING THE POWER OF THEIR TEACHER. THEODORE OF HERACLEA: This refers to the other miracles that the apostles did, such as healing a man through their shadow falling on him. But this incident did not reveal the fullness of this saying, but rather it was fulfilled in the fact that, when he used the power of the Godhead for an act of kindness, the disciples on the one hand worked through the power given to them for the service of those who believe and the punishment of the extremely wicked, and on the other hand they exceeded the power of their teacher, even though he was mightier in his ability to punish the godless, since he chose to restrain and control his power to punish in the meantime until the right moment of judgment. FRAGMENTS ON JOHN 259.
JESUS’ REUNION WITH THE FATHER. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: We said above that the words “I am going to the Father” refer to [his union with the Father after his passion]. After . . . this union, he will have the power to give everything to those who ask him, because by asking they ask for the greatness dwelling in him. He can give because of his [union with the Father], and the Father then is completely recognized in the Son to be excellent and admirable. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 6.14.13-14.
14:13-14 Asking in Jesus’ Name
REQUESTS NEED TO BE MADE NOT ONLY TO THE FATHER. AMBROSE: But if we think it impious to believe that the Father has handed over all judgment to the Son in such a way that he does not have it himself—for he has it and cannot lose what the divine majesty has by its very nature—we ought to consider it equally impious to suppose that the Son cannot give what either men and women can merit or any creature can receive, especially as he himself has said, “I go to my Father, and whatever you shall ask of him in my name, that will I do.” For if the Son cannot give what the Father can give, the Truth has lied and cannot do what the Father has been asked for in his name. He therefore did not say, “For whom it has been prepared by my Father,” in order that requests should be made only of the Father. For all things that are asked of the Father, [the Son] has declared that he [himself] will give. And finally, he did not say, “Whatever you shall ask of me, that will I do” but “Whatever you shall ask of him in my name, that will I do.” ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 5.5.66.
WHY DON’T BELIEVERS ALWAYS RECEIVE? AUGUSTINE: “Whatever you shall ask.” Then why do we often see believers asking and not receiving? Perhaps it is that they do not ask correctly. . . . When a person would make a bad use of what he asks for, God in his mercy does not grant him it. It is even more the case that if someone asks what would, if answered, only tend to his injury, there is surely greater cause to fear, in case what God could not withhold with kindness, he should give in his anger. . . . Still if God even in kindness often refuses the requests of believers, how are we to understand “Whatever you shall ask in my name, I will do”? Was this said to the apostles only? No. He says above, “He who believes in me, the works that I do he shall do also.” . . . And if we go to the lives of the apostles themselves, we shall find that he who labored more than them all prayed that the messenger of Satan might depart from him but was not granted his request. . . . Wake up then, believer, and note what is stated here: “In my name.” That [name] is Christ Jesus. Christ signifies King, Jesus signifies Savior. . . . Therefore whatever we ask for that would hinder our salvation, we do not ask in our Savior’s name, and yet he is our Savior not only when he does what we ask but also when he does not. When he sees us ask anything to the disadvantage of our salvation, he shows himself our Savior by not doing it. The physician knows whether what the sick person asks for is to the advantage or disadvantage of his health. And [the physician] does not allow what would be harmful to him, though the sick person himself desires it. But the physician looks to his final cure. . . . And some things we may even ask in his name, and he will not grant them to us at the time, though he will some time. What we ask for is deferred, not denied. . . . He adds, “that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” The Son does not do anything without the Father, inasmuch as he does it in order that the Father may be glorified in the Son, . . . for the Father and Son are one. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 73.1-4.
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