Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
First, Christ teaches Nicodemus that regeneration through water and the Spirit is the way to the kingdom of heaven. Second, at verse 14, He foretells His exaltation on the cross, like the bronze serpent raised up by Moses, to save the world. Third, at verse 26, John the Baptist rebukes his disciples who murmured against Christ's baptism, asserting that He is the Bridegroom of the Church, to whom the Father has given all things into His hands, so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.
Vulgate Text: John 3:1-36
1. Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2. He came to Jesus by night, and said to Him: Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs which You do, unless God is with him. 3. Jesus answered and said to him: Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4. Nicodemus said to Him: How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born again? 5. Jesus answered: Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a man is born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6. What is born of the flesh is flesh; and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7. Do not wonder that I said to you: You must be born again. 8. The Spirit breathes where He wills; and you hear His voice, but you do not know where it comes from, or where it goes: so is everyone who is born of the Spirit. 9. Nicodemus answered, and said to Him: How can these things be? 10. Jesus answered, and said to him: You are a teacher in Israel, and you do not know these things? 11. Amen, amen, I say to you, that we speak what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. 12. If I have told you earthly things, and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13. And no one has ascended into heaven, except He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up: 15. that everyone who believes in Him may not perish, but may have eternal life. 16. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son: that everyone who believes in Him may not perish, but may have eternal life. 17. For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18. He who believes in Him is not judged: but he who does not believe is already judged; because he does not believe in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. 19. And this is the judgment: that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness more than light; for their works were evil. 20. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his works be exposed: 21. but he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be made manifest, because they have been done in God. 22. After these things Jesus came, and His disciples, into the land of Judea; and there He stayed with them, and baptized. 23. Now John also was baptizing in Aenon, near Salim: because there was much water there, and they came, and were baptized. 24. For John had not yet been cast into prison. 25. And there arose a question among the disciples of John with the Jews about purification. 26. And they came to John, and said to him: Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, behold, He baptizes, and all come to Him. 27. John answered, and said: A man cannot receive anything, unless it has been given to him from heaven. 28. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said: I am not the Christ; but that I have been sent before Him. 29. He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. 30. He must increase, but I must decrease. 31. He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth is earthly, and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32. And what He has seen and heard, He testifies; and no one accepts His testimony. 33. He who has accepted His testimony has certified that God is truthful. 34. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God does not give the Spirit by measure. 35. The Father loves the Son; and He has given all things into His hand. 36. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who is unbelieving toward the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.
Verse 1: There Was a Man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus
NOW THERE WAS A MAN OF THE PHARISEES, NICODEMUS BY NAME, A RULER OF THE JEWS. — Nicodemus, and inversely Demonicus, in Greek means the same as "conqueror of the people," which this man was, who overcoming the fear of the people, the Pharisees, and the chief priests, believed in Christ. Hence Lucian writes about him in the Finding of the Body of St. Stephen, from the mouth of Gamaliel:
"When the Jews learned that he (Nicodemus) was a Christian, they removed him from his office, anathematized him, and exiled him from the city. Then I, Gamaliel, as though he had suffered persecution for Christ, took him to my estate, fed and clothed him until the end of his life, and when he died, I buried him honorably beside the Lord Stephen."
Nicodemus afterwards visited Jesus more often and heard Him teaching, as can be gathered from John 19:39; in the council of the Sanhedrin he used his authority to defend Him against the calumnies of the Pharisees, already suspected by his colleagues on that account (7:50-52), and he assisted Joseph in caring for His burial (19:38-40).
Wherefore Nicodemus has been inscribed in the catalogue of the Saints in the Roman Martyrology on August 3, where this is recorded: "The finding of the body of St. Stephen the Protomartyr; likewise of the saints Gamaliel, Nicodemus, and Abibo, etc., under the Emperor Honorius."
A RULER OF THE JEWS — that is, a man who was chief among them, a senator and a magistrate. Hence, in chapter 7:50, he is said to have been from the council of the rulers. John narrates all these things in order to suggest the reason why he came by night, and how difficult his conversion to Christ was.
Verse 2: He Came to Jesus by Night
2. HE CAME TO JESUS BY NIGHT, AND SAID TO HIM: RABBI, WE KNOW THAT YOU HAVE COME FROM GOD AS A TEACHER: FOR NO ONE CAN DO THESE SIGNS WHICH YOU DO, UNLESS GOD IS WITH HIM. — "He came," in order to learn more fully the teachings of Jesus from His own mouth: "Desiring," says Bede, "to learn more fully through a private conversation with Him the mysteries of faith," and the way of salvation.
BY NIGHT — partly out of shame; for he was ashamed to approach Jesus, a poor man, in daylight, with others watching, and to become His disciple, since he himself was a teacher in Israel, as Christ says at verse 10; for this seemed unworthy of his authority and dignity; partly lest he incur the hatred of his fellow Pharisees who despised Christ; nevertheless, the light which he sought by night he found, says Rupert, and he drank in the greatest sacraments of salvation. Therefore it seems that he came to Christ by night alone, without servant or companion, conversed with Him face to face, and imbibed His teaching and spirit. So says Nonnus.
YOU HAVE COME AS A TEACHER. — The Syriac has: "that you might be a teacher of Israel," that is, of the Jews. He does not say: "You have come to be the Messiah," or Christ, because he had not yet heard about this matter, or at least it was not yet certain to him; for Christ at the beginning of His preaching did not wish this to be proclaimed, but to reveal it gradually.
THESE SIGNS — these miracles, which at the recent Passover we saw or heard that You performed in the temple, such as that You alone drove out all the sellers and buyers from it.
UNLESS GOD IS WITH HIM — unless he is supported by the authority, help, and omnipotence of God. For miracles are works of God; for they are accomplished not by human or angelic power, but by God alone working supernaturally.
Verse 3: Unless a Man Be Born Again, He Cannot See the Kingdom of God
3. JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID TO HIM: AMEN, AMEN, I SAY TO YOU, UNLESS A MAN IS BORN AGAIN, HE CANNOT SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD. — John everywhere doubles "amen, amen, I say to you," whereas the other Evangelists have only a single "amen." Why? I answer: First, because he above the rest had the most exalted and most certain revelations, and knew the deepest mysteries of the divinity, especially during his exile on Patmos, where he wrote the Apocalypse, which has as many sacraments as words, says St. Jerome, and after that he wrote the Gospel as a very old man; since he alone of all the Apostles still survived, and therefore he was the mouth and oracle of the Church, the foundation and pillar of the faith. The Patriarch of Patriarchs. He therefore speaks as one endowed with authority, as the elder of elders, as the patriarch of patriarchs: "Amen, amen," that is, I announce the most sublime and divine things, which surpass all sense and human faith, yet revealed to me by Christ, and therefore most certain, and in themselves most true, and most salutary for you, with the greatest faith and gravity; because Christ truly doubled it, and said "amen, amen," to show the gravity, sublimity, and certainty of the matter: but the other Evangelists, for the sake of brevity, encompassed both of Christ's "amens" in a single "amen": I, however, because beyond the others I have weighed and penetrated the thoughts of Christ as well as His words, say "amen, amen," as Christ Himself said.
Second, because "amen" means the same as "truly": and St. John delights in the name of truth, and thus he calls Christ so, because He Himself is the Word, and therefore the truth of the Father; truth, I say, both the speculative truth of faith, and the practical truth of prudence and the practice of virtues. For virtues are nothing other than lights and practical truths.
Third, because "amen" is partly a noun meaning "true," partly an adverb meaning "truly"; hence one may explain it thus: He who is the Amen, that is Christ, whose name is the True and Truth, speaks Amen, that is, in truth, or most truly. So it is at Apocalypse 3:14: "These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness;" in Greek, ho Amen, that is, He who is the Amen, that is, the stable, true, constant, faithful one, and stability, truth, and fidelity itself. "Amen" therefore is an epithet which St. John attributes to Christ. See what I have said at Apocalypse 3:14, and 22:20, where I noted that some think "amen" denotes 99 years, which St. John lived.
Fourth, "Amen, amen" denotes the supreme truth and certainty of the matter and things which John says, as if saying: What I say is "amen, amen," that is, "true, true," that is, most true, most certain, and truer than any other truth, more certain than any other certainty.
Fifth, by "Amen, amen" he suggests a twofold mode of certainty; namely that St. John knew what he writes through a double knowledge, natural and divine, that is, through experience and revelation; for he both saw these things with his eyes and heard them with his ears, and understood them from Christ revealing them, when he reclined at His bosom. Hence, in his First Epistle, chapter 1, he begins thus: "What we have seen, what we have heard, what our hands have touched, etc.; we declare to you."
UNLESS A MAN IS BORN AGAIN. — Note: from this response of Christ, John leaves it to be inferred that Nicodemus had tacitly or expressly asked Christ to teach him the way to the kingdom of heaven, which He Himself was preaching; for Christ answers this question by saying that the way to heaven is baptism.
AGAIN. — In Greek anothen, which has two meanings. First, from above, from on high, from heaven, as if saying: Unless a man is born again by a heavenly and divine regeneration, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. So say Cyril and Theophylactus. Second, anothen means "again, anew," and that it must be taken in this sense here is clear from the response of Nicodemus at verse 4. So say St. Chrysostom, Nonnus, and Euthymius. Hence the Syriac translates it as "from the beginning," that is, a second time, as if saying: Man's birth is twofold: one is natural and carnal, by which he is born carnally from a father and mother, and therefore comes into the light as carnal and subject to original sin; wherefore this birth makes man subject not to heaven but to hell. Therefore, in order that man may be cleansed from this sin contracted in his first birth, it is necessary that a second, spiritual birth be added, by which he is born again in baptism from water and the Spirit, and thus is cleansed from sin and sanctified.
HE CANNOT SEE THE KINGDOM OF GOD. — "See," that is, enjoy, possess. It is a metalepsis. So the Latins say "to discern an inheritance," that is, to enter upon, possess, and occupy it.
Verse 4: How Can a Man Be Born When He Is Old?
4. NICODEMUS SAID TO HIM: HOW CAN A MAN BE BORN WHEN HE IS OLD? CAN HE ENTER A SECOND TIME INTO HIS MOTHER'S WOMB, AND BE BORN AGAIN? — "This man knew," says St. Augustine, "only one birth, that from Adam and Eve." For this reason Cyril adds: "Not grasping the spiritual birth, nor thinking of anything beyond human things, he is compelled to imagine a certain bodily womb, and the return of a man, and a birth."
Verse 5: Born of Water and the Holy Spirit
5. JESUS ANSWERED: AMEN, AMEN, I SAY TO YOU, UNLESS A MAN IS BORN OF WATER AND THE HOLY SPIRIT, HE CANNOT ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD. — Calvin, in order to detract from the justifying power and necessity of baptism (for he holds that the children of the faithful are justified in the womb simply by being the children of the faithful), denies that this passage is about baptism: therefore by "water" he takes not water, but the Holy Spirit, who purifies believers in Christ through faith like water, as if saying: "Unless a man is born of water and (that is, of) the Holy Spirit." So, he says, in Matthew 3:11, it is said: "He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire," that is, in the Holy Spirit, who like fire will inflame and set you on fire with the love of God. So he argues. But all these things are absurd, forced, and erroneous, and as heretical they have been condemned by the Church.
For first, why does Christ here mention water, if from water not man but only a fish is born? Why did He not simply and clearly say to Nicodemus, who was untrained and ignorant of Christian matters (whom He is here catechizing and instructing like a child): "Unless a man is born of the Holy Spirit?"
Second, because in a similar manner Paul, alluding to this passage, calls baptism at Titus 3:5 "the washing of regeneration." Therefore in that spiritual birth through water we are reborn, and become children of God, who previously were children of the devil and of wrath, Ephesians 2:3.
Third, if it is permissible to distort this passage with Calvin, it will be permissible to distort all other passages and the entire Sacred Scripture; nor will any clear precept or institution of baptism remain in it.
Fourth, Calvin and his followers cannot prove against the Anabaptists that infants, who lack the use of reason and faith, should be baptized, from any other passage of Sacred Scripture than this one. Therefore since they do not admit traditions, they must prove it from this passage, unless they wish to confess themselves defeated by the Anabaptists.
Fifth, so explain all the Fathers and orthodox interpreters, and the Council of Trent, session 7, canon 2. Nor does Matthew 3:11 present an obstacle: "He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire;" because there real fire is meant, just as here real water; for that passage treats of Pentecost, in which the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles in the form of fire and tongues of fire.
Moreover, water was rightly and fittingly instituted by Christ in baptism for this spiritual regeneration. First, because water most aptly represents interior regeneration; for from water, at the beginning of the world, all the heavens and all other things were generated and produced, as I have taught at Genesis 1:2 and 3. Second, because moisture, such as is in water, contributes most to generation and the forming of offspring, as the natural philosophers teach. Again, because justification is a certain purification of the soul from the stains of sins, which is most aptly symbolized by water. So says St. Thomas, II part, Question 66, article 3, who also adds: "Water by its coldness moderates the excess of heat, and from this it is fitting for mitigating the concupiscence of the fomes; by its transparency it is receptive of light: hence it is fitting for baptism, insofar as it is the sacrament of faith. Third, because it is suited to representing the mysteries of Christ, by which we are justified. For as Chrysostom says on that passage of John 3, 'Unless a man is born again,' etc., as in a kind of tomb, when we submerge our heads in the water, the old man is buried, and being submerged he is hidden below, and then the new man rises up again. Fourth, by reason of its commonness and abundance it is a fitting matter for the necessity of this Sacrament; for it can easily be found everywhere."
One may ask why Christ says: "Unless a man is born of water and the Holy Spirit;" and not rather: "Of water and the form of baptism?" For water is the matter of baptism; but the form is: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." For the Sacrament of baptism is composed of matter and form, as its essential parts. I answer: Because Christ wished to describe to Nicodemus, an elderly man set in his ways, the newness of life and of spiritual generation, by analogy and similarity with natural generation, in which both father and mother concur. For in a similar way, in the spiritual regeneration that takes place in baptism, water concurs as the mother, and the Holy Spirit as the father: for He is the primary agent and effector of grace and holiness, through which we are reborn as children of God in baptism; just as in the generation of Christ, the Blessed Virgin was the mother, and the Holy Spirit acted in the place of the father, according to the words: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you, and therefore the holy one that shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God," Luke 1. So say St. Chrysostom, Euthymius, Ammonius, and others.
From this passage, therefore, St. Augustine, in book 1 On Sins, chapter 10, proves against Pelagius that infants are born in original sin; for they must be reborn in baptism in order to be cleansed from that sin: and he ridicules the Pelagians, who, in order to evade this passage, said that infants dying without baptism would enter the kingdom of heaven and eternal life, but not the kingdom of God, as if the kingdom of God were something different from the kingdom of heaven.
Finally, "born of water" must here be understood either in reality, or in desire. For he who is contrite for his sins and desires baptism, but cannot receive it because of a lack of water or a minister, is reborn through the desire and wish for baptism. So this passage is expressly explained by the Council of Trent, session 7, canon 4 On the Sacraments in General.
Some think that here the Sacrament of baptism was instituted by Christ. But it is not plausible that Christ would have instituted a public sacrament of baptism in secret, in the presence of Nicodemus alone: therefore He instituted it publicly in His own baptism, when He was baptized in the Jordan, or certainly shortly afterward while preaching and baptizing, as I have said at Matthew 3, near the end. Baptism, however, although already instituted by Christ, did not bind the Jews and other men until after the death of Christ at Pentecost; for then the promulgation of the Evangelical law took place, of which baptism is the beginning. Christ speaks here about this time, as if saying: The time and obligation of the Evangelical law is now at hand: therefore then the old law ceased to bind, along with circumcision, and in its place the new law succeeded and began to bind, and baptism, in which no one unless born again of water and the Holy Spirit will be able to enter into the kingdom of God; that is, when the new law will be promulgated at Pentecost. Hence this precept of Christ pertains more to the future time at Pentecost than to the present, as St. Thomas asserts, II part, Question 66, article 2, ad 3.
Moreover, the phrase "unless a man is born again" implies that baptism had already been instituted by Christ shortly before; for Christ said this to Nicodemus shortly after His own baptism, when He was beginning to preach and baptize: nor would He have asserted that baptism was necessary for salvation, unless it had already been instituted.
Verse 6: That Which Is Born of Flesh Is Flesh
6. WHAT IS BORN (what is generated, begotten, produced) OF THE FLESH, IS FLESH; AND WHAT IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT (Holy), IS SPIRIT. — Christ says this in order to show the necessity of regeneration from water and the Holy Spirit, and at the same time to declare its reason, excellence, and fruit. Therefore Christ's argument is this: Flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God; for they are carnal things, but the kingdom of God is spiritual: therefore since from carnal generation nothing is born but flesh, that is, an animal and carnal man, subject to sin, and inclined to sins, and therefore unworthy and unfit for the kingdom of God; hence it follows that, in order to enter the spiritual kingdom of God, he must be spiritually reborn of water and the Spirit, so that he may become spiritual, and thus fit and worthy for the kingdom of God. Therefore there is no reason for you to wonder, O Nicodemus, at what I said, that you must be born again of water and the Holy Spirit; for just as flesh begets flesh, that is, a bodily and carnal thing, so the Spirit begets spirit, that is, a spiritual thing: for the offspring is of the same kind as the one who begets; for the begetter transfuses his own substance into what he begets, insofar as that substance can be transfused. For the Holy Spirit cannot transfuse His own substance, that is, His divinity, into the baptized; for then He would make them truly and properly gods, just as He Himself is truly and properly God, which is impossible: therefore He transfuses Himself into them, insofar as it can be done, through His grace and spiritual gifts, by which He makes the baptized like Himself, that is, spiritual, holy, heavenly, and divine. So say St. Cyril, Chrysostom, Euthymius, Theophylactus, and others. Add, however, that the Holy Spirit with His gifts also gives Himself to the soul which He sanctifies and adopts as His daughter, and therefore the justification itself is properly a spiritual regeneration, through which we are reborn as children and sharers of the divine nature, as I have shown more fully at Hosea 1:10, on the words: "It shall be said to them: children of the living God."
Verse 7: You Must Be Born Again
7. DO NOT WONDER THAT I SAID TO YOU: YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN. — This is a conclusion drawn from the preceding verse, as I have already said; hence Chrysostom says: "We are not disputing, he says, about the flesh, but about the spirit; do not think that the spirit gives birth to flesh, or flesh to spirit." Therefore you must be reborn of the Spirit, if you desire to become spiritual, that is, a candidate for heaven.
Verse 8: The Spirit Breathes Where He Wills
8. THE SPIRIT BREATHES WHERE HE WILLS; AND YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, BUT YOU DO NOT KNOW WHERE HE COMES FROM, OR WHERE HE GOES: SO IT IS WITH EVERYONE WHO IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT. — Christ continues to explain to Nicodemus the reason and nature of spiritual regeneration, and to remove his wonder at how it can be accomplished, as if saying: Do not wonder that you do not understand it, because it is itself spiritual and invisible.
One may ask who is understood here by "spirit"? First, plainly and simply "spirit" is the wind; for He compares the Holy Spirit to the wind, as is evident from what He adds: "So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit;" as if saying: Just as the wind, wherever its will, that is, its natural inclination to blow, draws it, there it blows and breathes, and yet you do not perceive it or foresee its determined place, but only perceive its effect and voice, that is, its sound and whistling; so much the more neither you, O Nicodemus, nor anyone else, however subtle and keen, can perceive this spiritual regeneration and its end and goal, either by sense or by natural light; but one knows it only from the revelation and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, even though the external symbols of water and washing in baptism one may see and behold with one's eyes. So says St. Chrysostom. If you do not know the path of the wind, which you feel, he says, how will you search out the operations of the divine Spirit? So also St. Cyril, Theophylactus, Euthymius, Jansenius, and others. Christ plays analogically on the word "spirit"; for He first takes "spirit" to mean wind, then He takes it to mean the Holy Spirit Himself, because the wind is an indicator and symbol of the Holy Spirit, as is evident from Acts 2:1, where the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles in the form of a mighty wind.
Second, more sublimely, St. Augustine, Didymus, Nazianzen, St. Ambrose, St. Gregory, Origen, and others, whom Toletus cites and follows, take "spirit" to mean the Holy Spirit, as if saying: The Holy Spirit breathes where He wills, and inspires whom He wills with His impulses of faith, penance, and grace. "And you hear His voice," through my preaching and that of my preachers, says St. Augustine, Origen, Bede, and Rupert; or you sense His voice, that is, His efficacy and effect, says Ammonius. "But you do not know where He comes from, or where He goes," as if saying: You do not know how He enters into man, and how He returns, say Alcuin and Bede, because He is invisible by nature. Again, you do not know how He leads believers to faith, and how He leads the faithful to hope, charity, and other virtues, says Ammonius. Moreover, you do not know how He regenerates men into children of God and leads them to the kingdom of God. Finally, you do not know how He changes, renews, and sanctifies the soul of man; you do not know to what perfection He leads the one who is born of Him, says the Gloss.
SO IT IS WITH EVERYONE WHO IS BORN OF THE SPIRIT. — The word "so," according to this sense, is not a word of comparison, but of confirmation, as if saying: Exactly so, as I have just said, is it with every believer who is reborn of the Holy Spirit in baptism. Similar is Mark 4:26: "So is the kingdom of God." It alludes to the heroes of old, who by the impulse of the Holy Spirit performed heroic deeds of fortitude and virtue. For when Samson undertook something great, the Spirit of the Lord is said to have rushed upon him, Judges 14:6 and 19. So the same Spirit is said to have clothed Gideon, Judges 6:34, and to have leapt upon Saul, and changed him into another man, 1 Samuel 10:6 and 10.
Third, Maldonatus takes "spirit" to mean the soul, as if saying: What wonder, O Nicodemus, if you do not understand how man can be regenerated by the Holy Spirit, when you cannot understand how he is generated by that natural spirit by which he lives? For the animal spirit "breathes where it wills," that is, it animates the bodies it wills and makes them alive from the dead; but it wills not everything that men will, but only those things which are so disposed that they can be animated by it. "And you hear its voice," because you see a man speaking, a horse neighing, a lion roaring, and you somehow hear the soul itself speaking; from which you understand that a man lives: "For the breath in our nostrils is smoke, and speech a spark to stir our heart," Wisdom 2:2. Yet you do not know where it comes from or where it goes, because you are ignorant of how the soul enters the body, how it departs from the body, where it is generated, or into what it resolves. If, therefore, the spirit, that is, the soul which wills, animates bodies, and speaks through them, is born and dies; and yet you are ignorant of its generation and the manner in which it comes and goes: what wonder if you do not understand the manner of spiritual regeneration, by which the faithful is reborn of the Spirit in baptism? This meaning is indeed novel, but apt and connected. For it draws an argument from the natural generation of the soul to the spiritual generation of grace, which takes place by the power of the Holy Spirit, and from the hiddenness of the former concludes that the latter is far more hidden. So likewise, most hidden are the things which God works in the soul, when He illuminates it with the rays of His light, consoles, strengthens, and inflames it, and at times alienates it from itself, snatches it from earth to heaven, and even quasi-transforms it into Himself. For, as St. Dionysius says, divine love causes ecstasy, so that one does not feel earthly goods or evils, but elevated above all things, grasps and savors only divine things.
Tropologically: learn from this that the inspirations of the Holy Spirit must be sought, consulted, and followed by everyone. Hence Aristotle, in book 7 of the Ethics, says: "For those who are moved by a divine instinct, it is not fitting to deliberate according to human reason, but rather to follow the interior instinct, because they are moved by a better principle."
St. Thomas says it better, I-II, Question 68, article 2, ad 3: "He, says he, to whose knowledge and power all things are subject, by His movement makes us safe from folly, and ignorance, and dullness, and hardness, and other such things, when through His gifts we follow His instinct perfectly." Moreover, how the Holy Spirit secretly visits the soul, St. Bernard teaches from his own experience, sermon 74 on the Canticle.
Again St. Gregory, book 2 of the Dialogues, chapter 21: "The spirit of prophecy, he says, does not always illuminate the minds of the Prophets, because just as it is written of the Holy Spirit: He breathes where He wills; so it must be known that He inspires when and whom He wills." He proves this by the example of Nathan, 2 Kings 7, and Elisha, 2 Kings 7, who indeed did the very same, because I saw these things without veiling.
Verse 9: How Can These Things Be?
9. NICODEMUS ANSWERED: HOW CAN THESE THINGS BE? — "For the natural man (such as Nicodemus still was) does not perceive the things of the Spirit," 1 Cor. 2:14, just as rustics do not grasp scholastic questions, and children know nothing but their nuts, which they relish.
Verse 10: You Are a Teacher in Israel and Know Not These Things?
10. JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID TO HIM: YOU ARE A TEACHER IN ISRAEL, AND YOU DO NOT KNOW THESE THINGS? — That is to say: It was your duty, O Nicodemus, you who as a Rabbi teach the other Israelites the law and the Scriptures, to know and teach these things. For these things which I said about the regeneration of baptism were manifestly foretold by Ezekiel, 36:24 ("I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from all your defilements, etc., and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit." So St. Chrysostom) and by other Prophets, and the same things have already been clearly explained to you by Me; why then are you ignorant of them? Namely because you are a Jew, you only grasp Jewish purifications and bodily ceremonies; but the mysteries of Christ and of Christianity, although foretold by the Prophets, because they are spiritual, you have not yet understood, but you will gradually come to know them as I teach you. For as Bede says, drawing from St. Augustine, Christ said these things: "Not wishing to insult him, but calling him to the way of humility," and thus disposing him to grasp Christian realities.
Verse 11: We Speak What We Know and Testify to What We Have Seen
11. AMEN, AMEN I SAY TO YOU, THAT WE SPEAK WHAT WE KNOW, AND WE TESTIFY TO WHAT WE HAVE SEEN, AND YOU DO NOT ACCEPT OUR TESTIMONY. — That is to say: I know the divine mysteries concerning God, concerning the Holy Spirit and His spiritual regeneration in baptism, etc., which I proclaim to you, O Nicodemus, most truly and most certainly, because I, as God, saw them in divine knowledge; and as man I likewise saw the same things through the beatific vision and through infused knowledge. Therefore you ought to believe Me as I testify: but the greater part of the Jews, being unbelieving, does not believe Me, nor accept My testimony; indeed you too, Nicodemus, do not yet believe these things, because you dispute against Me about them. Christ tacitly exhorts Nicodemus not to scrutinize these mysteries by reason so as to understand them, but to believe them by faith. "Setting aside a more exquisite diligence of investigation, says Cyril, He counseled that what he could not understand should be received by simpler faith, blocking by His authority the path of contradiction." Christ speaks of Himself in the plural: "We speak what we know," that is, what I know I speak, to add weight to the testimony, which is customarily given by several; and because He implies that the Father and the Holy Spirit are witnesses with Him, who speak through His mouth. For in Christ "the fullness of divinity dwelt (and consequently the entire Holy Trinity) bodily," Col. 2.
Verse 12: If I Have Told You Earthly Things and You Believe Not
12. IF I HAVE TOLD YOU EARTHLY THINGS AND YOU DO NOT BELIEVE, HOW WILL YOU BELIEVE IF I TELL YOU HEAVENLY THINGS? — If you, O Nicodemus, through earthly similitudes drawn from human generation, from flesh, from spirit and wind, cannot grasp divine realities, how will you grasp them if I set them before you without any such comparisons?
Somewhat differently St. Chrysostom, whom Theophylactus and Euthymius follow as usual, as if to say: "He calls it earthly baptism, either because it is accomplished on earth, or because in comparison with His own ineffable generation He so names it," as if to say: If you do not grasp My earthly baptism, how will you grasp the divine mysteries concerning the Holy Trinity, concerning the eternal generation of the Word, the procession of the Holy Spirit, concerning the happiness and glory of the just, etc. Therefore, O Nicodemus, do not continue to inquire curiously about these things and dispute with Me about them; but simply believe Me as an eyewitness and divine authority who affirms them.
Verse 13: No One Has Ascended Into Heaven Except the Son of Man
13. AND NO ONE HAS ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN, EXCEPT HE WHO DESCENDED FROM HEAVEN, THE SON OF MAN, WHO IS IN HEAVEN. — "And" is used for "yet," or certainly "yet" is to be understood, as if to say: You do not believe Me, and yet no one else has ascended into heaven and there contemplated those things which I proclaim, except I who am God and man, and as God descended to earth and assumed human nature, so that I might teach you those things. Christ elevates the mind of Nicodemus, so that he might consider that He is not merely a man, but that God lies hidden within the man — God who is in heaven, indeed who fills heaven and earth — and therefore he should wholly give Him his faith and believe in Him. For Christ wishes to prove that He, preaching heavenly things, should be believed above all others, from the fact that He alone beheld those things in heaven, according to that saying of chapter 1:18: "No one has ever seen God: the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."
ASCENDED. — In Greek it is anabebēken, that is, "has ascended" in the past tense, not in the present, much less in the future. Therefore this passage cannot be understood of Christ's future ascension into heaven. Moreover, Christ expressly states only that no one other than Himself has ascended into heaven, by which He tacitly implies that He Himself ascended there, that is, that He was there and beheld God and all divine mysteries there. It is a metalepsis. For Christ speaks of Himself as man: but men cannot be in heaven unless they ascend from earth into heaven. Christ therefore as God ascended into heaven, that is, He was in heaven from eternity, indeed at the very apex and summit of the heavens, just as if a man who had climbed from earth to heaven were in heaven; whence, explaining further, He adds: "The Son of Man, who is in heaven." So Toletus.
More subtly Maldonatus says: Christ, as man, ascended into heaven from the beginning of His incarnation, not through the elevation of His humanity into heaven, but through the communication of idioms, because once incarnate and made man He was immediately in heaven, through the communication already mentioned, and so He is rightly said to have ascended there. For just as concerning God incarnate in Christ, through the communication of idioms it is rightly said that God was born in time, suffered, was crucified, died — because the humanity assumed by God was born, suffered, and was crucified in time — so conversely of the man Christ through the same communication it is truly said: This man existed from eternity, this man is in heaven, this man is adored by the angels; because, namely, the divinity which is in the same person of Christ existed from eternity, is in heaven, and is adored by the angels.
Emmanuel Sa adds that Christ, as man, is said to have ascended into heaven from the beginning of His incarnation, because from that time His soul saw God and was blessed — which is a great ascension into heaven, indeed into the heaven of heavens.
Therefore the Ubiquitarian heretics wrongly contend from this passage that the body of Christ is everywhere, because His divinity is everywhere: for it is proper to divinity to be everywhere, but it is proper to humanity to be in a certain and determined place, by which it is circumscribed.
EXCEPT HE WHO DESCENDED FROM HEAVEN. — From this Valentinus contended that Christ brought His body from heaven, and therefore did not receive it on earth from the Blessed Virgin, but merely passed through her as through a channel — which is a heresy long since condemned by the Church. Therefore God, or the Word, is said in the incarnation to have descended from heaven, by catachresis and metalepsis; for God does not properly change place or descend. He is nevertheless said to have descended, because on earth He assumed human nature, and so through this new operation of incarnation on earth, He appeared to men to have descended from heaven to earth. For Scripture speaks anthropopathically, that is, according to the manner and understanding of men, who conceive of God descending to earth, just as men descend from a high place to a low one, or from a mountain to a valley. So in Genesis 18, God is said to have descended to see and punish the crimes of Sodom. St. Cyril gives the reason, at the Council of Ephesus: "Because, he says, God the Word emptied Himself and was called the Son of Man, while remaining what He was, that is God, it follows that, considered as one with His own flesh, He is said to have descended from heaven."
THE SON OF MAN, WHO IS IN HEAVEN. — He explains and insists upon what He said, "He ascended into heaven," as if to say: Christ ascended into heaven, that is, as God He was in heaven from eternity, because He is always in heaven, as the founder, ruler, and sovereign of the heavens, reigning over the entire universe. "The Son of Man" therefore, that is, Christ as man, is said to be in heaven through the communication of idioms, because His divinity was in heaven, as I have said. By these words, says the Sixth Ecumenical Council, session 12, "He instructs us that passible flesh was united to the divinity ineffably and singularly, so that it appeared to be conjoined distinctly and without confusion yet indivisibly, so that with the differences of both natures wonderfully remaining, they might be known to be united in a wondrous manner."
Verse 14: As Moses Lifted Up the Serpent in the Wilderness
14. AND AS (that is, But as) MOSES LIFTED UP THE SERPENT IN THE DESERT, SO MUST THE SON OF MAN BE LIFTED UP:
15. THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM MAY NOT PERISH, BUT MAY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. — Christ continues to catechize Nicodemus: thus, just as in the preceding verse He explained to him that He is God, so here He explains that He became man, so that crucified for the redemption of men, He might merit that everyone who believes in Him and hopes for salvation through the merit of His death, might obtain it. For thus Christ, when speaking of Himself, was accustomed to join and interweave the lowest with the highest, the human with the divine, the mournful with the glorious, as if to say: "Whoever shall have been struck by the serpents of sins, let him gaze upon Christ, and he shall have healing for the remission of sins," says Pope Hadrian I, epistle 3 to Charles, King of the Franks, session 5. From this same serpent he also proves that the use of images is lawful. And he adds: "The figure bestowed temporal life; the reality itself, of which that was the figure, bestows eternal life."
Christ cites the history of the Hebrews, Numbers chapter 21, verses 5 and following. For when the Hebrews in the desert murmured against God and Moses, God sent fiery serpents among them (which tropologically, says the Gloss, signified the incitements of vices) to bite them, and to kill them and practically burn them with their fiery venom. Therefore the repentant Hebrews asked Moses for a remedy. Moses by God's command fashioned a bronze serpent and raised it on a pole, so that it could be seen by everyone throughout the entire camp: therefore those who looked upon it were immediately healed from the bite of the serpents by a miracle. For this serpent represented Christ, who had the form of a sinner but not the venom of sin: for Christ was raised on the cross so that everyone who looks upon Him through faith and hopes for salvation might be healed from the sin of Adam introduced through the serpent, and from all the consequences that followed from it. So St. Augustine, De Peccatorum Meritis, book I, chapter 32. "The exalted serpent, he says, is the death of Christ; He was called after the serpent, while remaining what He was, that is God, so that considered as one with His own flesh, He is said to have descended from heaven."
St. Chrysostom asks: "Why did He not say 'to be suspended,' but 'to be lifted up'?" And he answers: "So that it might seem neither ignominious to the hearer, nor discordant with the figure." I said more about this symbol of the bronze serpent and type of Christ crucified at Numbers 21:9.
From this it is clear that Calvin foolishly interprets this exaltation of Christ as the preaching of His Gospel, and not as His crucifixion.
LIFTED UP. — That is, He suspended Him from a tall wooden beam: whence in Hebrew at Numbers 21:9 is added al nes, that is, "upon a standard," namely upon a standard-bearing pole, erected like a banner; for this was a type and figure of the standard of the cross of Christ, to which He calls His faithful, like soldiers. Moreover, Moses fixed this pole with the bronze serpent suspended from it and raised it upon the tabernacle, which, situated in the desert in the midst of the camp, served the Hebrews in place of a temple, as Justin testifies near the end of his Apology 2 to the Emperor Antoninus. By this it was signified that the cross of Christ would be fixed and adored in the temple by all the faithful, as the standard and trophy of Christian faith and religion.
Most fully indeed St. Chrysostom assigns the cause and analogies of the bronze serpent and Christ: "For lest anyone should say, 'How can those who believe in the crucified one be saved, when He did not free Himself from death?' He brings forward the ancient history. For if the Jews who looked upon the image of the bronze serpent were freed from death, how much greater a benefit will those who believe in the crucified one enjoy? For there the Jews escaped temporal death, here the faithful escape eternal death. There the suspended serpent healed the bites of serpents, here Jesus affixed to the cross healed the wounds of the incorporeal serpent. There those who looked with bodily eyes obtained bodily health; here those who looked with incorporeal eyes obtained the remission of all sins. There a serpent bit and a serpent healed; here death destroyed and death saved. Furthermore, the serpent that killed raged with venom, the one that freed had none. So also here: the death that destroyed had sin, just as the serpent had venom; but the death of the Lord was free from all sin, just as the bronze serpent was free from venom. You see how the figure agrees with the truth."
Verse 15: That Whoever Believes in Him May Have Eternal Life
15. THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES (and obeys Him by keeping His laws, that is, whoever believes in Him not with bare and unformed faith, but with faith formed by charity), MAY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE — through grace, repentance, virtues and good works, which Christ inspires in him from the cross to this end, that he may merit and attain eternal life, happiness, and glory.
Verse 16: God So Loved the World That He Gave His Only-Begotten Son
16. FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON (Syriac: His only Son): THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM MAY NOT PERISH, BUT MAY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. — The Arabic reads: God so loved the world that He gave as a gift His Son, etc. The Egyptian agrees, as is his custom, and the rest likewise. It is an occupatio; for lest Nicodemus wonder and object: If You are the Son of God, how then will God permit You to be suspended and lifted up on the cross? Christ anticipates that God will permit it, in order to demonstrate His fiery and immense charity toward men, which the bronze serpent accordingly represented — the serpent called in Hebrew saraph, that is, "fiery" and "inflaming," breathing upon and burning the fiery serpents of the desert. So St. Chrysostom and Theophylactus. Hear St. Ambrose, book I of De Jacob et Vita Beata, chapter 6: "Consider the paternal affection. What devotion it is: He took upon Himself the danger of His Son who was about to die, He drank in the grief of bereavement, lest the fruit of redemption should perish for you. So great was the Lord's zeal for your salvation, that He almost endangered what was His own, while He was gaining you."
Note that each of Christ's words here has great emphasis; and emphatically exaggerates the love of God. For first He says so, that is, with such vehemence, effort, and excess of love; second, not a king, not a Caesar, not an angel, but God; third, loved — namely, first and gratuitously, without merit, indeed without even our desire; fourth, the world — opposed to Him, His enemy and guilty of condemnation; fifth, that He gave not a man, not an angel, not another world, but His Son — not someone else's, not an adopted son, but His own proper and natural Son, and not one among many, but His only-begotten and unique Son; sixth, He did not sell at a price, He did not lend, but freely gave, not for a kingdom and triumphs, but for death and the cross; seventh, He did this not seeking any advantage for Himself or for Christ, but so that He Himself — that is, the Creator — might by His death vivify His creatures, by His humility exalt them, by His self-emptying heap upon them eternal glory, riches, and immense goods. This is the philanthropy of God toward men, which the Apostle celebrates at Titus 3:4. See what I said there.
You will say: It would have been a greater act of love if God the Father had given Himself to us and assumed our flesh, rather than that He sent the Son; for he who gives himself gives more than he who sends another.
I reply: This is true in those who are of different essence, but not in God, where the Father and the Son have numerically the same divine essence, and are homoousios, that is, consubstantial: therefore the Father in giving us the Son, with Him gave us His own essence, than which nothing greater can be or be given. This gift of the Father was therefore supreme and infinite. So St. Cyril here.
You will insist: The Father did not give His own person, but only the essence. Therefore He would have given more if He had also given His own person. I reply by denying the consequence: both because in God the person is really the same as the essence — for it adds nothing to the essence except a relation and opposition to the other person — and because the person of the Son is just as worthy as the person of the Father; for all three divine persons are in all things equal, as the Creed of St. Athanasius states. Moreover, the Father by giving the person of the Son, also gave us His own person, equally as that of the Holy Spirit, because the Father is in the Son, and both are in the Holy Spirit, and conversely the Son is in the Father, and the Holy Spirit is in the Father and the Son, through that divine perichoresis or circumincession, of which I shall speak at John 14:10.
Moreover, the reasons why God the Father specifically gave the person not of Himself but of His Son, or why the Son alone assumed our flesh and not the Father or the Holy Spirit, are listed in many by St. Thomas, III Part, Question 3, last article. Among them the primary one is that the Father through the Son wished to adopt us and our nature to Himself, and to make us sons and consequently heirs. For He made His Son our brother, so that through Him we might be made sons of God and consequently heirs, as Christ indicates here. Whence Theodoret, citing these words of Christ, sermon 10 on Providence, explains these emphatic words, somewhat far from their beginning, as follows, as if to say: "Such is the excellence of this love, that He decreed His only-begotten, consubstantial Son, begotten from the womb before the morning star, using whom as a co-worker He created the world, to be our physician and savior, and through Him to bestow upon us the gift of adoption as sons of God," according to that saying of the Apostle: "Whom He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son," Rom. 8:29.
Moreover, in human affairs love descends, it does not ascend: whence a father loves his son more than a son loves his father; for he wishes to leave his son surviving and as heir after himself, as if he will live on and survive after death in his son. And in this respect and by this analogy with human affairs, it could in a certain way be said that the love of the Father is greater in that He gave us His Son, than if He had given Himself: for by giving the Son, He also gave Himself (for the Father communicates and transfers all that is His into the Son), but by giving precisely Himself, He would not have given the Son: for the Father is before the Son, not in time nor in nature, but in origin; for the Father is the origin and principle of the Son, not the Son of the Father. Understand these things whether we speak anthropopathically, or comparatively by analogy to human affairs about divine things, as I have said. For God thus often speaks in a human manner and descends to our concepts, so that we may in some way grasp divine and incomprehensible things through those things which we see among men.
Verse 17: God Sent His Son Not to Judge the World, but to Save It
17. FOR GOD DID NOT SEND HIS SON INTO THE WORLD TO JUDGE THE WORLD, BUT THAT THE WORLD MIGHT BE SAVED THROUGH HIM. — He confirms and magnifies the immense love of God toward men, demonstrated through Christ crucified, as if to say: By His own right God could have sent His Son into the world to destroy it — guilty as it was of so many crimes — and plunge it into the abyss of hell; for justice demanded this, but immense divine charity conquered justice, which bestowed upon the world — though it was worthy of the ultimate punishment — the supreme benefit by giving it salvation through Him.
Note that "to judge" means to condemn, to punish, to cast into hell and there to burn; for it is opposed to "that it might be saved." Likewise in what follows and elsewhere frequently, "to judge" is used for "to condemn." It is a metalepsis. Hence St. Augustine and Theophylactus note that Christ became incarnate for this end, that all men might be saved, and that He Himself seriously desires and wills this: therefore that many of them are damned, the fault lies with themselves, and it is not Christ's but their own guilt.
Verse 18: He Who Believes in Him Is Not Judged
18. HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM IS NOT JUDGED (he will not be condemned, but will be saved): BUT HE WHO DOES NOT BELIEVE IS ALREADY JUDGED (that is, condemned) (because such a person manifestly condemns himself by his own unbelief; for through it he cuts off from himself every way and beginning of salvation, namely faith), BECAUSE HE DOES NOT BELIEVE IN THE NAME OF THE ONLY-BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD. — In Greek eis onoma, that is, "in the name," that is, in the very Son of God; for the name is put metonymically for the thing named. Or properly, as if to say: Because he does not give Me as man the name and title of Son of God: for because he believes Me to be only a man, hence he calls Me a man, but denies Me the name of God; which is the greatest injury to Me and to God the Father, and equally a blasphemy, and therefore deserves a severe punishment and condemnation.
"He shows," says Cyril, "that the crime of unbelief is great, since He Himself is the only-begotten Son of God: for the more excellent that which is despised, the greater the punishments to which the one who despises it will be subjected;" especially because such a person "makes God a liar, because he does not believe in the testimony which God has given concerning His Son," 1 John 5:10.
Verse 19: The Light Came Into the World and Men Loved Darkness
19. AND THIS IS THE JUDGMENT: THAT THE LIGHT CAME INTO THE WORLD, AND MEN LOVED DARKNESS MORE THAN LIGHT; FOR THEIR WORKS WERE EVIL. — "Judgment," that is, the cause of judgment, that is, of condemnation, as if to say: This is the reason why those who do not believe in Me are already judged, that is, condemned; namely because they obstinately loved darkness and ignorance of God and of what should be done, and their earthly pleasures and concupiscences, and consequently their sins, more than the light, that is, Christ, who brought to the world light, that is, the knowledge of God, of salvation, of what should be done, and of the good and holy life. For the symbols of these things are light and darkness, on account of the thirty analogies which I listed at 1 John 5, on the words: "Because God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all." Whence Bede says: He calls Himself the Light, concerning which above, chapter 1: "He was the true light;" and the darkness means sins. Moreover, "the light came into the world," stirring men up, says the Gloss, and admonishing them to recognize their evils, as if to say, says St. Chrysostom: "They themselves did not seek it, nor labored to find it: it came to them of itself, and yet they did not go to meet it." In the preceding verse Christ gave the proximate cause of the judgment, that is, condemnation, of unbelievers, namely their very unbelief: here He gives the remote but primary cause, namely that, fixed in the darkness of their concupiscences, they were unwilling to admit the light of truth and holiness, which He Himself preached by word and example. So today many become heretics in order to follow the liberty of the flesh; for heresy permits this, but faith forbids it: therefore, to convert a heretic, use this method — first persuade him to an honest life and chaste and holy morals; for thus you will easily persuade him of the true faith.
Secondly, more forcefully, "judgment" could be taken properly, as if to say: This is the "judgment," namely of condemnation and reprobation of unbelievers, or by which each one of them condemns himself — namely, that they preferred darkness to light, that is, cupidity to holiness, ignorance to knowledge, the devil to God: but the faithful who believe in Christ confessed and renounced their own darkness and received the light of Christ offered to them, says St. Augustine: for he who prefers darkness to light, that is, unbelief to faith, crimes to virtues — this person by this very fact judges himself, that is, confesses himself guilty of condemnation and deserving of hell. Therefore to such a person Christ the Judge will say: I do not judge you, because your own conscience judges and condemns you.
Verse 20: Everyone Who Does Evil Hates the Light
20. FOR EVERYONE WHO DOES EVIL (in Greek phaula, that is, base and perverse things) HATES THE LIGHT, AND DOES NOT COME TO THE LIGHT, LEST HIS WORKS BE EXPOSED. — "Everyone who does evil," says Cyril, "refuses the illumination of the light, not because he is ashamed or sorry for his evils (for he would be saved if that were the case), but because he prefers to remain ignorant of better things, lest his conscience torment him daily with its stings as he sins." For, as St. Chrysostom notes, "He refers to those who always persevere in malice, and studying malice until their last breath, persist in evil works and always wallow in the mire of vices."
Verse 21: He Who Does the Truth Comes to the Light
21. BUT HE WHO DOES THE TRUTH COMES TO THE LIGHT, THAT HIS WORKS MAY BE MADE MANIFEST, BECAUSE THEY HAVE BEEN DONE IN GOD (according to God and God's will and law, likewise through God's direction, light, grace, and help). — "Truth" — understand it as practical, that is, what is true, right, just, equitable, and pleasing to God. For just as there is truth of heart and of speech, so there is truth of action, by which an honest and holy work corresponds to and measures up to its rule, namely the true practical judgment of reason and prudence, or of justice, virtue, law, and the will of God. So in chapter 8:44, it is said of Lucifer: "He did not stand in the truth," that is, in equity, justice, and holiness. And so the Apostle commands us "to do the truth," that is, that which is truly good, holy, and pleasing to God. The Psalmist repeats the same, Psalm 119.
The meaning is, as if to say: "He who does," that is, through God's illumination and grace, proposes and resolves to do "the truth," that is, what is truly good and holy, "comes to the light," that is, embraces My teaching and the Christian faith: "that his works may be made manifest, because (that) they have been done in God;" namely that they please God, as if done by His guidance, admonition, command, and impulse, says Euthymius: or if they were done otherwise, so that he may correct them and amend and reform them according to God's will. "He who does the truth," says Cyril, "does not spurn spiritual illumination, being led through it especially to such knowledge that he may understand whether he has done all things according to the divine precepts and has not transgressed the will of God." And St. Chrysostom: "He shows," he says, "that no one among those who err will submit himself to the faith unless he first persuades himself to a righteous life, and that no one persists in unbelief unless he is entirely given over to malice."
Thus far the words of Christ to Nicodemus, by which he was gradually led to faith in Christ and to holiness, as is clear from chapter 7:50 and chapter 19:39.
Verse 22: Jesus Came Into the Land of Judea and Baptized
22. AFTER THESE THINGS JESUS AND HIS DISCIPLES CAME INTO THE LAND OF JUDEA. — Syriac: into the land of Judea; that is to say, Jesus from the capital of Judea, namely from Jerusalem, whose citizen Nicodemus appears to have been, He came into the rest of the region of Judea, fleeing the sects and hatreds of the rulers of Jerusalem. So St. Chrysostom, Theophylactus, St. Thomas, and others, although Jansenius thinks otherwise. "On solemn feasts," says Chrysostom, "He came to the city to set forth the teaching of God publicly; from there He often made His way to the Jordan."
AND HE STAYED THERE WITH THEM AND BAPTIZED. — Christ baptized not so much by Himself as through His disciples, as is stated in 4:2, whom nevertheless He Himself had first baptized, and He did this for various reasons. The first is, to show that His baptism was different from the baptism of John; for the latter was given by John alone, but the baptism of Christ was given also by others, namely by the disciples, with Christ powerfully working in them and through them. The second, to show that the authority, power, and duration of His baptism would be propagated through all succeeding ages. So St. Augustine and Cyril. The third, because He Himself was occupied with greater tasks of teaching, preaching, healing the sick, casting out demons, and working miracles. So Theophylactus. Moreover, the disciples of Christ who baptized were not yet apostles; for the Apostles were called and appointed by Christ after the imprisonment of John: but these events occurred before it, as is clear from verse 24. These disciples therefore were not yet Apostles, indeed they were not yet priests, because priests were later appointed by Christ at His last supper.
Therefore it is now practically an error to say, as Ammonius, Rupert, Chrysostom (homily 28), Theophylactus, and Tertullian (book On Baptism, chapter 11) say here, that Christ therefore did not baptize, because baptism before the death of Christ did not have the power of remitting sins and conferring the Holy Spirit; for it received this power from the death of Christ: and therefore the disciples of Jesus baptized with the baptism of John the Baptist, not of Christ. Hear Tertullian: "And so His disciples baptized as ministers, as John before them as precursor, with the same baptism of John, lest anyone think otherwise, since no other baptism existed except that of Christ which came afterward, which certainly could not at that time be given by the disciples; since the glory of the Lord was not yet fulfilled, nor was the efficacy of the washing established through the passion and resurrection, because neither could our death be dissolved except by the Lord's passion, nor life restored without His resurrection."
Hear St. Chrysostom: "Both (baptisms, namely of John and of the disciples of Jesus) were alike devoid of the Spirit, and had one and the same purpose of baptizing: to reconcile the baptized to Christ." And shortly after: "That their baptism accomplished nothing, the following words make clear." He proves it from this: "The Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified," John 7. But the meaning of that passage is different, as I shall show there. St. Leo agrees, epistle 4 to the Bishops of Sicily, chapter 2: "Properly," he says, "in the death of the crucified one, and in the resurrection from the dead, the power of baptism builds a new creature from the old, so that in those who are reborn both the death of Christ and His life might work, as the Blessed Apostle Paul says: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized in Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?"
But the mind of Paul is different, as I said there, and of St. Leo himself, as I think. For before His death Christ forgave the sins of the paralytic, Matt. 9, and of the Magdalene, and filled her with the spirit of charity, Luke 7, and this by His word alone without a sacrament: why therefore could He not do the same with the Sacrament of Baptism? For this drew its justifying power from the merits of Christ, both present and future; and especially from the death of Christ, which Christ had already accepted, and had already often offered Himself as a future victim to God the Father for the salvation of men. Therefore, just as the Eucharist instituted by Christ before His death sanctified the Apostles, so also did baptism. So expressly St. Augustine here, tractate 13; St. Thomas, St. Bonaventure, Richard, Scotus, Cajetan, Soto, and the other Doctors, whom Gabriel Vasquez and Suarez cite and follow, III Part, Question 66, article 3, disputation 140, chapter 3.
Likewise it is scarcely probable what Soto and Melchior Canus think, in the treatise On Baptism — that the disciples here used a different formula in baptizing, namely saying: "I baptize you in the name of Jesus Christ;" whereas after His resurrection they said: "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," as Christ commands, Matt. 28. Or, as Francis Lucas supposes, by saying: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." For this was the beginning of the preaching of both John the Baptist and of Christ. But these positions are less probable, both because Christ would then have had to change the form of baptism — which would have been incongruous, for He would thus have instituted a double baptism — and because it is not probable that Christ baptized in His own name, since nevertheless He Himself personally baptized His own Apostles.
Moreover, it is the opinion of the ancient Fathers, says Euthymius, that the Blessed Virgin and St. Peter were baptized by Christ Himself. And Evodius, the successor of St. Peter in the chair of Antioch, in the epistle entitled To Phos, that is, "The Light," asserts that Christ baptized Andrew, John, and James with His own hands, and that the other Apostles were baptized by these. And St. Augustine, epistle 108, teaches that the Apostles were baptized with the baptism of Christ before they themselves baptized others with the same.
Verse 23: John Was Also Baptizing in Aenon Near Salim
23. AND JOHN ALSO WAS BAPTIZING IN AENON, NEAR (in Greek engys, that is, close to) SALIM: BECAUSE THERE WAS MUCH WATER THERE, AND THEY CAME AND WERE BAPTIZED. — "Aenon," or Ennon, was a town near the Jordan, eight miles distant from Bethshan, which was later called Scythopolis when the Scythians occupied it: it was so called from the Hebrew ain, and by contraction en, that is, "spring," because, as follows, "there was much water there."
NEAR SALIM. — "Salim" or Salem was twofold: one which was afterwards called Jerusalem, the other near Scythopolis, which in the time of St. Jerome was called Salumnias, as he himself attests in the Hebrew Places. Salem in Hebrew means the same as health, integrity, peace, perfection; for penitents received these when sent by John to Christ, who was baptizing not far from John. "Christ baptized," says Cyril, "through His disciples, but John himself not through others, but with his own hands: not at the same springs where Christ was, but near Salim, and at a certain nearby spring, because there were many waters there." From which you may gather that John baptized in such a way that he washed not only the head (for that would require only a small amount of water), but also the body with water. Furthermore, John had previously baptized in Bethany, or Bethabara, where he baptized Jesus, chapter 1, 18. Whence some think that he yielded that place to Jesus, so that He might baptize there, and transferred himself to Aenon. But this would have stirred up envy against Jesus and provoked quarrels between Him and John's disciples. Therefore it seems more probable that John of his own accord changed his location from time to time, so that he might go about the whole Jordan region preaching and baptizing, and attract more people to his baptism, to whom he himself would announce that Jesus was the Messiah, "that they might believe in Him who was to come after him," says St. Chrysostom.
Verse 24: John Had Not Yet Been Cast Into Prison
24. FOR JOHN WAS NOT YET CAST (Greek beblēmenos, that is, thrown, thrust) INTO PRISON. — This word, says St. Chrysostom, indicates that John continued to baptize until his imprisonment; for he remained steadfast in his office, to which he had been sent by God, namely to prepare the way for Christ by baptizing and preaching, until death. And when he had done this sufficiently and more, by God's will he was permitted to be imprisoned, so that he might yield his place to Christ and send all his disciples to Christ, as he in fact did.
The Evangelist John adds this to indicate that he is supplementing and adding to the other three Evangelists; for they begin their narrative from John's imprisonment.
Verse 25: A Question Arose About Purification
25. NOW THERE AROSE A QUESTION ON THE PART OF JOHN'S DISCIPLES WITH THE JEWS ABOUT PURIFICATION. — "Now" (autem), in Greek oun, that is, "therefore"; because, namely, John was baptizing alongside Jesus, as was stated previously: for thence arose a "question," that is, a dispute and contention, "on the part of John's disciples," namely, they being the ones raising this question and dispute, as being zealous for the honor and authority of their master John, lest he be diminished by the baptism of Jesus, to whom more people were flocking, especially since John himself was sending people on and giving preference to Jesus over himself.
WITH THE JEWS — those following Jesus. The Greek Complutensian editions have in the singular, para Ioudaiō, that is, "with a Jew"; the Syriac adds, "one of the disciples of John with one of the Jews": which reading is followed and expounded by St. Chrysostom, Nonnus, Theophylact, and Euthymius; but the Latins, and among the Greeks St. Cyril, read: "with the Jews," in the plural. It is possible that one person started this dispute, which then others, as usually happens, amplified; "about purification," that is, about the baptism of John and of Jesus, namely which was better and more purifying and sanctifying. For "the Jew indeed," says Theophylact, "preferred the baptism of Christ's disciples, but the disciples of John preferred the baptism of their master"; inasmuch as he had first baptized many, and even Jesus Himself as if He were his disciple. But the disciples of Jesus replied that He had performed many miracles, while John had performed none. Moreover, that John had given Jesus preference over himself and had declared Him to be the Messiah, that is, the Christ, so say St. Augustine, Bede, Cyril, and Chrysostom with their followers.
Verse 26: Rabbi, He Who Was With You Beyond the Jordan Baptizes
26. AND THEY CAME TO JOHN, AND SAID TO HIM: RABBI, HE WHO WAS WITH YOU BEYOND THE JORDAN, TO WHOM YOU BORE WITNESS, BEHOLD HE BAPTIZES, AND ALL COME TO HIM. — "Rabbi," Nonnus paraphrases elegantly: "Rabbi, you who were the first herald of the saving waters."
HE WHO WAS WITH YOU BEYOND THE JORDAN. — That is, Jesus, who came to you to be baptized, now ungratefully makes Himself your equal, invades your office, covets and usurps your baptism. He deserves, therefore, to be restrained by you, otherwise all will flow away from you to Him, with disgrace and dishonor, both yours and ours. Hear St. Chrysostom: "He whom you baptized, whom you made famous and conspicuous, dares to do the same things as you." And shortly after: "He who was regarded as a disciple, who was in no way superior to us, departing from you, baptizes. But they spoke these things from weakness of mind and a certain ambition." Similarly Euthymius: "This man exercises your office against you, and seizes your glory. And wishing to further provoke him, they added: all come to him, having abandoned you."
Verse 27: A Man Can Receive Nothing Unless It Be Given Him From Heaven
27. JOHN ANSWERED AND SAID: A MAN CANNOT RECEIVE ANYTHING, UNLESS IT HAS BEEN GIVEN HIM FROM HEAVEN. — John suppresses the ambition and contention of his disciples; indeed, he openly adjudicates the dispute in Christ's favor and gives preference to Him over himself, and gives Him a new and ample testimony that He is the Messiah, as if to say: I cannot, without notable presumption, pride, and ingratitude, nor consequently do I wish or desire to occupy a higher rank, a greater office, or greater authority than God has given me. "For it is fitting that a man be content with the measure granted him from heaven," says Cyril. What then do you want? That I should seize the office of the Messiah and snatch it away from Jesus? God forbid; for if I do this, God will justly deprive me of my office and honor. You know that common saying among our Syrians: "The camel that demanded horns lost its ears."
Far be it from me, therefore, to prefer myself to Jesus, to arrogate to myself the name and dignity of the Messiah: for this has been given by God to Jesus, not to me; God has given me more than enough in making me His precursor and herald: content with that, therefore, I shall live and die, and freely yield all else to Jesus my Lord. So say Augustine, Bede, and others; although St. Chrysostom, with his followers, thinks that John said these things not about himself but about Jesus, as if to say: Jesus makes Himself the Messiah, and proves it by miracles, and He does so rightly, because this dignity and this office were given to Him by God; for no one can usurp these things unless God has given them to him, according to Hebrews 5:4: "Nor does anyone take the honor to himself, but he who is called by God." For God distributes to each the measure of faith and grace beyond which he cannot exalt himself, and which he can and ought rightly to exercise.
Verse 28: I Am Not the Christ, but Sent Before Him
28. YOU YOURSELVES BEAR ME WITNESS (Greek martyreite, that is, "you are witnesses"), THAT I SAID: I AM NOT THE CHRIST; BUT THAT I AM SENT BEFORE HIM. — Namely, that I might go before His coming and prepare people, as His precursor, minister, herald, and proclaimer, as if to say: You know that I have always professed that I am not the Christ, but the precursor of Christ; why then do you now urge me to retract these words of mine, and put myself before Jesus, and steal the name of Christ from Him and arrogate it to myself? Surely this would be intolerable pride, inconstancy, injustice, and blasphemy: therefore let me live content with my office, and together with me prepare the way for Jesus, and devote and commit yourselves entirely to Him as the Messiah, God, and Lord, both mine and yours.
Verse 29: He Who Has the Bride Is the Bridegroom
29. HE WHO HAS THE BRIDE (to whom the bride has been assigned and betrothed) IS THE BRIDEGROOM; BUT THE FRIEND OF THE BRIDEGROOM WHO STANDS AND HEARS HIM, REJOICES WITH JOY BECAUSE OF THE BRIDEGROOM'S VOICE. THIS MY JOY THEREFORE IS FULFILLED. — As if to say: Jesus Christ through His incarnation betrothed to Himself the Church, that is, the entire assembly of the faithful people, and she was assigned to Him by God, as a bride to a bridegroom. Jesus therefore is the true bridegroom of the Church, and as bridegroom He is to be received, loved, and honored above all by the entire faithful people. What wonder, then, if the whole people, leaving me, flock to Him? For I am not the bridegroom, that is, the Christ, but the friend of the bridegroom Christ: therefore I do not envy Him this concourse of the people, but as His friend I rejoice wonderfully that I have been deemed worthy of so great a ministry, to be the bridegroom's groomsman, and to lead the bride, that is, the faithful people, to Him, so that all may acknowledge, love, and reverence Him as their Messiah, and expect from Him all grace and glory; for He is the bridegroom of the bride, that is, the head and prince of the whole Church.
He alludes to the groomsmen, who were the most intimate and familiar friends of the bridegroom, so much so that they were admitted to the very bedchamber and bridal chamber, while others were excluded, and therefore they were called friends of the bridegroom. Such was John in relation to Christ. "The bridegroom," says Cyril, "and the chief of the celebration is Jesus; I am the minister, and my dignity is such that, being numbered among the friends of the bridegroom, I may hear the voice of the bridegroom. Do not seek the bridegroom's crown on me;" for bridegrooms were crowned with nuptial garlands as princes and kings of the whole household, according to Isaiah 61:10: "As a bridegroom adorned with a crown." Whence Claudian, at the wedding of the Emperor Honorius, sings this epithalamium: "You, Hymenaeus, choose festive torches; you, Grace, choose flowers; you, Concord, bind together twin garlands."
And Plutarch, in the Life of Alexander the Great, asserts that he was crowned when he married. For a crown is a symbol of cheerfulness, joy, congratulation, beauty, and exultation: all of which abound in weddings and among the betrothed.
Concerning these spiritual nuptials of Christ, in which the multitude of the faithful, as a bride through faith, grace, and charity, is betrothed to Christ as bridegroom, I have spoken at Matthew 22:2.
Note: John, in chapter 1, called himself a servant of Jesus, and professed himself unworthy to untie His sandals; but here he calls himself His friend, because such is the condescension of Jesus our God, that He takes His faithful servants and makes them friends, indeed sons, and adopts them as His own. But John here calls himself a friend rather than a servant, because servants often envy the prosperity of their masters; but friends do not — rather they cooperate with it and promote it, and rejoice and exult in it. The meaning, therefore, is this, as if to say: I, John, am so far from grieving or envying Jesus that the whole people flock to Him as the Messiah, because I am His most intimate friend, and I love Him supremely, and as a friend I have always striven and continue to strive to send the faithful people from myself to Him, as a bride to her bridegroom. For this was my office, for which God sent me into the world, namely to lead the Synagogue, that is, all the Jews, to Jesus as their Messiah. So says St. Chrysostom, and from him Theophylact: "This is what I came to accomplish, and I would have grieved most as groomsman if it had not happened, if the bride, that is the people, had not come to the bridegroom; but now that our testimony is confirmed by the event, and I see that the charge entrusted to me has succeeded — this was my concern, and for this reason I did everything: and since I see it has now come to pass, I rejoice and exult." Let every teacher, preacher, and pastor do the same, winning the faithful not for himself but for Christ, devoting and entrusting them to Him, as Paul used to do, saying: "I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ," 2 Corinthians 11.
WHO STANDS AND HEARS HIM, REJOICES WITH JOY BECAUSE OF THE BRIDEGROOM'S VOICE. — As if to say: I, John, stand by the bridegroom Christ, as a minister, and in silence I hear "the voice of the bridegroom" speaking earnestly with His bride; but I do not seek or claim the bride for myself, but I rejoice supremely that I am worthy to hear His voice: namely, John heard, both while baptizing and while in prison, of the miracles and preaching of Christ, and therefore sent his disciples to Him, Matthew 11. John here hints that silence was about to be imposed on him, namely that, having completed his office, he should cease from preaching and baptizing, and yield his place to Christ, and hand Him the torch as in a relay race: which happened shortly afterwards, when, reproving Herod for his adultery with Herodias, he was thrown into prison by him. So say St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius.
THIS MY JOY THEREFORE IS FULFILLED. — As if to say: I began to rejoice when, by God's revelation, I knew that the coming of Christ was at hand; I rejoiced more when I saw and heard Him present; but when I understood that the whole people were flocking to Him, my joy was fulfilled and perfected. For the sake of this one thing alone I preached, baptized, and spent my entire life.
Verse 30: He Must Increase, but I Must Decrease
30. HE MUST INCREASE, BUT I MUST DECREASE. — "Increase," namely in the concourse of the people, in the fame of His preaching, in authority, in the abundance and glory of His miracles, in the devotion and worship of adoration, so that the whole world may acknowledge, love, worship, and adore Him as the Christ; and may regard me as merely His precursor and minister: just as the morning star (or the star of Venus) shining at dawn is obscured by the splendor of the approaching sun. So says St. Cyril, whom hear: "As long as the depth of the air is darkened by the shadows of night, all proclaim with great admiration how the morning star shines with golden radiance and complete glory. But when the sun appears to hasten toward its rising, and its light has somewhat illuminated our world, the morning star gradually yields to the greater light, and John's words could aptly say: He must increase, but I must decrease." So also St. Chrysostom and Theophylact, whom hear: "Christ increases inasmuch as He gradually manifests Himself through signs and miracles, not by progress in virtues — God forbid; for that would be the delusion of Nestorius."
BUT I MUST DECREASE — not in virtue, nor in wisdom, nor in merits; for in these John continually grew until the crown of martyrdom; but as regards honor, authority, the concourse of the people, preaching, and baptism; as if to say: "I have done my duty," now I shall cease, says Chrysostom. As a symbol of this, John was born shortly after the summer solstice, when the days begin to grow shorter and decrease, namely on June 24; but Christ was born shortly after the winter solstice, when the shortest days begin to grow longer, namely on December 25, as St. Chrysostom skillfully noted, Homily On the Nativity of St. John; St. Ambrose, Sermon 2 On the Lord's Birthday; and St. Augustine, Question 58, interrogation 83.
Verse 31: He Who Comes From Above Is Above All
31. HE WHO COMES FROM ABOVE IS ABOVE ALL. — He gives the reason why Jesus must increase and he himself decrease; namely because Jesus came from above, that is, from heaven, from the bosom of the Father, as the only-begotten Son of God ("who sprouted from the higher root, preserving the paternal nature," says Cyril), and came to earth assuming flesh: therefore He is "above all," that is, not only above me, John, but far superior to all angels, men, and creatures, as the creator and lord of all, and therefore He must be received, loved, honored, and adored by all with the utmost devotion.
Verse 32: He Bears Witness to What He Has Seen and Heard
32. HE WHO IS OF THE EARTH IS EARTHLY, AND SPEAKS OF THE EARTH. HE WHO COMES FROM HEAVEN IS ABOVE ALL. AND WHAT HE HAS SEEN AND HEARD, THIS HE TESTIFIES; AND NO ONE RECEIVES HIS TESTIMONY. — John compares and gives precedence to Christ over himself, as the heavenly over the earthly; as much, therefore, as heaven is above the earth, so much does Christ surpass John, according to the saying: "The first man was of the earth, earthly; the second man is from heaven, heavenly," 1 Corinthians 15:47. See what was said there.
The meaning, therefore, is this, as if to say: He who is born "of the earth," as I, John, was born, and who was formed and fashioned from the earth, like Adam, he is earthly, and "speaks of the earth," that is, earthly things. So in verse 6, he called a man born of the flesh "flesh," that is, carnal. Now this is true of John. First, if you consider his bare nature, setting aside God's grace, calling, and revelation: for thus John was nothing but earthen and earthly, and thought of nothing but earthly things; because "if you heard anything divine from John, it belongs to the one who illumines, not to the one who receives," says St. Augustine, as if to say: he received it from God, he does not have it of himself. Second, this is true if John is compared with Christ, whose origin, nature, and speech were far more sublime than John's, and plainly heavenly and divine, and consequently altogether efficacious to move the souls of men in whatever direction He wished, through the interior grace which He inwardly inspired and impressed upon the souls of His hearers along with His words, as St. Cyril notes.
AND WHAT HE HAS SEEN AND HEARD (that is, what He has known, what He has understood), THIS HE TESTIFIES — namely Christ Himself. It is a catachresis. For in divine things, to see and to hear are the same, and the same as to know; but seeing signifies the evidence of the things known, and hearing the origin, namely that He received all these things from the Father together with the divine essence, that is, omniscience and all-wisdom.
NO ONE RECEIVES — that is, few receive. It is a hyperbole. So says St. Chrysostom; for although many flocked to Jesus, yet these, compared with the others who stayed at home and neglected Christ's preaching, were few, and among those few some believed in Christ, others did not believe, such as the Scribes, Pharisees, and their followers. John is touching upon his own disciples, says Chrysostom, and the other Jews, says Euthymius, that few come to Him, and fewer still believe in Him.
Verse 33: He Who Has Received His Testimony Has Set His Seal That God Is True
33. HE WHO HAS RECEIVED (or receives) HIS TESTIMONY (by believing Him) HAS SET HIS SEAL THAT GOD IS TRUE. — For "set his seal" (signavit), in Greek it is esphragisen, that is, "sealed," or with a seal (for sphragis means a seal) he sealed and confirmed with his own seal, as if to say: He who receives Christ's testimony and believes Him, by that very act testifies and, as if applying the seal of his faith, seals, professes, and confirms that God the Father is true, who speaks through His Son, as through His own mouth, things most true and divine; for the Son heard and received them from the Father. Or, as Cyril says, such a person professes that God the Son is true, who speaks these very things, as if to say: He who believes God and His Son confers great honor on God, because by believing he professes Him to be true, and therefore to be the first and infallible truth. Just as, conversely, he who does not believe greatly dishonors God, because he effectively makes Him deceitful and a liar: which is the greatest injury, contempt, disgrace, and blasphemy against God. This is what John says, 1 Epistle, chapter 5, verse 10: "He who believes in the Son has the testimony of God in himself. He who does not believe the Son makes Him a liar, because he does not believe in the testimony which God has testified concerning His Son. And this is the testimony, that God has given us eternal life. And this life is in His Son." See what was said there. Alcuin puts it somewhat differently: "He sealed, that is, he placed a mark in his heart as something singular and special, that this is the true God, who was sent for the salvation of the human race."
Furthermore, God is said to sign and seal His words and oracles when He confirms them through miracles, as through His seals; man, however, is said to sign and seal the same words of God when he believes them to be true and to have proceeded from God as from the first truth. Faith, therefore, is the seal by which we seal the words of God; for by believing we profess and confirm that they are true and divine, just as a king confirms his letters with his seal.
Finally, Joannes Alba, Select Passages of Sacred Scripture, chapter 77, explains it thus, as if to say: God "sealed," that is, chose, and in His mind designated and enrolled for eternal life the one who receives His testimony, namely the one who believes in Christ, "because God is true," so that He may truly bestow upon the faithful the eternal life which He promised them. But this meaning seems to strain the words of Sacred Scripture. For it is one thing to seal the elect, another to seal the testimony of God. Yet this meaning fits that passage in John 6:27: "For Him has God the Father sealed," about which see the commentary there.
Verse 34: He Whom God Has Sent Speaks the Words of God
34. FOR HE WHOM GOD HAS SENT SPEAKS THE WORDS OF GOD; FOR GOD DOES NOT GIVE THE SPIRIT BY MEASURE. — He proves what he said, that he who believes Jesus Christ seals and attests with the seal of his faith that God is true, because Jesus, whom God sent from heaven to earth to teach and save men in the flesh He assumed — Jesus, I say, speaks not His own words, but the words of God who sent Him, as if to say: The words of Jesus are the words of God the Father, for He Himself gave them to Jesus: therefore he who believes Jesus believes in God the Father; for God sent Jesus, and the words which Jesus speaks are God's words. So says Euthymius.
FOR GOD DOES NOT GIVE THE SPIRIT BY MEASURE (to Jesus Christ His Son) — that is, the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He says "gives," not "gave," because what God once gave to Christ, He always gives through preservation and continuous influx; for preservation is nothing other than the continuation of a created thing, and a sort of continued creation. The meaning is this, as if to say: Jesus, sent by God, speaks and preaches the words of God and all divine mysteries, because God communicates these to Him without measure, and as it were immeasurably: for God is not so poor or so sparing that He has a fixed measure of the Spirit beyond which He cannot give more; for in God there is infinite abundance of the Spirit, which He gives and communicates to Jesus as His Son. Although, therefore, you, O disciples, see in me, John, your master, a great power and efficacy of the divine Spirit in preaching; yet know that in Jesus it is far greater, indeed that in Him there is the complete fullness of the Spirit; in Jesus, I say, both as He is God and as He is man: for as God, He "substantially possesses the Spirit in Himself," says Cyril; as man, in Him "dwells all the fullness of the divinity bodily," Colossians 2:9. Whence "we saw Him full of grace and truth," says John 1:14, "and in Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden," Colossians 2:3. So St. Augustine: "To men," he says, "He gives by measure, to His only Son He does not give by measure." And St. Chrysostom: "We all receive the operation of the Spirit by measure (according to the saying: And to each one as God has distributed the measure of faith, Romans 12:3), but He without measure."
You will say: Does Christ then, as man, receive the Spirit and grace that is absolutely and physically immeasurable and infinite? I answer: No; for this cannot happen, nor is Christ's created and finite soul capable of it: therefore the Spirit is said to have been given to Him without measure, because God most abundantly communicated to Him all graces and all His gifts, as to the Head of the Church; so that He might distribute and apportion them to the faithful, as to His members, in a definite measure at will: for even if the faithful were without measure and number, and successively innumerable and infinite, yet Christ as head would pour His Spirit and grace into all, as into His members. See St. Thomas and the Scholastics, Part III, Question 7, articles 11 and 12, and all of Question 8, where they discuss whether the grace of Christ was infinite. Hear St. Jerome, on Isaiah chapter 11: "Upon this flower, which from the trunk and root of Jesse, through the Virgin Mary, suddenly springs up, the Spirit of the Lord shall rest: because it pleased Him that all the fullness of the divinity should dwell bodily in Him, by no means in parts, as in the other Saints, but according to the Gospel which, written in the Hebrew language, the Nazarenes read: 'The whole fountain of the Holy Spirit shall descend upon Him.'"
Wherefore whatever Jesus does, whatever He speaks, is holy, spiritual, and divine; for He is entirely possessed by the Holy Spirit; the Spirit governs, moves, and directs Him; the Spirit places in His heart and mouth the words He speaks; the Spirit works and performs through Him the miracles by which He confirms His words: therefore he who receives Him and believes in Him receives God the Father and the Holy Spirit, and believes in Them, and by believing seals and confirms that God is true. It was otherwise with John the Baptist and the Prophets, who were not so possessed by the Holy Spirit that they could not also do and say many things from their own spirit, and therefore could err and mislead, as Nathan the prophet was mistaken when he told David, as if from the mouth of God, to build the temple, 2 Samuel 7:3.
Verse 35: The Father Loves the Son and Has Given All Things Into His Hand
35. THE FATHER LOVES THE SON; AND HAS GIVEN ALL THINGS INTO HIS HAND. — As if to say: Just as God the Father loves the Son without measure, so He gives "all things" into His "hand," that is, into His will and power without measure; "all things," namely things corporeal and spiritual, and all things in heaven and on earth, and consequently all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, to distribute them at will to His faithful. Again, "all things," that is, every right which the Holy Trinity has over men and created things, this He gave to the Son, not only as God but also as man, so that He might do with them whatever He wills. See what was said at Matthew 28:18. Hear Euthymius: "As God, He had all things (for all things were made through Him), yet this also was given to Him as man. And it is aptly said: He loves and He gave, as is said among men. For fathers are accustomed to love their sons, and to hand over to them what is theirs."
Verse 36: He Who Believes in the Son Has Eternal Life
36. HE WHO BELIEVES IN THE SON, HAS ETERNAL LIFE. — "Has," in hope and by right, as in root and seed, but not yet in reality and fruit, or even in act. For he has faith and grace, which gives him the right to glory; but grace begun in the spiritual knowledge and love of God, which will be perfected after death in heaven. So John 17:3 says: "This is eternal life (that is, this is the way and the beginning of eternal life), that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." It is a metonymy.
BUT HE WHO IS UNBELIEVING TOWARD THE SON SHALL NOT SEE (shall not experience, shall not enjoy, shall not receive) LIFE, BUT THE WRATH OF GOD REMAINS UPON HIM. — "Remains" and will remain eternally, "wrath," that is, God's vengeance and hell, "upon him," that is, will always punish him, says Euthymius, for all eternity. Hear Cyril: "They shall not see life, that is, not even as far as mere sight is concerned shall they be able to reach the life of the Saints; they shall not attain that blessedness, they shall not taste those joys, they shall not see that true life; for they shall be tormented with punishments, which is sadder than any death, retaining their soul in the body in the sole experience of sufferings."
Thus far John's testimonies about Christ to his disciples, by which they were gradually led over to Christ.