Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
First, Christ gives two parables about Himself, one of the door, the other of the shepherd of the sheep, and attributes both to Himself. Hence He says at verse 7: I am the door of the sheep; whoever therefore does not enter by Me into the sheepfold, he is a thief and a robber. And at verse 11: I am the good shepherd, etc., and I lay down My life for My sheep. Secondly, the Jews, disagreeing among themselves about Jesus at verse 19, ask Him to say plainly whether He is the Messiah, that is, the Christ. Jesus answered that He was the Christ, but that the Jews refused to acknowledge it, because they were not His sheep. Hence thirdly, the Jews, at verse 31, take up stones to cast at Him, but Christ defends Himself and His words by that saying of Psalm 81: I have said, you are gods. Wherefore when the Jews wished to seize Him, He Himself invisibly slipped away.
Vulgate Text: John 10:1-42
1. Amen, amen I say to you: He who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold of the sheep, but climbs up another way, is a thief and a robber. 2. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4. And when he has sent forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5. But a stranger they do not follow, but flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers. 6. This proverb Jesus spoke to them. But they did not understand what He was saying to them. 7. Jesus therefore said to them again: Amen, amen I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8. All who have come are thieves and robbers, and the sheep did not hear them. 9. I am the door. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved; and he will go in and go out, and will find pastures. 10. The thief does not come except to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly. 11. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. 12. But the hireling, who is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf seizes them and scatters the sheep: 13. but the hireling flees because he is a hireling, and he has no concern for the sheep. 14. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me. 15. As the Father knows Me, so I also know the Father; and I lay down My life for My sheep. 16. And other sheep I have that are not of this fold; and I must bring them, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one fold and one shepherd. 17. For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it up again. 18. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself, and I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. This commandment I have received from My Father. 19. A dissension arose again among the Jews because of these words. 20. Many of them said: He has a devil, and is mad; why do you listen to Him? 21. Others said: These are not the words of one who has a devil; can a devil open the eyes of the blind? 22. Now the Feast of Dedication was at Jerusalem, and it was winter. 23. And Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon's porch. 24. The Jews therefore surrounded Him and said to Him: How long do You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly. 25. Jesus answered them: I speak to you, and you do not believe: the works that I do in My Father's name, these bear witness of Me; 26. but you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep. 27. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: 28. And I give them eternal life, and they shall not perish for ever, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. 29. What My Father has given Me is greater than all; and no one can snatch them out of My Father's hand. 30. I and the Father are one. 31. The Jews then took up stones to stone Him. 32. Jesus answered them: Many good works I have shown you from My Father; for which of these works do you stone Me? 33. The Jews answered Him: For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself God. 34. Jesus answered them: Is it not written in your law, "I said: You are gods"? 35. If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken: 36. do you say of Him whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world, "You blaspheme," because I said, I am the Son of God? 37. If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me. 38. But if I do, even if you do not wish to believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me and I in the Father. 39. They sought therefore to seize Him, and He escaped out of their hands. 40. And He went away again beyond the Jordan, to the place where John was first baptizing, and He remained there. 41. And many came to Him, and they said: John indeed did no sign. 42. But all things whatsoever John said of this Man were true. And many believed in Him.
Verse 1: He Who Does Not Enter by the Door Into the Sheepfold, but Climbs Up Another Way, Is a Thief and a Robber
1. Amen, amen (that is, in truth, or most truly and most certainly) I say to you: He who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up another way, is a thief and a robber. — Here Christ proposes the parable of the door of the sheepfold, in order to show by it who He Himself is, and what sort of men His rivals and adversaries are, namely the Scribes and Pharisees. This parable begins at v. 1 and ends at v. 11, where Christ introduces another parable, that of the shepherd.
The occasion and cause for which Christ proposed this parable was that the Pharisees had cast out the blind man who had been enlightened by Him for his faith and confession of Christ, as though out of the Synagogue, out of their own sheepfold. By this act they were signifying that Jesus was not the Messiah, nor a member of the Synagogue or of their Church, but was a false prophet, and consequently that those who believed in Him, as the blind man enlightened by Him had believed, erred in faith, and strayed from the Synagogue, and were apostates from their Church. Christ therefore proposes the parable of the door of the sheepfold, to teach by it the contrary: namely, that so far is He from being a false prophet, that rather all those who do not enter through Him as through the true door of the sheepfold — that is, of the Church of God — are seducers and impostors; but those who enter through Him into this sheepfold, that is, into the Church of God, are the lawful shepherds, prophets, and teachers. Therefore the Synagogue of the Pharisees, now judaizing, is the Synagogue not of God but of Satan; while the true Church of God is the Christian Church which Christ was instituting and substituting for the Jewish Synagogue; and hence the blind man excommunicated from the Synagogue had, through faith in Christ, entered into the true Church, namely the Christian Church.
That the reader may easily grasp the whole parable, I will set its whole synopsis before his eyes here. First, the sheepfold of God is the Church, which among the Jews of old was called the Synagogue. Secondly, the master of the sheepfold, that is the Lord of the Church, is God the Father. Thirdly, the door is Christ, or faith in Christ, which is shut up in the Scripture of the Law and the Prophets as by a door locked with its bolts. Fourthly, the doorkeeper is the Holy Spirit. Fifthly, the sheep are not only the predestined, as St. Augustine thinks, and those chosen for glory, but any of the faithful and disciples of Christ, that is, all who are in the Church. Sixthly, the true shepherds and prelates are those who enter through Christ. Seventhly, to these the doorkeeper, that is the Holy Spirit, opens the door, because faith in Christ, through which they enter the Church, is a gift of the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit Himself grants them true and legitimate power, so that what they themselves do may be valid and held as such by God. Eighthly, these lead out the sheep, that is the faithful, to the pastures of sacred doctrine, of grace, and of virtues, and they go before them by the example of their upright life; and they call them by name, because they care for each one individually, and exhort, goad, and compel each to better things. Ninthly, he who does not enter through Christ into the sheepfold, but either leaps over the wall into it or breaks into it through a window or opening, is a thief and a robber of the sheep, that is of the faithful; for he strives to slaughter and destroy them. The rest are almost emblems, which belong to the elegance of the parable and are not to be applied to the thing signified by it.
Now let us weigh the several parts one by one and bring them to the anvil. He who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold (in the Greek ablative, that is, "stable") of the sheep, but climbs up another way (the Arabic: "by another place"), is a thief and a robber — as if to say: He who does not enter through Me, Christ, who am the door of the Church, is not a shepherd but a thief and a robber, who strives to tear, kill, and destroy the faithful. Such were Judas the Galilean and Theudas, Acts 5:36 and 37, and others like them, who pretended to be the Messiah, or tried to arrogate to themselves and profess what was proper to the Messiah. Such too the Scribes and Pharisees had now begun to be, who previously through the merits of Christ had received from God the lawful power of teaching and governing the people, and were therefore the true shepherds and teachers of the people; but now, opposing themselves to Christ present among them and turning the people away from Him, they became wolves, indeed thieves and robbers of the faithful. So St. Augustine, and from him the Gloss: "Against the arrogance of the Pharisees, who boasted of seeing, He sets forth this likeness, showing that neither wisdom nor a good life avails anything except through Him." And Chrysostom: "By saying 'another way,' He means the Scribes, who taught doctrines and commandments of men, and transgressed the Law." Such also were the false prophets of old, and such are the heretics now, of whom Jeremiah speaks in chapter 23:21: "They ran," he says, "and I did not send them." Hear St. Augustine: "Let pagans, or Jews, or heretics say: We live well. If they do not enter by the door, what does it profit them? Those are not to be said to live well who either through blindness do not know the end of living well, or through pride despise it."
Tropologically Augustine adds: Christ is a lowly gate. He who enters by this gate must be humble, that with his head intact (lest lifting up his head he strike it against the lintel) he may be able to enter. He who does not humble himself, but wishes to ascend by the wall, is therefore exalted that he may fall. The same St. Augustine, Sermon 49 De Verbis Domini: "He enters by the door," he says, "who enters by Christ and imitates His passion and humility." He is a "thief," because he strives to steal Christ's sheep, that is His faithful, and to arrogate them to himself. He is likewise a "robber," because he kills the souls of the faithful and consigns them to hell. So St. Augustine: "He is a thief," he says, "because what is another's he calls his own" — namely, by making God's sheep his own, says the Gloss. "He is a robber, because what he steals he kills," says St. Augustine.
Tropologically, our Salmeron wittily remarks, tom. 7, p. 88: Into the Church — that is, to ecclesiastical benefices — men enter variously in various ways. First, some enter by the door or gate of Caesar: courtiers, namely, through the recommendation of emperors, kings, and princes. Secondly, others enter by the golden gate, namely the rich. Thirdly, others by the gate of blood, that is through parents, kinsmen, and powerful friends. Fourthly, others by the gate of gifts, that is through presents and bribes. Fifthly, others by the gate of service, namely servants and attendants who, because of their services, are promoted to benefices by bishops. These lie languishing and awaiting the stirring of the water, that is, the vacancy of a see; for then he who is first in favor with the successor obtains the benefice.
Verse 2: But He Who Enters by the Door Is the Shepherd of the Sheep
2. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. — St. Chrysostom understands by the door the sacred Scriptures: "For these," he says, "open up the knowledge of God, guard the sheep, ward off wolves, and block the access of heretics." So also Theophylact, Leontius, and Euthymius. Theodore of Heraclea in the Catena agrees, and adds another reason: "Holy Scripture is the door," he says, "because he is the true shepherd to whom the door, that is Holy Scripture, grants entrance — that is, it furnishes authority and wins credence." But St. Augustine, Cyril, Bede, Rupert here, and St. Gregory in Homily 15 on Ezekiel understand the door to be Christ. For He Himself in v. 7 says plainly: "I am the door."
You will say: Christ is the shepherd of the sheep; therefore He cannot be the door. For the shepherd enters through the door, therefore He Himself cannot be the door. St. Augustine answers: "The Lord (Christ) Himself is both doorkeeper, and shepherd, and door — He opens Himself who sets Himself forth; or the doorkeeper is the Holy Spirit, of whom the Lord said: 'He will teach you all truth.' The door therefore is Christ, who is the Truth; and he who teaches Christ opens the door." Thus Augustine. The Gloss: "All," it says, "who hold and teach the truth are, in Christ the Shepherd, one shepherd. Christ reserved to Himself alone what the door is — that through Him the sheep may enter to God. But the shepherd enters through the door: for Christ, Christ Himself and the other shepherds preach." More simply, with Maldonatus, you may say that Christ as Shepherd enters through the door, that is through Himself, into the Church, because He enters it by His own authority, while the others enter by authority received from Christ. For it is not possible in parables to fit everything exactly. Moreover, the Syrians and Hebrews delight in parables, and double and multiply them, and even insert one into another and mix them together. Hence Christ did not speak to the Scribes except in parables, Matt. 13:35. So here Christ mingles the parables of the door and the shepherd.
Verse 3: To Him the Doorkeeper Opens, and He Calls His Own Sheep by Name
3. To him the doorkeeper opens — that is, Moses, say Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius, to whom the door, that is, the words of God, were entrusted. For Moses, bearing witness to Christ, leads Him in as a prince, as it were, into the Church, according to that saying of chapter 5:46: "If you believed Moses, you would perhaps also believe Me, for he wrote of Me."
Secondly, Cyril thinks the doorkeeper is the angel who presides over the whole Church, namely St. Michael. The doorkeeper is Christ Himself, says St. Augustine, in the words already cited.
Thirdly and most genuinely, the same St. Augustine, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Rupert, Maldonatus, and others say: The doorkeeper is the Holy Spirit, through whom the Scriptures, unlocked for us, point out Christ as shepherd (so Theophylact). Or rather, the Holy Spirit opened the door to Christ into the Church when He constituted Him the shepherd of the Church, and authorized Him by His witness, grace, and miracles — as when at Christ's baptism He descended upon Him in the form of a dove, and afterwards through Him enlightened the blind, healed the sick, and raised the dead. The same Spirit also sets other shepherds, the lawful successors of Christ, over the Church, and causes them to be recognized and received by the Church, and through them leads the rest of the faithful into the Church. The same Spirit detects the frauds of false shepherds, such as heretics, and causes them to be expelled from the Church.
And the sheep hear His voice. — As if to say: Just as sheep, from habit and from the shepherd's care and the kindness of feeding them, recognize their shepherd and hear his voice — that is, perceive and distinguish it and understand what he wants — and carry it out in obedience to him, so that when they hear the whistle of the shepherd going before them, they leave even their pasture and follow him: so likewise the faithful and Christians recognize Christ as the true Shepherd, and those whom He Himself has set as His vicars, and hear His voice, and obey Him in all things. St. Augustine, and Bede following him, take "sheep" to mean only the predestined; for these are called sheep and are distinguished from the goats (Matt. 25:33). But that passage speaks of the Judgment, where the elect and those to be saved are separated from the reprobate; whereas here He speaks of the Church militant on earth, where the elect are mingled with the reprobate and cannot be separated from them. Therefore both are called sheep: the sheep, then, are all the faithful; for these are in the fold, that is in the Church, and recognize Christ as Shepherd, love Him, and worship Him.
And He calls His own sheep by name. — The Arabic: "and His sheep are called by their own names." "By name" — that is, individually, as if to say: The shepherd of each single one of the sheep takes care, and calls them all and each, that they may follow Him as He goes before to pasture. And if any is sick, He calls that one alone apart, anoints her, heals her, and, if need be, takes her upon His shoulders. Add that more attentive shepherds are accustomed to give names to their cows, dogs, and sheep, and by these to call them to themselves. So likewise Christ and every shepherd after Him assigns to Christians, when He baptizes them, a proper name, and by it addresses and calls them, and cares for each one, so as to feed them with His word, example, and the most holy Sacraments, and thus lead them to salvation and heavenly glory.
Leontius notes that Christ here hands down eight marks and duties of the true shepherd. The first is that he enters through the door; the second, that the doorkeeper opens to him; the third, that the sheep recognize his voice and obey him; the fourth, that he can call each sheep by name; the fifth, that he leads the sheep out; the sixth, that he goes before them; the seventh, that the sheep follow him; the eighth, that he lays down his life for the sheep. Such was St. Chrysostom, who, when his expulsion was being plotted, in Homily 11 addresses his people thus: "You are my father, you are my mother, you are my life, you are my grace; if you make progress, it will please me. You are my crown and my riches; you are my treasure. I am ready a thousand times to be sacrificed for you; and I have no favor in this, but I am paying a debt. For the good shepherd ought to lay down his life for his sheep; such a death begets immortality."
And He leads them out — to pastures which are not outside, but inside the sheepfold itself, that is, in the Church herself. For in the Church the shepherd teaches the people, celebrates Mass, baptizes, administers the Sacraments, and so forth. Add that the Church is the assembly of the faithful: wherever the faithful are, there also is the Church, or a part of the Church.
Verse 4: And When He Has Sent Forth His Own Sheep, He Goes Before Them
4. And when He has sent forth His own sheep (to pasture), He goes before them — to go ahead on the way, to defend them from the wolf and the plunderer, and to lead them, following Him along a straight and convenient path, to better pastures. So likewise Christ and every true shepherd, first, goes before the faithful on the way to heaven by the example of a holy life. Let the shepherd therefore consider that he must be the forerunner and leader of the faithful in holiness, and go before them all, so that he may give to all a shining example of the virtues, at which each one, gazing on him, may follow him to heights, according to that saying of St. Peter, 1 Epistle 5:3: "Not lording it over the clergy, but being made from the heart a pattern to the flock." Secondly, the shepherd by his vigilance and strength protects and defends the faithful from heretics, scandals, and other harms. Thirdly, he shows them the straight road to heaven, and feeds and nourishes them with the best instructions, counsels, and warnings that he can. So Theophylact, Bede, Euthymius, and others.
Anagogically St. Augustine says: "Who is He who went before the sheep, but He who, rising from the dead, dies no more, and said to the Father: Those whom You have given Me, I will that where I am, they also may be with Me."
And the sheep follow Him, because they know His voice. — That is, they distinguish the voice of their own shepherd from the voice of any other, and therefore follow His voice and whistle.
Verse 5: But a Stranger They Do Not Follow, but Flee From Him
5. But a stranger they do not follow, but flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers, — e.g., of heretics, Jews, pagans, and all the wicked and deceitful; for the true faithful, who are the genuine sheep of Christ, flee from these as from wolves.
Verse 6: This Proverb Jesus Spoke to Them; but They Did Not Understand
6. This proverb Jesus spoke to them; but they did not understand what He was saying to them. — "Proverb," in Greek παροιμίαν, that is paroimia, a likeness, parable, as the Arabic renders it. See the remarks at Proverbs 1:5. "But they," namely the Pharisees and the Jews against whom Christ had aimed this parable, and even the Apostles, did not understand it, because it was wrapped up in itself, enigmatic, and obscure.
Verse 7: Amen, Amen I Say to You, I Am the Door of the Sheep
7. Jesus therefore said to them again: Amen, amen I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. — Maldonatus thinks that here Christ sets up a double door: namely, the door of the house (and this is Holy Scripture) and the door of the sheepfold (and this is Christ). "I believe," he says, "that Christ said 'He who does not enter by the door' in one sense, and 'I am the door' in another. For when He said, 'He who does not enter by the door,' He was speaking of the door by which the shepherds enter; when He said, 'I am the door,' He was speaking of the door by which the sheep go in and out — which is altogether different. The former is the main gate of the house, the latter the little door of the sheepfold. Through the former He said the shepherd, through the latter the sheep must enter. He did not declare what the former was, but said that He Himself is the latter: 'I,' He says, 'am the door; if anyone enter by Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and find pasture.'" But this distinction of the door is more subtle than solid: throughout, Christ is speaking of one and the same door, namely the door of the sheepfold. For what He had said before parabolically and obscurely in v. 1 — "He who does not enter by the door, etc., is a thief and a robber" — since the disciples did not understand it, Jesus explained the parable to them, saying: "I am the door of the sheep; all, as many as have come, are thieves and robbers." "See," says St. Augustine, "what was shut, He has opened. He Himself is the door; let us enter, that we may rejoice at having entered." Again, this distinction does indeed escape one difficulty, namely, how Christ as shepherd enters through the door — that is, through the Holy Scriptures bearing witness to Him — into the house of the Church; yet it does not escape the other, namely how the same is both shepherd and door. We must therefore say that Christ here, after the Syrian manner, mingles two parables with each other, one of the door and the other of the shepherd, as I said at v. 2. For Christ here intends to teach two things. First, that no one can enter into the Church, and thence into heaven — that is, no one can be justified and saved — except through Himself, that is through faith, by believing Jesus to be the Savior of the world. This He shows by the parable of the door. For just as there is no entrance into the sheepfold except through the door, so there is no entrance into the Church militant and triumphant except through Christ. Second, that He Himself is the true shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep, while the rest are hirelings; wherefore the sheep ought to follow Him and not the hirelings. This He shows by the parable of the shepherd. Further, because this latter teaching is interwoven and connected with the former, He intermingles and binds together the parable of the door with the parable of the shepherd.
Verse 8: All Who Have Come Are Thieves and Robbers, and the Sheep Did Not Hear Them
8. All others, as many as have come, are thieves and robbers, and the sheep did not hear them. — You will say: Are then all the Prophets who came before Christ and taught the people thieves and robbers? St. Augustine, book 16 Against Faustus, chapter 12, and St. Jerome, book 2 Against the Pelagians, and Bede here reply that the Prophets did not come of their own accord, but were sent by God. Again, they did not come apart from Christ, but with Christ: namely, to announce beforehand His coming as His forerunners. Therefore the Prophets are not reckoned as different from Christ, but as the same with Him, because they came for Christ's sake, by His command and leading. Hear St. Augustine: "The Prophets did not come apart from Christ; they came with the Word of God: He who was to come sent forerunners, and possessed the hearts of those whom He had sent." Euthymius adds that the Prophets did indeed come before Christ, but entered through the door. Finally, Christ here is properly speaking of those who had come before Him under the title of shepherd or Messiah, as if to say: All who came before Me and vaunted themselves as the shepherd of the Church awaited from the ages, namely as the Messiah or Christ, these are thieves and robbers, because like thieves they tried to steal the sheep, that is the faithful, from God and Christ, and to claim them for themselves, and to tear them and destroy them. Such were Judas the Galilean, Theudas, and, after Christ, Simon Magus, Bar Kochba, and many others, who arrogated to themselves the name and title of Christ. So St. Cyril, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius, and others.
But the sheep did not hear them — because they perceived that these men did not bring the signs of the Messiah foretold by the Prophets, but wished to steal the faithful from Christ and appropriate them to themselves, to slaughter them and cast them into hell.
Verse 9: I Am the Door. If Anyone Enters by Me, He Shall Be Saved
9. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and go out, and find pasture. — Rupert thinks that here another door is set up, distinct from the former, and another sheepfold, in accordance with v. 16: "Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold." But in vain. For there is only one sheepfold of Christ, namely only one Church. Hence in v. 16 Christ adds: "And there shall be one fold and one shepherd." This door, therefore, is the same as the preceding. For the door already spoken of Christ partly confirms and partly explains, when He adds: "If anyone enters by Me" — that is, if anyone believes in Me and so, through My faith and grace, enters the Church — he "shall be saved," that is, shall be justified and made blessed, provided he perseveres in My faith, grace, and charity until death. So St. Gregory, Epistle 49, Book VII: "He enters the sheepfold of the sheep by the door who enters through Christ. But he enters through Christ who holds and preaches the truth concerning the same Creator and Redeemer of the human race, and guards what has been preached."
And he shall go in and go out. — This does not mean entry into the Church and exit from it, as is clear; but "he shall go out," namely to pasture, and after feeding "he shall go in" to the place where he will lie down, as sheep do — as if to say: The faithful one, like a sheep, shall enter the fold of the Church well fed, and again when hungry shall go out to the pastures of his soul, without any danger, while I the Shepherd lead him out and back again. So Maldonatus.
Or rather, "to go in and go out" among the Hebrews means to live freely, to carry out one's duty, to do what is customary, and to transact any business whatsoever; and it is to be joined with what follows: "and he shall find pasture," as if to say: The faithful one shall everywhere live freely and without fear, shall carry out his duty, and whatever he does, whether at home or abroad, everywhere he shall find pasture for his soul. For this phrase signifies, first, security; second, confidence; third, the freedom to live anywhere, to carry out one's duty, and to transact any business for Christ and through Christ. So Cyril, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius.
Symbolically and tropologically St. Augustine, Bede, and St. Gregory, Homily 44: The faithful man enters within himself through contemplation, and goes out through action to good works. "He shall go in," says St. Augustine, "to inner meditation, and shall go out to outward action." The author of De Spiritu et Anima: "He shall go in," he says, "to My divinity, and shall go out to My humanity, and in the contemplation of both he shall find wonderful pastures." Finally, Gregory in another place: "They shall go in," he says, "and go out, and find pastures: for inwardly they have the pastures of contemplation, outwardly the pastures of good works; inwardly they fatten the mind with devotions, outwardly they satisfy themselves with pious works." Finally Theophylact: "He shall go in," he says, "who takes care of the inner man; he shall go out, who has mortified his members upon the earth."
Anagogically Rupert: The faithful one enters the Church — by my death I shall redeem them from death, and confer present and eternal life upon them: which neither the Prophets, nor the Apostles, nor anyone else did. For although they themselves were slain for the faithful — who were not their own but Christ's — yet by their death they did not redeem them from sins, nor sanctify or beatify them. So Rupertus, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius. St. Augustine and Bede add that the Prophets and Apostles are reckoned one and the same pastor with Christ, because they were subordinated to Christ, and were sent, directed, aided and protected by Him. Christ therefore is that eminent and unique pastor, whom Ezekiel foretold would come as prince of pastors, saying in chapter 34:23: "I shall raise up over them (My sheep) one pastor, who shall feed them, My servant David (namely, Christ, the son of David); He Himself shall feed them, and He Himself shall be their pastor," etc. See what was said there.
Christ passes from the parable of the door to the more illustrious parable of the pastor. For He is so the door through which the sheep, that is, the faithful, enter into the Church, that He is also the pastor of the sheep — not any sort of pastor, but the principal, singular and divine one: whence He Himself enters through the door — that is, through Himself, namely by His own authority — to the sheep, that is, to the faithful of the Church.
Furthermore, Christ rejoices in the title of pastor, as His own and most sweet title. Hence of old He was painted as a pastor bearing a sheep on His shoulders, as may still be seen in the most ancient pictures which survive in the Lateran basilica, in the church of SS. Cosmas and Damian, in the crypts and cemeteries of St. Priscilla, St. Laurence, St. Sebastian, etc. Hence the ancient Patriarchs, parents and types of Christ, were shepherds of sheep — as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, who by feeding sheep learned to feed and rule men, says Philo. Hence David also was led from shepherding sheep to kingship. Hence too Homer throughout calls Agamemnon, king of the Greeks, ποιμένα λαῶν, that is, pastor of peoples. Do you therefore wish to know and follow the office of a true pastor? Observe and do as the pastor of sheep bears himself toward his sheep: be so eminent in doctrine and holiness among your faithful, that among irrational sheep you may appear to be a rational shepherd, and as it were an angel among men, says St. Chrysostom.
First, then, as the pastor knows each sheep, cares for them, and calls them; so let the pastor of souls acknowledge each soul committed to his care, care for them, instruct, admonish, and direct them.
Second, the pastor leads out his sheep to fresh pastures: let the pastor of the faithful do the same.
Third, the pastor goes before his sheep: so let the pastor go before his faithful by the example of virtue. This is what Paul enjoins upon Titus, whom he had appointed bishop of Crete, chapter 2, verse 7: "In all things show yourself an example of good works, in doctrine, in integrity, in gravity," etc.
Fourth, the pastor drives off wolves, serpents, and all things harmful to the sheep: so let the parish priest drive off all heretics and all noxious persons. Again, let him feed the sheep with his doctrine and the Sacraments, and not fatten himself on the milk and wool of the sheep, Ezek. 34:2. Let him therefore not be a hireling, seeking his own gain and his own honors, aspiring to urban and noble pastorates and despising rustic and ignoble ones; for Christ went about villages and castles, and said: "The poor have the gospel preached to them," Matt. 11. A memorable example in this matter was given by John Fisher, bishop of Rochester, who would not exchange his small and meager bishopric for the wealthy and honored one offered him by Henry VIII, king of England — saying that he would more easily and better render his account to Christ on the day of judgment for a few sheep and a small revenue than for many. For if many knew, he said, how exact this reckoning will be, they would not court great and fat bishoprics. So Sanderus, in Schism. Anglic.
Fifth, the pastor tenderly feeds and cherishes the lambs, strengthens the weak sheep, heals the sick, binds up the broken, and brings back the wandering, Ezek. 34:4. See what was said there, especially toward the end of the chapter. Let the parish priest and bishop do the same for Christians. An illustrious example is in the Life of St. Abraham, written by St. Ephrem: for having become from an anchorite the pastor of a fierce, barbarous and untameable people, he was badly received by them and often beaten to the point of death: yet by his invincible patience, meekness and charity he subdued them and subjected them to the laws of Christ.
Sixth, Jacob was a true shepherd of sheep, who says of himself: "Day and night I was burned by heat and frost, and sleep fled from my eyes," Gen. ch. 31, v. 40; and when Christ was born, shepherds were keeping watch over their flock by night. On account of the merit of this vigil, the angels appeared to them announcing Christ's birth, Luke 2. Let the parish priest and bishop likewise be vigilant and watch over their flock. Their first gift should be vigilance.
Seventh, the pastor exposes his own life to danger for the protection of the sheep. Let the parish priest do the same when persecution, plague, or an enemy threatens, as did St. Athanasius, St. Chrysostom, St. Basil, St. Ambrose.
Lastly, St. Peter, the supreme Pastor of the Church, gives these precepts to the pastors under him, 1 Epist. ch. 5, v. 2: "Feed the flock of God which is among you, watching over it not by constraint, but willingly, according to God; nor for filthy gain's sake, but voluntarily; neither as lording it over the clergy, but being made a pattern of the flock from the heart. And when the prince of pastors shall appear, you shall receive a never-fading crown of glory." See what was said there. For more and particular instructions for pastors, see St. Gregory in his exact and outstanding Pastoral. And St. Bernard in his golden books On Consideration to Pope Eugene, and St. Augustine, tract On Pastors and Sheep, vol. IX.
Furthermore, the origin, fount and cause of all these — and therefore the sum and summary — is charity. For all the things now listed are duties and offices of charity: for charity loves God supremely and the faithful committed to one by God for God's sake. Whence St. Augustine here, tract 123: "Love in him who feeds the sheep ought to grow to so great a spiritual ardor that it may conquer even the natural fear of death." Hence Christ, wishing to appoint Peter pastor of the Church: "Peter," He said, "do you love Me?" and when he answered: "Lord, You know that I love You," He added: "Feed My sheep," as we shall hear in the last chapter.
Verse 10: The Thief Comes Only That He May Steal, and Kill, and Destroy. I Have Come That They May Have Life
10. The thief comes only that he may steal, and kill, and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly. — He shows what is the purpose and aim of him whom He had just called a thief, and on the contrary what is His own, as if to say: The thief and robber of the sheep — who does not enter into the sheepfold of the Church through the door, that is, through Me, but breaks in secretly from elsewhere (namely, the heretic, the schismatic, the Scribe, the Pharisee, and especially the false Christ who markets himself as the Messiah, as Theudas and Judas the Galilean did) — does not come to protect and save the sheep, that is, the faithful, but to steal them, and to snatch them away from God and the Church to whom they properly belong, and to transfer them to himself, that is, to the synagogue of Satan, and there by heresy and vices to slaughter them, and to lead them into hell and destroy them. But I, who am the true pastor of the sheep — that is, of the faithful — came from heaven and descended to earth, not for My own sake but for the sake of the faithful, namely, that being freed by Me from sins, they may "have the life of grace, indeed, may have it more abundantly." In Greek περισσὸν ἔχωσιν, that is, may have it abundantly, or may have an abundant life: for τὸ περισσὸν can be taken as an adverb or as an adjective, as if to say: I have come to give the faithful life — not life of any ordinary sort, but περισσὸν, that is, excellent, extraordinary, abundant, new, exceeding measure — namely, that they may abound in My doctrine and grace, and through it live vigorous in spirit, joyful, full, and abounding in spiritual gifts, both in this age through grace, and in the age to come through glory. So St. Chrysostom, Cyril, Theophylact, Euthymius, Bede and others. To this is added the exposition of Rupertus: That Christians may have more abundant grace, he says, than the Jews under the Old Law. Hence the Arabic also renders it, that they may have more abundantly; Vatablus, that they may abound in pastures. This abundant life of the spirit breathed forth by Christ may be seen in St. Peter, Paul, and the rest of the Apostles; in St. Stephen, Laurence, and the rest of the Martyrs; in St. Athanasius, Gregory, and the rest of the Confessors; in St. Cecilia, Catherine, and the rest of the Virgins, etc. Hence Paul's ardent cry: "Who shall separate me from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress? etc. I am sure that neither death nor life," etc. Rom. VIII.
Verse 11: I Am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd Lays Down His Life for His Sheep
11. I am the good pastor. The good pastor gives his life for his sheep. — In Greek ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός, that is, that pastor, that good one, namely by excellence — that is, illustrious, best and most outstanding, indeed, that unique and singular prince of pastors, who alone shall so lay down My soul for the sheep, that is, for My faithful, that them...
The good pastor gives his life for his sheep. — "His life," that is, his soul. This clause, like that of verse 3: "He calls his own sheep by name," does not so much fit the parable as the reality signified by the parable: for the shepherd of sheep ought to value his own life — as that of a man — more than that of his flocks and beasts; yet he may defend his sheep and other goods against wolves and thieves at the peril of his life. But the pastor of souls is bound by his office to expose his temporal life to danger for the spiritual life and salvation of the faithful committed to him. Hence in time of plague he is bound to attend them, or provide some other fit person to administer the Sacraments to the sick, as did St. Charles Borromeo, who thereby acquired the name of a saint. So all the Apostles, with the single exception of St. John, met death for the faithful committed to them, and suffered martyrdom — as did almost all the Roman Pontiffs from St. Peter to St. Sylvester for 300 years. The leader of all these was Christ, who alone, as the best pastor, gave His life for His sheep as ransom and price of redemption, since all the others did so only as a mirror of faith and example of virtue.
Verse 12: But the Hireling Sees the Wolf Coming, and Leaves the Sheep, and Flees
12. But the hireling, and he who is not the pastor, whose sheep are not his own, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees: and the wolf snatches and scatters the sheep. — "Hireling;" in Hebrew שכיר sachir, is one who feeds the sheep for a temporal wage, whence he seeks and looks not to the good of the sheep but to his own gain. Hirelings, says St. Augustine, are those who seek not the things which are Christ's and the sheep's, but their own. So also St. Basil, in the oration On St. Mamas. Now the Apostles, although they fed sheep not their own but Christ's, and received from Him a spiritual wage, were nevertheless not hirelings, because they sought not their own temporal goods but the spiritual and eternal gains of Christ's faithful. Whence St. Gregory, hom. 14: "He is called," he says, "not a pastor but a hireling, who feeds the Lord's sheep not from inmost love but for the sake of temporal wages. For a hireling is indeed one who holds the place of a pastor, but does not seek the gain of souls; he gapes after earthly comforts, rejoices in the honor of prelacy, is fed by temporal gains, and delights in the reverence paid him by men."
He sees the wolf coming. — "For in time of tranquility," says St. Gregory, "even the hireling often stands firm; but the coming wolf shows with what spirit each one stood in guarding the flock. For the wolf comes upon the sheep when every unjust man and plunderer oppresses the faithful and the humble. But he who seemed to be a pastor and was not, abandoned the sheep and fled; because fearing danger to himself from the wolf, he did not dare to resist his injustice."
He flees. — "Not by changing place," says St. Gregory, "but by withdrawing consolation. He flees, because he saw injustice and kept silent. He flees, because he hides himself beneath silence. To such as these it is well said through the Prophet: You have not gone up against the enemy, nor set up a wall for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord," Ezek. 13:5.
And the wolf snatches. — "The wolf" is, first, the heretic; second, any wicked man who by word or example strives to snatch and pervert the faithful; third, the wolf is the devil, says St. Gregory, "who snatches the sheep when he draws one to lust, kindles another to greed, raises another up in pride, divides another through anger; he stings this one with envy, trips up that one with deceit. So, as it were a wolf, he scatters the flock when by temptations the devil slays the people of the faithful. But against these the hireling is kindled by no zeal, roused by no fervor of love; because while he seeks only exterior advantages, he negligently suffers the interior harm of the flock."
Hence by antithesis Christ leaves it to be inferred that the good pastor, when he sees the wolf coming, does not flee, nor abandon the sheep, but stands and fights for them unto death, and so lays down his life for his sheep, as I said just before. When a pastor in persecution may flee and when he may not, I have said at Matt. 10:23. See St. Augustine, epist. 180 to Honoratus. I use here more liberally the words of St. Gregory, because he explains this matter best, as one who by long practice and exact experience thoroughly understood it.
Verse 13: The Hireling Flees, Because He Is a Hireling, and Has No Concern for the Sheep
13. But the hireling flees, because he is a hireling, and has no concern for the sheep. — "The sole cause," says St. Gregory, "why the hireling flees is because he is a hireling. As if it were openly said: He cannot stand in peril for the sheep, who in that which he has charge of the sheep does not love the sheep but seeks earthly gain. For while he embraces honor, while he rejoices in temporal comforts, he is afraid to set himself against danger, lest he lose what he loves."
Hence the Arabic renders it: The hireling flees only because he is hired for a wage, and (therefore) has no care for the sheep, inasmuch as they are another's, not his, and do not pertain to him; Greek οὐ μέλει αὐτῷ, that is, he has no care for the sheep; Vatablus, the sheep are not a care to him. For no one cares so diligently for another's goods as for his own: wherefore the hireling loves and cares for his own life more than for sheep that are another's.
Verse 14: I Am the Good Shepherd, and I Know My Own, and My Own Know Me
14. I am the good pastor, and I know My sheep (whom I feed, as the Arabic adds), and My sheep know Me. — Christ repeats the same thing, and confirms it from the conditions of the good pastor, which He shows fit Himself. Among these the first is that He knows His sheep and is known by them. By "sheep," as I said, understand not only the predestined (as St. Augustine and Bede hold), but all the faithful; for these are in Christ's sheepfold, that is, in the Church. These, then, Christ knows — not only with the provident and kindly eyes of His divinity, as Cyril says, but also of His humanity (for Christ as man is pastor of the Church) — so that He knows who and what His faithful are, what their gifts are as well as their infirmities, that He may increase the former and care for and heal the latter. He therefore acknowledges them both speculatively and practically, that is, He approves, loves and diligently cares for them, and provides for them abundantly in all things, as I said at verse 10 — indeed, He heaps upon them all His gifts, benefits and graces.
And My sheep know Me, — with the eyes of faith, hope and charity, because they believe in Me, hope in Me, and love Me supremely. The "and" signifies effect, as if to say: Because I know and love My sheep, therefore in turn the sheep know and love Me, because they return love to Him who loves them; for love is the magnet of love: if you wish to be loved, love. An effective philter and enticement is love. So Theophylact. To this is added that Christ's love toward us causes a reciprocal love in us toward Christ; for because Christ loves us, He therefore inspires in us the charity by which we love Him in return. For this charity is the supreme good — not Christ's, but ours — and so it leads us to heaven and makes us blessed.
Verse 15: As the Father Knows Me, and I Know the Father; and I Lay Down My Life for My Sheep
15. As the Father knows Me, and I know the Father; — supply: so likewise My sheep know Me, and I know them, as preceded. For this sentence and comparison depends on what went before, as the "as" indicates, as Cyril observes. He explains it thus, as if to say: As the Father acknowledges Me the Son as His own, and in turn I acknowledge the Father as My own, so likewise I acknowledge My faithful, and they in turn acknowledge Me. By this comparison Christ signifies both the cause and origin, and also the intention and magnitude, of the recognition and love with which He pursues His sheep — that is, the faithful — as if to say: The immense knowledge and love with which the Father pursues Me, and I the Father, is the origin, fount and cause of the knowledge and love with which I pursue the faithful and they Me. This both because divine and uncreated love is the fount of all human and created love, and because the Father wills that I love the faithful with a great and distinguished love, just as He loves Me immensely and I love Him. For He wills through Me, His natural Son, to adopt the faithful, and to make them His adoptive sons: wherefore He loves and cherishes them supremely as sons. I do the same, because I consent in all things to the Father's love and will, and respond, indeed, the same love is to Me as to the Father, just as the will, nature and divinity are the same.
Note that "as" signifies similitude, not equality. For the Father loves the Son with an uncreated and therefore infinite love, equally as the Son loves the Father: but the Son as man loves His faithful with a created and finite love, and is loved by them in like manner. Yet there will be here a certain equality if, with Maldonatus, you so expound and transpose it that when Christ says, "I know My sheep," He speaks as God; but when He says, "The Father knows Me, and I know the Father," He speaks of Himself as man. For just as Christ as God knows His sheep, and His sheep as men in turn know Him, so the Father knows the Son as God-man; and the Son as man acknowledges His Father, and calls Him His God, just as we do: "I ascend," He says, "to My God and your God," below, 20:17.
And I lay down My life for My sheep. — Refer this not to what immediately precedes, but to verse 14: "I know My sheep:" I know practically, that is, I love the sheep most vehemently, as if to say: Because I supremely love the faithful, "therefore I lay down My life," that is, I shall shortly lay it down for them. For Christ inserted the "as the Father knows Me" to represent by love toward the Father the origin and vehemence of His love toward the faithful: for this love stimulated Him to lay down His life for His sheep. "I lay down" signifies that Christ's death was not compelled, but voluntary, chosen and beloved for the salvation of the faithful. So Leontius, and Christ Himself expresses this in verse 18: "No one," He says, "takes it from Me; but I lay it down of Myself." Again "I lay down," that is, I deposit it for a short time — namely, for three days I shall deposit My soul in the limbo of the fathers, so that on the third day I may take it up again and rise gloriously. Christ's death therefore was not so much a death as a deposit of His soul in limbo for three days.
Verse 16: And Other Sheep I Have That Are Not of This Fold; There Shall Be One Fold and One Shepherd
16. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: and them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice. — He calls "other sheep" those who are not yet in the present but will afterwards be sheep, that is, faithful — speaking by anticipation. "I have," then, is taken broadly and extends to the future: "I have," that is, I shall shortly have. He means the Gentiles, who worshipped idols and were therefore sheep not of Christ but of Satan, whom Christ transferred from the fold of Satan into His own fold — that is, into His Church, which He had first gathered from the Jews. He foretells here, then, the calling and conversion of the Gentiles, to show that He will be king and pastor of all nations, just as hitherto He had been of the Jews, and therefore does not mind if a few Jews are unbelieving and rebellious to Him, since in their place He will substitute very many and very numerous nations. So Rupertus. Whence He adds: "And they shall hear My voice," by which saying He tacitly stings the Jews, as if to say: I know that most Jews will not believe in Me; but I make little of this — for in their place all the Gentiles will eagerly hear "My voice" speaking through the lips of the Apostles, and will obey it and believe in Me.
And there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. — Some commonly explain this as follows: At the end of the world God will through Elijah convert all the Jews, and through Enoch all the Gentiles at the same time, to Christ, and thus from both — that is, from all men — there will arise one Church and one pastor, Christ, with His vicar the Supreme Pontiff; whence they await a pontiff under whom this is to come to pass, who is therefore to be called the angelic pastor, as he is named in the catalogue of popes which St. Malachy wrote obscurely through symbols (this is found in Arnold Wion's Life of St. Malachy). But they err: for neither will Elijah convert all the Jews, nor Enoch all the Gentiles to Christ. For there will then be many infidels and followers of Antichrist. Christ's mind here is far otherwise, namely this, as if to say: After My death and resurrection the Apostles will be scattered through all nations, and will convert them to Me; wherefore the Gentiles, formerly estranged from the Jews, will then be gathered together with them into My Church, which had its beginning from the Jews; then therefore there will be "one fold," that is, one Church gathered from Jews and Gentiles believing in Me, and one pastor, namely Christ and His vicar the Roman Pontiff. Therefore this is not to be looked for as still future, but was long ago fulfilled in the time of the Apostles, and in the time of Constantine the Great, who as the first Christian emperor made nearly all the nations subject to his empire Christian. The Apostle vividly sets the same thing before our eyes in Ephesians 2, in the whole chapter.
Verse 17: Therefore Does the Father Love Me, Because I Lay Down My Life That I May Take It Up Again
17. Therefore does the Father love Me: because I lay down My life, that I may take it up again. — Lest the Jews should despise Christ as mortal and doomed to die on the cross because He had said that He would die for His sheep, Christ meets this by saying that this death was desired by Him and would be glorious, because out of love and obedience to the Father He would undergo it willingly, and therefore He must be loved by the Father, honored and exalted, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of things in heaven, on earth and under the earth, Phil. 2, as if to say: The death of the cross is chosen and beloved by Me, because it is chosen and beloved by the Father. For the Father decreed that I should be crucified and should die for the salvation of men, and commanded Me to undertake this cross and death. Wherefore I, obedient to Him, out of love for Him willingly undertake it. For this reason the Father supremely loves Him who loves Him and obeys Him in so arduous a matter, and therefore will supremely exalt and glorify Me.
Hence it is clear that Christ received from the Father a hard and weighty command, namely to suffer and to die on the cross, and thereafter on the third day to rise. Whence the Apostle, Phil. 2: "He was made," he says, "obedient (to the Father commanding; for obedience properly so called presupposes a command — indeed it is correlative to it; for obedience is obedience to a thing commanded, and in turn a command is a command of obedience: for this is the formal object of obedience) unto death, even the death of the cross." So St. Augustine, tract. 82; Cyril and St. Ambrose, bk. V On the Faith, ch. 5; St. Thomas; Suárez and the theologians, Third Part, Question 20, article 2, and Question 47, article 2. Now this command did not physically determine Christ's will to its fulfillment — wherefore it left that will in itself indifferent and free; but it belonged to the person of the Word to prevent Jesus' will with so many and such great helps of grace, by which He foreknew that it would freely consent and fulfill the command. And in this respect — namely, on account of the continual safeguarding by the Word — Christ's humanity is called extrinsically impeccable, not because the Word predetermined it, but because He supplied it with fitting helps, by which He foresaw that it would freely carry out the command. For by this foreknowledge of conditional futures Christ's liberty is best preserved, as Suárez teaches at length, Third Part, Question 18. And by this so generous obedience in so difficult a matter, Christ merited for us salvation and for Himself glory, as the Apostle there affirms. Set this command of God the Father and this obedience of Christ before your eyes, O Religious, when something difficult and arduous is commanded you by your superior. Admirably R. Judah, in Pirke Avoth, ch. 5: "Be bold as a leopard," he says, "swift as an eagle, fleet as a hart, courageous as a lion, to do the will of God your Father who is in heaven."
I lay down My soul. — Take "soul" properly, with St. Augustine, Bede and others, who from this passage — against Apollinaris, who denied that there was a created soul in Christ, because in place of a soul there was the very divinity of the Word — prove that there was truly a human soul in Christ. Others take "soul" by metonymy for life; for life is caused by the soul united to the body. Both senses therefore come to the same thing.
That I may take it up again. — Refer the "that" to "I lay down," as if to say: I do not lose, kill, or annihilate My soul, but for a short time I lay it down, that rising on the third day I may take it up again. Cyril, however, refers it to "the Father loves Me," as if to say: Therefore the Father loves Me, because I not only lay down My soul for My sheep, but also because I take it up again — that is, not only because by My death I set My sheep free, but also because by rising I give them life. "He was delivered up," says Paul, "for our offenses, and rose again for our justification," Rom. 4:25.
Verse 18: No One Takes It From Me, but I Lay It Down of Myself
18. No one takes it from Me; but I lay it down of Myself. — He explains and confirms what He said: "I lay down My life," as if to say: No one takes My life from Me by force against My will, but I willingly lay it down for the salvation of men, namely "of Myself," that is, by My own will, as the Arabic renders it, and liberty: for although the Jews will kill Me by force, yet this force of theirs would avail nothing against Me unless I willingly admitted it. Again, even their force once admitted, it is still in My power and liberty to die or not to die. For I am able by My divinity so to sustain and strengthen My body that by no nails, blows, scourges, nor even by wounds willingly received, can it be killed — just as I sustain the bodies of the Blessed and make them impassible. So Toletus. Hence Christ on the cross, crying out, expired — to show that He died willingly and freely, since He could still have lived had He wished; for He who had strength to cry out had also strength to live further. Hence the centurion, seeing that He expired thus crying out, said: "Truly this was the Son of God," Matt. 27. Hence too Christ had a certain higher and more excellent will, whereby He could be delivered to death when He willed, and not before, says Suárez, Third Part, Question 20, art. 2.
And I have power to lay it down (through voluntary and free death): and I have power to take it up again, — through the mighty and glorious resurrection which My blessed soul will effect by the power of the divinity hypostatically united to it. Christ therefore signifies here that He is both God and man equally: for as man He lays down His life, as God He takes it up again. So Cyril.
This commandment I received from My Father. — The Arabic prefaces this with "because." For Christ gives the reason why He is about to lay down His life and make Himself a victim for the salvation of the world: namely, because this was commanded by the Father — lest the Jews or anyone else should object to Him: You have taken upon Yourself this office and dignity, that You may be held and worshipped as the mediator, Messiah and savior of the world.
Verse 20: He Has a Devil, and Is Mad: Why Do You Listen to Him?
20. And many of them said: He has a devil, and is mad: why do you listen to Him? 21. Others said: These are not the words of one who has a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? — "He has a devil:" because He is proud like Lucifer, when at its prompting He makes His Father God, and sets Himself up as the Son of God.
He is mad. — The Syriac: "madly mad," that is, He is utterly delirious and mad, when He says He lays down His soul — that is, dies willingly — when we see Him living; and no one dies willingly, but by the necessity of nature or compelled by inflicted force. But Christ did not respond to these insults and slanders — both because they were unworthy of a response, and because He had already answered them before, and because He allowed others who favored Him to answer for Him, as follows; for others are more readily believed than oneself testifying of oneself. So Theophylact.
Verse 22: And the Feast of the Dedication Took Place at Jerusalem; and It Was Winter
22. And the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; and it was winter. — "Encaenia," the Syriac: the feast of the Encaenia, that is, the feast of the dedication of the temple, when, namely, a new (for καινὸν means new: whence ἐγκαινίζειν is to renew, to dedicate, to inaugurate: whence Encaenia are the same as "renewals" or "inaugurals") temple was dedicated to God — either built originally by Solomon, 3 Kings 8, as Cyril holds; or rebuilt by Zerubbabel after the return from the Babylonian captivity, 1 Ezra 6:16, as St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Leontius, and Euthymius think; or (what is far truer) dedicated again by Judas Maccabeus. For he again consecrated and dedicated the temple, which had been profaned and partly destroyed by Antiochus Epiphanes, 1 Macc. 4:59, and ordered that the memory of this dedication and the solemn feast should be renewed and celebrated annually for eight days on the 25th day of the month Kislev, that is, December — for Kislev fell partly in November, partly in December. Whence it follows: "and it was winter." This feast was celebrated with great joy of the people, on account of the religion and liberty restored to the Hebrews by Judas together with the temple. Hence it was also called the "Feast of Lights," says Josephus, bk. 12 Antiq., ch. 11, especially because on the same day they celebrated the feast of the fire given — that is, restored from heaven — with which victims were wont to be consumed, as appears in 2 Macc. 1:18. Wherefore all that John has related from ch. 7:2 up to here took place in two months, namely October and November — that is, from the feast of Scenopegia, as it is there called, that is, Tabernacles, which was celebrated at the end of September, up to the feast of the Encaenia, which was celebrated in December. From that time to the following Passover in Nisan (or March), there remain about three months, in which Christ did all the things that John henceforth narrates to the end of the book, and Luke from ch. 15 to the end of the Gospel.
Tropologically: this Encaenia signified the renewal of the soul polluted by sin, which through repentance sanctifies itself anew and consecrates itself to God.
And it was winter. — The Evangelist says this, says Theophylact, to signify the nearness of the time of the Passion; for in the following spring the Lord suffered. Cyril adds that this is said to signify the reason why Jesus walked in the portico; namely, because it was winter, and the time cold or rainy: wherefore Jesus walked, not in the court (which was under the open sky) but in the portico covered above, that He might defend Himself from the injuries of the weather. Mystically, by winter, says the Gloss, is signified the coldness of the Jews, who do not draw near to the fire — that is, do not believe in Christ. Hear St. Augustine: "The Jews were cold with the charity of loving, and burned with the desire of harming; they did not draw near by following, but pressed by persecuting." And Theophylact: "You also," he says, "while it is winter — that is, while the present life is shaken by the storms of iniquity — celebrate the spiritual dedications of your temple, renewing yourself always; and disposing ascents in your heart, and Jesus will be present to you in Solomon's portico, granting a peaceful state." So also St. Gregory, bk. II of Morals, ch. 11.
See Ribera, bk. IV On the Temple, ch. 17.
Verse 23: And Jesus Was Walking in the Temple, in Solomon's Portico
23. And Jesus was walking in the temple, — that is, in the portico of the temple, as follows. For the portico of the temple is the outermost part of the temple, and is therefore called the temple.
In the portico of Solomon. — As if to say: When I say Jesus was walking in the temple, I do not mean the temple itself (for it is not fitting to walk inside the temple), but the portico adjacent to the temple. You will ask: which portico was this? Note: The temple of the Jews properly had two parts: the first was called in Hebrew היכל Hechal, in Latin Sanctum (the Holy Place), in which only the priests entered, and in which they performed three duties: first, daily morning and evening they burned incense to God on the altar of incense; second, they lit the seven lamps on the candelabrum; third, every sabbath they placed twelve new loaves, according to the 12 tribes, before the Lord on the table of the bread of proposition, and removed the old ones. The latter part was called in Hebrew דביר debir, in Latin the oracle and Holy of Holies, which the high priest alone entered once a year, namely on the feast of Atonement, as prescribed in Lev. 16. Since then both parts of the temple were open only to priests descended from the tribe of Levi, and Christ was not a priest sprung from Levi but from the tribe of Judah — hence it follows that Christ was not permitted to enter the temple (that is, the Holy Place), much less the Holy of Holies.
Further, before this two-part temple there was אולם ulam, that is, a court or vestibule, under the open sky, likewise divided in two. For its former part, next to the Holy Place, was the court of the priests, in which the priests offered victims on the altar of holocausts. The latter part was the outer court, contiguous to the inner court of the priests, and was called the court of the laity; in which the people prayed and beheld the sacrifices which were being performed in the court of the priests. Hence this court was the temple of the people, and in it Christ conversed and taught. This court on its side round about had porticoes roofed above, to which the people would withdraw in time of rain, wind, hail, etc., as is clear from 3 Kings 6:3. And this portico is held to be called the Portico of Solomon by Ribera, bk. I On the Temple, ch. 6, Adrichomius and others, as if John said: Christ was walking in the temple — not indeed in the court of the temple itself, but in the portico which surrounded the court.
Others, with Villalpando, Maldonatus and others, think it more likely that this was a particular portico, called Solomon's because Solomon a long time after the temple had been built, the slope of the mountain having been leveled, built this portico on the eastern part of the temple, as Josephus testifies, Book VI of the Jewish War, chapter VI, who says that Solomon surrounded Mount Sion, on which the temple stood, with a wall, fortified the level ground with an embankment, and built the portico on the level area. It was therefore called Solomon's, not because Solomon was accustomed to pray there, as the Interlinear suggests, but to distinguish it from the other porticoes which others afterwards, and especially Herod, added to the temple; or else the portico itself, built by Solomon, alone remained standing when the rest of the temple was burned by the Chaldeans, as Baronius and others judge; or because it was rebuilt in the same place, and in the same form and manner in which it had originally been constructed by Solomon. I have said more about this portico at Acts III, 11.
Verse 24: How Long Do You Hold Our Soul in Suspense? If You Are the Christ, Tell Us Plainly
24. Then the Jews surrounded Him (the Scribes and leaders of the Jews hostile to Christ), and said to Him: How long do You hold our soul in suspense? — The Syriac has 'do You hold us back?' the Arabic, 'do You afflict us?' that is, how long do You keep us in suspense, in doubt, and in uncertainty. For thus You afflict us; for You seem to hold our mind in suspense, while You keep the thoughts and cares of our mind in uncertainty. For we desire to see the Messiah, and we wish that You be He and that You profess Yourself to be the Messiah. For they pretend to desire this, in order to draw a confession from Christ's mouth which they may then slander. For, as St. Augustine says, they do not desire the truth, but prepare a slander, that they may accuse Him of making Himself the Messiah. So also Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius; but Christ, says the Gloss, so tempers His reply that there is no room for slander, and yet it is plain to the faithful that He is the Christ, the Son of God.
If You are the Christ, tell us plainly. — In Greek παρρησια, that is, freely, confidently, clearly, so that we may all publicly honor and venerate You as our Messiah. So these hypocrites and plotters against Christ, of whom David truly prophesied: "Many dogs have surrounded Me, the council of the malignant has besieged Me," Psalm 21:17. "They surrounded Me like bees, and they burned like fire among thorns," Psalm 117:12. For, as Chrysostom says, Christ said all things openly, and spoke nothing in secret. Hence St. Augustine: They sought, he says, to hear: 'I am the Christ': which if He had said, they would have slandered Him, as though He were arrogating to Himself royal power.
Verse 25: The Works That I Do in My Father's Name, These Bear Witness of Me
25. I speak to you, and you do not believe: the works that I do in My Father's name, these bear witness of Me. — as if to say: Openly and clearly I have told you that I am the Messiah, but you do not believe Me; whence you said, chapter 8:15: "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true." Furthermore, what I have said about Myself, namely that I am the Messiah, I have confirmed and continually confirm by the works of God and by miracles; for these works I do "in the name," that is, by the authority, will, command, power and supernatural might of God the Father: wherefore these bear witness of Me, that I am the Son of God the Father, sent by Him as the Messiah, and yet you, obstinate in your perfidy, do not believe these works, nay rather you slander them as works of the devil; how therefore will you believe My words? So Chrysostom.
Verse 26: But You Do Not Believe, Because You Are Not of My Sheep
26. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep. — Because, namely, you do not wish to submit to Me as to a shepherd, you do not wish to be My faithful and disciples; you do not wish to acknowledge Me as your Messiah and Savior; but you yourselves wish to subject Me to you, and to be not My shepherds but My superiors, censors, and slanderers. Ambition, therefore, is what makes you envy Me the primacy of the Church, and therefore makes you unwilling to believe Me. St. Augustine takes "sheep" to mean the predestined, as if He said: You do not believe, because you are not predestined, but reprobate. But this cause is neither proper nor adequate: not proper, because God's reprobation is not the cause but rather the effect of unbelief and sin. For not because God had reprobated the Jews were they therefore unbelievers and sinners; but because they themselves willed to be unbelievers and to sin, they were therefore reprobated by God. Not adequate, because many of the Jews were predestined who nevertheless at that time did not believe in Christ, but afterwards, when Peter and the Apostles preached, Acts 2, they believed in Him. Again, some then believed in Christ who nevertheless were not predestined, because afterwards either from faith or from charity through sin they fell away, as did Judas, Nicolas of Antioch, and others.
Verse 27: My Sheep Hear My Voice
27. My sheep hear My voice. — Christ leaves it to be supplied with respect to the Jews: 'but you do not hear My voice, therefore you are not of My sheep.' For this is what He intends to prove. See what was said at verse 4.
Verse 28: I Give Them Eternal Life; and No One Shall Snatch Them Out of My Hand
28. And I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man snatch them out of My hand. — There are two kinds of Christ's sheep: first, all the faithful and Christians; second, all and only those predestined and elect unto glory. To these latter these words of Christ properly belong; for the former, namely all the faithful, are Christ's sheep of the flock, common sheep, of whom many perish and are damned. So St. Augustine: He shows, he says, why they do not perish; for of the sheep of whom it is said: "The Lord knows who are His," neither the wolf seizes, nor the thief takes, nor the robber kills. The latter therefore are Christ's sheep, selected and singular out of the flock of the faithful, of whom none perishes, but all are saved: yet concerning the former too Christ says: "I give them eternal life," as far, namely, as depends on Me; that is, I promise them eternal life, and offer them My help, grace, and all things necessary for it, and desire that they be saved. That some of them therefore perish and are damned is not My fault, but theirs, who will not hear Me and cooperate with My grace. For neither the devil, nor any other, is so powerful that he can snatch them out of My hand, if they themselves wished to remain in it and did not wish to be snatched away. For My grace, which I give them, is so powerful and valid, that if they are willing to cooperate with it to the end of life, no one can carry them away from Me; but if they freely abandon Me, this is not a seizure, but a free departure on their part, apostasy, falling away. So Cyril, Leontius, Theophylact, Maldonatus. For Christ means to say that no force is so great that it can drag the faithful away from Him and snatch them, although it is within their liberty to depart from Christ and forsake Him.
"I" therefore "give eternal life" to all sheep, that is, Christians, namely so far as depends on Me, if, that is, My sheep themselves remain and persist in My faith and obedience. "I give them," I say, "eternal life," in this age through grace in hope, in fact to be given in the future through glory. For by this promise He invites the Jews to be willing to be sheep, that is, His faithful, and He rebukes them because they are unwilling to be His sheep.
Finally, the faithful are "in the hand," that is, under the protection, providence, benevolence, and beneficence of Christ; for of all these things the hand is a symbol. Hence "the hand," says St. Isidore, Book XI of the Etymologies, chapter 1, "is so called because it is the service (munus) of the whole body. For it furnishes food to the mouth, it performs and dispenses all things, through it we receive and give."
Verse 29: My Father, Who Has Given Them to Me, Is Greater Than All
29. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all (so it should be read, with the Roman edition, St. Augustine, Ambrose, Tertullian, Rupert, Bede; although the Greek and Syriac have 'that which,' that is, greater): and no one can snatch them out of My Father's hand. — Christ proves that no one can snatch the sheep from His hand. Because, He says, that which in begetting Me the Father gave, namely the divine nature, and His omnipotent force and power, is greater than all created things, even angels and demons, and therefore just as no one can snatch them from the Father's hand, so neither from Mine, because it is the same hand; that is, the power of the Father and Mine is one. So St. Augustine, Bede, Maldonatus here, and St. Ambrose, Book III On the Holy Spirit, chapter 18; Hilary, Book VII On the Trinity, and Tertullian, Book Against Praxeas.
Christ opposes this to the Jews, who thought Him to be a mere man, as if He said: You despise Me, as though I had nothing beyond the human nature which I share in common with you, which My mother gave Me; but know that the eternal Father has in addition given Me a divine nature and hypostasis, which is far greater, more sublime, and more powerful than every human, angelic, and created nature.
Others interpret it differently, as if He said: The Church and the sheep, that is, the faithful, entrusted to Me by the Father, are a greater thing than all other things, that is, they are to be esteemed more than anything else; and as no one can snatch them out of the Father's hand, so neither from Mine. But the former sense, as it is more sublime, so it is more forcible.
Moreover, the Greek and the Syriac read, 'My Father, who has given to Me, is greater than all,' and Cyril thus explains it, as if to say: My Father, who is Lord of all things, and rules and governs all, has given to His incarnate Son, that is, has entrusted to Him, the care of the sheep, that is, of the faithful; to Me, I say, who am life, that I may communicate to them that same life of grace and glory. And "the Father is greater than all": hence no one can snatch the sheep from the Father's hand, and consequently not from Mine, because the power of the Father and Mine is one, insofar as I am God; but insofar as I am man, My hand is supported by the omnipotent hand of the Father. Hence the Interlinear explains "from the hand" as meaning from Me, who am the hand of the Father. For, as Augustine says, men are accustomed to call their hands those through whom they do what they will. And thus both readings and expositions come to the same thing.
Verse 30: I and the Father Are One
30. I and the Father are one, — not merely by concord and consent of will, as the Arians would have it, but one in essence and deity, the same in number, not in species; otherwise indeed there would be many gods. For Christ is speaking here insofar as He is God, and the Word of the Father: hence St. Athanasius, Augustine, Cyril, Basil, Ambrose, and the other Fathers prove from this the divinity of the Son against the Arians. And so the Jews understood it, who on this account wished to stone Christ, as follows, as a blasphemer, because He was making Himself the Son of God and equating Himself to God the Father. So also Christ Himself expounded it, because when the Jews for this saying of His wished to stone Him, confirming it, He answered that "I am the Son of God." Finally, it is clear from Christ's argument: for Christ proves that no one can snatch the sheep from His hand, from the fact that no one can snatch them from the hand of God the Father, because He and the Father are one, as if to say: Because I am one with the Father in essence, hence I have the same hand, that is, power and omnipotence, with Him; for where the essence is the same, there also the power is the same. Therefore no one can snatch the sheep out of My hand, because My hand is the hand of the Father, from which no one can snatch them. So St. Hilary, Book VIII On the Trinity: "They are one," he says, "the Father and the Son, not only in will and unanimity, as the heretics say (in which way it is said of the faithful, chapter 17: 'that they may be one, as We also are one'), but by nature, honor, and virtue." And St. Augustine: "He frees us from Charybdis and Scylla: when He says 'one,' from Arius; when He says 'are,' from Sabellius; for 'one' signifies unity of essence, 'are' the plurality of persons, which Sabellius denied, saying that God is one in person, as He is one in essence." The same Augustine, Book VI On the Trinity, chapter 2: "They are one," he says, "according to essence, not according to relation, which constitutes the person." See Bellarmine, Book I On Christ, chapter VI.
Verse 31: The Jews Then Took Up Stones to Stone Him
31. The Jews then took up stones to stone Him, — as a blasphemer, because He made Himself the Son of God, and therefore God. Behold, here the Jews betray their hypocrisy, malignity, envy, and hatred toward Christ, and that they had not sincerely but feignedly and insidiously asked Him publicly to declare Himself to be the Christ. But Christ, because He is God, restrained their minds and hands, so that they would not hurl the stones they held at Him. Fittingly, St. Augustine in his usual manner: "Hardened ones," he says, "ran to stones." Mystically, St. Hilary, Book VII On the Trinity: "And now," he says, "the heretics hurl stones of words, and would drag Christ from His throne if they could: instigated, doubtless, by Lucifer, who coveted this throne of divinity, and for that reason envies Christ, and through heretics strives to take it away."
Verse 32: Many Good Works I Have Shown You From My Father; for Which of These Works Do You Stone Me?
32. Jesus answered them: Many good works I have shown you (that is, exhibited, performed, as I said at chapter 5, verse 20) from My Father; for which of these works do you stone Me? — "He answered," not with words, since none had preceded, but to the intention and plot of the Jews. "He answered," therefore, that is, He asked (this is catachresis) for what cause, or because of what work, do you wish to stone Me? He calls "works" the miracles which He had performed by the authority and supernatural power of God the Father, giving sight to the blind, healing the possessed, raising the dead, etc. Here He tacitly rebukes and pierces their ingratitude and malignity, as if to say: I have healed your blind, lame, and sick, destitute of all human aid, by divine power; why, therefore, do you, ungrateful ones, repay My so many benefits with evils, and wish to stone Me?
Verse 33: For a Good Work We Do Not Stone You, but for Blasphemy; Because You, Being a Man, Make Yourself God
33. The Jews answered Him: For a good work (for a good work) we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and (that is) because You, being a man, make Yourself God. — Behold, the Jews, says St. Augustine, understood what the Arians do not understand. For they perceived that it could not be said: "I and the Father are one," except where there is equality of Father and Son.
Verse 34: Is It Not Written in Your Law: I Said, You Are Gods?
34. Jesus answered them: Is it not written in your law (that is, in the Old Scripture or Testament, namely Psalm 81:6), I said: You are gods? — "Gods," in Hebrew Elohim; for Elohim is plural, and signifies both God and gods. For God is called Elohim, inasmuch as He rules and governs the world, and inasmuch as He is judge and avenger and punisher of wickedness. Hence angels and judges, who receive and share this power of ruling and judging from God, are called Elohim, Psalm 81:6. These therefore are called gods, not by nature, nor by hypostatic union, as Christ, but by participation in the divine eminence and judgment. Thus Exodus 7:1, God says to Moses: "I have constituted you the god of Pharaoh," that is, God, prince, chastiser, and avenger in place of God. And Exodus 22:28: "The gods," that is, the judges, "you shall not curse." And Psalm 8:6: "You have made him a little less than the angels;" in Hebrew, than Elohim. But in this case, as St. Hilary notes, Book VII On the Trinity, from the context the name Elohim is limited, so that it appears not to signify God, but angels or judges, as in this Psalm 81, it is limited by the fact that there is added: "God stood in the synagogue of gods, and in the midst He judges gods." The gods therefore who are judged are men or angels; but He who judges them is God alone, one and true, just as here Christ as God judges, examines, and convicts, like a supreme judge, the Pharisees and leaders of the Jews, who were as it were certain earthly gods, says St. Augustine. And that Christ might suggest this, for this cause He cited this passage of the Psalm rather than others; for in Hebrew Psalm 81 reads thus: "Elohim judges Elohim," that is, God, who is Elohim by essence, that is, governor and judge of all, judges elohim, that is, judges, to whom He has communicated His divine power of ruling and judging, as if to say: The supreme and heavenly Elohim judges the lower and earthly elohim, that is, judges and princes. Hence the Chaldee renders it: 'God whose majesty dwells in the congregation of the just, who are powerful in the law, in the midst of the judges He judges in truth.' The same Chaldee, at Psalm 81:6, for "I said: You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High," renders it: 'you are like the angels of God the Most High': which is properly said of judges; yet it can be extended to all the Israelites and the faithful, as St. Augustine extends it in the same place. For these are the sons of God. For elsewhere, where Elohim is placed absolutely, and is not limited by context, it signifies the one and true God.
Christ therefore here, says Chrysostom, does not destroy the opinion of the Jews who thought that He was making Himself equal to God, but rather confirms it.
Verse 35: If He Called Them Gods, to Whom the Word of God Came, and the Scripture Cannot Be Broken
35. If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (whom the word of God constituted judges, that is, to whom God by His word and command gave authority to judge through Moses and his successors; likewise properly, to whom the word of God was made in that Psalm 81, where God commands judges to judge rightly, as sharers in His authority and His vicars, and therefore certain gods of earth: so Euthymius), and the Scripture cannot be broken (be annulled, become false and lying). — as if to say: No one can annul and take away from the judges the name of gods, which the divine and irrevocable Scripture gave them.
Verse 36: He Whom the Father Has Sanctified and Sent Into the World
36. He whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world (namely Me), you say: because (that) you blaspheme, because I said: I am the Son of God. — It is an argument not from equality, as the Arians would have it, but from the lesser to the greater, as if to say: If judges, who share in the power of God, are called gods, how much more am I to be called God, who am the natural Son of God, sanctified by Him and sent into the world.
More subtly than fittingly, St. Augustine and Bede judge that there is in this the force of the argument also that He says: "To whom the word of God was made," as if He said: If those who shared in the word of God, the Scripture attesting, "which cannot be broken," that is, cannot lie, were rightly called gods; how much more I, who am not a sharer in the word of God, but am Myself the word of God, can be called God.
Note: the phrase "whom the Father sanctified" first means the same as: to whom the Father communicated that sanctity by which He Himself is holy, or to whom the Father by begetting gave that He should be holy, because He begot Him holy, says St. Augustine. For the holy God the Father begot the holy God the Son. So also Bede, Toletus, and others: The Son therefore is holy by generation and by essence.
Secondly, Christ, insofar as He is man, the Father sanctified through the hypostatic union; for by this precisely the humanity of Christ is sanctified in the highest degree: for by the very fact that the hypostasis of the Word, which is itself uncreated and infinite sanctity, assumed the humanity and joined it to Himself hypostatically, He plainly sanctified it, and therefore infused into its soul the eminent sanctity of charity, grace, and all virtues. So St. Hilary: Jesus, he says, was sanctified in the Son, Paul saying that "He was predestined the Son of God in power, according to the spirit of sanctification." So also St. Chrysostom and St. Athanasius, Book On the Incarnation of the Word, near the beginning: "Sanctified" therefore is the same as "sealed," as I said at chapter 6, verse 27.
Thirdly, Theophylact: "He sanctified," he says, that is, He decreed Him to be sacrificed for the world, in which He showed Himself not to be God like the others; for to save the world is the work of God, and not of man deified through grace. In like manner Christ says, chapter 17, verse 19: "For them I sanctify (that is, I sacrifice, and offer as a holy victim) Myself."
Fourthly, Maldonatus: "He sanctified," he says, that is, He designated and destined Him to the office of Savior, that He might sanctify and save men, so that He alludes to Jeremiah 1:5: "Before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you," that is, I destined you as a Prophet. Whence, explaining this, he adds: "And I have given you as a Prophet among the Gentiles"; although there is also another and more fitting sense of that passage, as I said there.
Verse 37: If I Do Not Do the Works of My Father, Do Not Believe Me
37. If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me. — Repeatedly Christ appeals to His works, that is, the miracles which He performed by the command and supernatural power of God the Father; for these, as being divine, proved Him to be the Son of God, sent by God for the salvation of the world.
Verse 38: Believe the Works, That You May Know That the Father Is in Me, and I in the Father
38. But if I do, and if you are unwilling to believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me (performing such divine things), and I in the Father, — through that same deity and omnipotence which I have received from Him. Hence St. Augustine, Cyril, Leontius, Bede, and Euthymius judge that "I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me," is the same as "I and the Father are one." Hear St. Augustine, Tractate 48: "We cannot say: 'We are in God, and God is in us.' Can we say: 'I and God are one'? You are in God, because God contains you; God is in you, because you have been made the temple of God; but can you, because you are in God and God is in you, say: 'He who sees me, sees God,' in the way the Only-begotten said: He who sees Me, sees the Father also; and I and the Father are one? Recognize what is proper to the Lord, and the gift of the servant. What is proper to the Lord is equality with the Father; the gift of the servant is participation in the Savior."
Verse 39: They Sought to Apprehend Him; and He Went Out of Their Hands
39. Therefore the Jews sought to apprehend Him; and He went out of their hands, — that their fury, says Chrysostom, might be appeased by His absence. Acutely, but symbolically, St. Augustine: "They did not apprehend Him," he says, "because they did not have the hands of faith." But He went out by divine power, making Himself invisible, as He did in chapter 8, verse 59.
Verse 40: He Went Again Across the Jordan, to the Place Where John Was Baptizing at First
40. And He went again across the Jordan, to that place where John was baptizing at first, — namely in Bethania, or Bethabara, where Christ had been baptized by John: for afterward John baptized in Aenon, near Salim, chapter 3, verse 23, and frequently changing places, he went about baptizing in other regions of the Jordan, as I said above. Christ withdrew into Bethabara, so that the crowd that would follow Him there might remember the testimony which John had there borne to Him, namely that He was the Messiah, and equally the testimony of God the Father thundering at His baptism: "This is My beloved Son," Matthew 3, so that they might believe in Him, as indeed is clear from the following verse. So St. Chrysostom, Leontius, Theophylact, Euthymius.
And He remained there, — until, when the Passover and His passion were drawing near, He returned to Judea and Jerusalem, and there raised Lazarus: whence the Scribes and leaders, irritated, seized Him and crucified Him, as will appear in the following chapter.
Verse 41: And Many Came to Him, and Were Saying: John Indeed Worked No Sign
41. And many came to Him, and were saying: because (that) John indeed worked no sign. — as if to say: And yet we believed him. Therefore much more we ought to believe Jesus when He says He is the Messiah, who proves it by so many signs and miracles. So Chrysostom.
There is another reason which persuaded these to believe in Christ; namely, that they actually perceived Jesus to be stronger than John in performing miracles, in the efficacy of His discourse, in the sanctity of His life, as John had foretold them; whence they inferred: If the other things which John said about Jesus we perceive to be true, then equally true is that which the same John asserted about Jesus, namely that He is the Messiah.
Verse 42: And Many Believed in Him
42. And many believed in Him. — The Greek adds, 'there,' namely in Bethabara, on account of the memory of the testimony of God the Father and of John the Baptist, as I said at verse 40. Doubtless, as St. Augustine says, "they apprehended Him remaining, not as the Jews wished to apprehend Him departing: and so let us also come through the lamp to the day; for John was a lamp, and gave testimony of the day."