{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/107/1070040.htm","path":"chr/ecf/107/1070040.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/107/1070040.htm","text":"1. What in the holy Gospel is spoken briefly ought not briefly to be expounded, so that what is read may be understood. The words of the Lord are few, but great; to be valued not by number, but by weight: not to be despised because they are few, but to be sought because they are great. You who were present yesterday have heard, as we discoursed according to our ability from that which the Lord said, \u201cYe judge after the flesh: I judge not any man. But yet if I judge, my judgment is true; because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. It is written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.\u201d Yesterday, as I have said, from these words a discourse was delivered to your ears and to your minds. When the Lord had spoken these words, they who heard, \u201cYe judge after the flesh,\u201d manifested the truth of what they had heard. For they answered the Lord, as He spoke of God His Father, and said to Him, \u201cWhere is thy Father?\u201d The Father of Christ they understood carnally, because they judged the words of Christ after the flesh. But He who spoke was openly flesh, but secretly the Word: man visible, God hidden. They saw the covering, and despised the wearer: they despised because they knew not; knew not, because they saw not; saw not, because they were blind; they were blind, because they believed not.\n2. Let us see, then, what answer the Lord made to this. \u201cWhere,\u201d say they, \u201cis thy Father?\u201d For we have heard thee say, \u201cI am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me:\u201d we see thee alone, we do not see thy Father p. 214 with thee; how sayest thou that thou art not alone, but that thou art with thy Father? Else show us that thy Father is with thee. And the Lord answered them: Do ye know me, that I should show you the Father? This is indeed what follows; this is what He answered in His own words, the exposition of which we have already premised. For see what He said, \u201cYe neither know me nor my Father: if ye knew me, ye would perhaps know my Father also.\u201d Ye say then, \u201cWhere is thy Father?\u201d As if already ye knew me; as if what you see were all that I am. Therefore because ye know not me, I do not show you my Father. Ye suppose me, in fact, to be a man; hence ye seek a man for my father, because \u201cye judge after the flesh.\u201d But because, according to what you see, I am one thing, and another thing according to what you see not, and that I as hidden from you speak of my Father as hidden, it is requisite that you should first know me, and then ye know my Father also.\n3. \u201cFor if ye knew me, ye would perhaps know my Father also.\u201d He who knows all things is not in doubt when He says perhaps, but rebuking. Now see how this very word perhaps, which seems to be a word of doubting, may be spoken chidingly. Yea, a word expressive of doubt it is when used by man, for man doubts because he knows not; but when a word of doubting is spoken by God, from whom surely nothing is hid, it is unbelief that is reproved by that doubting, not the Godhead merely expressing an opinion. For men sometimes chidingly express doubt concerning things which they hold certain; that is, use a word of doubting, while in their heart they doubt not: just as thou wouldst say to thy slave, if thou wert angry with him, \u201cThou despisest me; but consider, perhaps I am thy master.\u201d Hence also the apostle, speaking to some who despised him, says: \u201cAnd I think that I also have the Spirit of God.\u201d 679 When he says, \u201cI think,\u201d he seems to doubt; but he is rebuking, not doubting. And in another place the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, rebuking the future unbelief of mankind, saith: \u201cWhen the Son of man cometh, will He, thinkest thou, find faith on the earth?\u201d 680\n4. You now, as I think, understand how the word perhaps is used here, in case any weigher of words and poiser of syllables, as if to show his knowledge of Latin, finds fault with a word which the Word of God spoke; and by blaming the Word of God, remain not eloquent, but mute. For who is there that speaks as doth the Word which was in the beginning with God? Do not consider these words as we use them, and from these wish to measure that Word which is God. Thou hearest the Word indeed, and despisest it; hear God and fear Him: \u201cIn the beginning was the Word.\u201d Thou referrest to the usage of thy conversation, and sayest within thyself, What is a word? What mighty thing is a word? It sounds and passes away; after beating the air, it strikes the ear and is no more. Hear further: \u201cThe Word was with God;\u201d remained, did not by sounding pass away. Perhaps thou still despisest it: \u201cThe Word was God.\u201d With thyself, O man, a word in thy heart is a different thing from sound; but the word that is with thee, in order to pass to me, requires sound for a vehicle as it were. It takes to itself sound, mounts it as a vehicle, runs through the air, comes to me and yet does not leave thee. But the sound, in order to come to me, left thee and yet did not stay with me. Now has the word that was in thy heart also passed away with the passing sound? Thou didst speak thy thought; and, that the thought which was hid with thee might come to me, thou didst sound syllables; the sound of the syllables conveyed thy thought to my ear; through my ear thy thought descended into my heart, the intermediate sound flew away: but that word which took to itself sound was with thee before thou didst sound it, and is with me, because thou didst sound it, without quitting thee. Consider this, thou nice weigher of sounds, whoever thou be. Thou despisest the Word of God, thou who comprehendest not the word of man.\n5. He, then, by whom all things were made knows all things, and yet He rebukes by doubting: \u201cIf ye knew me ye would perhaps know my Father also.\u201d He rebukes unbelievers. He spoke a like sentence to the disciples, but there is not a word of doubting in it, because there was no occasion to rebuke unbelief. For this, \u201cIf ye knew me, ye would perhaps know my Father also,\u201d which He said to the Jews, He said also to the disciples, when Philip asked, or rather, demanded of Him, saying, \u201cLord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us:\u201d just as if he said, We already know Thee even ourselves; Thou hast been apparent to us; we have seen Thee; Thou hast deigned to choose us; we have followed Thee, have seen Thy marvels, heard Thy words of Salvation, have taken Thy precepts upon us, we hope in Thy promises: Thou hast deigned to confer much upon us by Thy very presence: but still, while we know Thee, and we do not yet know the Father, we are inflamed with desire to see Him whom we do not yet know; and thus, be p. 215 cause we know Thee, but it is not enough until we know the Father, show us the Father and it sufficeth us. And the Lord, that they might understand that they knew not what they thought they did already know, said, \u201cAm I so long time with you, and ye know me not, Philip? he who hath seen me hath seen the Father.\u201d 681 Has this sentence a word of doubting in it? Did He say, He that hath seen me hath perhaps seen the Father? Why not? Because it was a believer that listened to Him, not a persecutor of the faith: hence did the Lord not rebuke, but teach. \u201cWhoso hath seen me hath seen the Father also:\u201d and here, \u201cIf ye knew me, ye would know my Father also,\u201d let us remove the word which indicates the unbelief of the hearers, and it is the same sentence.\n6. Yesterday we commended it to your consideration, beloved, and said that the sentences of the Evangelist John, in which he narrates to us what he learned from the Lord, had not required to be discussed, were that possible, except the inventions of heretics had compelled us. Yesterday, then, we briefly intimated to you, beloved, that there are heretics who are called Patripassians, or Sabellians after their founder: these say that the same is the Father who is the Son; the names different, but the person one. When He wills, say they, He is Father; when He wills, He is Son: still He is one. There are likewise other heretics who are called Arians. They indeed confess that our Lord Jesus Christ is the only Son of the Father; the one, Father of the Son; the other, Son of the Father; that He who is Father is not Son, nor He who is Son is Father; they confess that the Son was begotten, but deny His equality. We, namely, the catholic faith, coming from the doctrine of the apostles planted in us, received by a line of succession, to be transmitted sound to posterity,\u2014the catholic faith, I say, has, between both those parties, that is, between both errors, held the truth. In the error of the Sabellians, He is only one; the Father and Son is the same person: in the error of the Arians, the Father and the Son are indeed different persons; but the Son is not only a different person, but different in nature. Thou midway between these, what sayest thou? Thou hast shut out the Sabellian, shut out the Arian also. The Father is Father, the Son is Son; another person, not another in nature; for, \u201cI and the Father are one,\u201d which, so far as I could, I pressed on your thoughts yesterday. When he hears that word, we are, let the Sabellian go away confounded; when he hears the word one, let the Arian go away confounded. Let the catholic steer the bark of his faith between both, since in both he must be on his guard against shipwreck. Say thou, then, what the Gospel saith, \u201cI and the Father are one.\u201d Not different in nature, because one; not one person, because are.\n7. A little before He said, \u201cMy judgment is true; because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me:\u201d as if He said, The reason why my judgment is true is, because I am the Son of God, because I speak the truth, because I am truth itself. Those men, understanding Him carnally, said, \u201cWhere is thy Father?\u201d Now hear, O Arian: \u201cYe neither know me, nor my Father;\u201d because, \u201cIf ye knew me, ye would know my Father also.\u201d What doth this mean, except \u201cI and the Father are one\u201d? When thou seest some person like some other,\u2014give heed, beloved, it is a common remark; let not that appear to you difficult which you see to be customary,\u2014when, I say, thou seest some person like another, and thou knowest the person to whom he is like, thou sayest in wonder, \u201cHow like this person is to that!\u201d Thou wouldst not say this unless there were two. Here one who does not know the person to whom thou sayest the other is like remarks, \u201cIs he so like him?\u201d And thou answerest him: What, dost thou not know that person? Saith he, \u201cNo, I do not.\u201d Immediately thou, in order to make known to him the person whom he does not know by means of the person whom he observes before him, answerest, saying, Having seen this man, thou hast seen the other. Thou didst not, surely, assert that they are one person in saying this, or that they are not two; but made such answer because of the likeness: \u201cIf thou knowest the one, thou knowest the other; for they are very like, and there is no difference whatever between them.\u201d Hence also the Lord saith, \u201cIf ye knew me, ye would know my Father also;\u201d not that the Son is the Father but like the Father. Let the Arian blush. Thanks be to the Lord that even the Arian is separate from the Sabellian error, and is not a Patripassian: he does not affirm that the Father assumed flesh and came to men, that the Father suffered, rose again, and somehow ascended to Himself; this he does not affirm; he acknowledges with me the Father to be Father, the Son to be Son. But, O brother, thou hast escaped that shipwreck, why go to the other? Father is Father, Son is Son; why dost thou affirm that the Son is unlike, that He is different, another substance? If He were unlike, would He say to p. 216 His disciples, \u201cHe that hath seen me hath seen the Father\u201d? Would He say to the Jews, \u201cIf ye knew me, ye would know my Father also\u201d? How would this be true, unless that other was also true, \u201cI and the Father are one\u201d?\n8. \u201cThese words spake Jesus in the treasury, speaking in the temple:\u201d great boldness, without fear. For He could not suffer if He did not will it, since He were not born if He did not will it. What follows then? \u201cAnd no man laid hold of Him, because His hour was not yet come.\u201d Some, again, when they hear this, believe that the Lord Christ was subject to fate, and say: Behold, Christ is held by fate! O, if thy heart were not fatuous, thou wouldst not believe in fate. If fate, as some understand it, is derived from fando, that is from speaking, how can the Word of God be held by fate, whilst all things that are made are in the Word itself? For God has not ordained anything which He did not know beforehand; that which was made was in His Word. The world was made; both was made and was there. How both was made and was there? Because the house which the builder rears, was previously in his art; and there, a better house, without age, without decay: however, to show forth his art, he makes a house; and so, in a manner, a house comes forth from a house; and if the house should fall, the art remains. So were all things that are made with the Word of God; because God made all things in wisdom, 682 and all that He made were known to Him: for He did not learn because He made, but made because He knew. To us they are known, because they are made: to Him, if they had not been known, they would not have been made. Therefore the Word went before. And what was before the Word? Nothing at all. For were there anything before it, it would not have been said, \u201cIn the beginning was the Word;\u201d but, In the beginning was the Word made. In short, what says Moses concerning the world? \u201cIn the beginning God made the heavens and the earth.\u201d Made what was not: well, if He made what was not, what was there before? \u201cIn the beginning was the Word.\u201d And whence came heaven and earth? \u201cAll things were made by Him.\u201d Dost thou then put Christ under fate? Where are the fates? In heaven, sayest thou, in the order and changes of the stars. How then can fate rule Him by whom the heavens and the stars were made; whilst thy own will, if thou thinkest rightly, transcends even the stars? Or, because thou knowest that Christ\u2019s flesh was under heaven, is that the reason why thou thinkest that Christ\u2019s power was put under the heavens?\n9. Hear, thou fool: \u201cHis hour was not yet come;\u201d not the hour in which He should be forced to die, but that in which He would deign to be put to death. For Himself knew when He should die: He considered all things that were foretold of Him, and awaited all to be finished that was foretold to be before His suffering; that when all should be fulfilled, then should come His suffering in set order, not by fatal necessity. In short, hear that you may prove. Among the rest that was prophesied of Him, it is also written: \u201cThey gave me gall for meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.\u201d 683 How this happened, we know from the Gospel. First, they gave Him gall; He received it, tasted it, and spat it out. Thereafter, as He hung on the cross, that all that was foretold might be fulfilled, He said, \u201cI thirst.\u201d They took a sponge filled with vinegar, bound it to a reed, and put it to His mouth; He received it, and said, \u201cIt is finished.\u201d What did that mean? All things which were prophesied before my death are completed, then what do I here any longer? In a word, when He said \u201cIt is finished, He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost.\u201d Did the thieves, who were nailed beside Him, expire when they would? They were held by the bonds of flesh, for they were not the creators of the flesh; fixed by nails, they were a long time tormented, because they had not lordship over their weakness. The Lord, however, when He would, took flesh in a virgin\u2019s womb: came forth to men when He would; lived among men so long as He would; and when He would He quitted the flesh. This is the part of power, not of necessity. This hour, then, He awaited; not the fated, but the fitting and voluntary hour; that all might first be fulfilled which behoved to be fulfilled before His decease. How could he have been under necessity of fate, when He said in another place, \u201cI have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again: no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself and take it again?\u201d 684 He showed this power when the Jews sought Him. \u201cWhom seek ye?\u201d saith He. \u201cJesus,\u201d said they. And He answered, \u201cI am He.\u201d When they heard this voice, \u201cthey went back and fell to the ground.\u201d 685\n10. Says one, If he had this power, why, when the Jews insulted him on the cross and said, \u201cIf he be the Son of God let him come down from the cross,\u201d did He not come down, p. 217 to show them His power by coming down? Because He was teaching us patience, therefore He deferred the demonstration of His power. For if He came down, moved as it were at their words, He would be thought to have been overcome by the sting of their insults. He did not come down; there He remained fixed, to depart when He would. For what great matter was it for Him to descend from the cross, when He could rise again from the sepulchre? Let us, then, to whom this is ministered, understand that the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, then concealed, will be made manifest in the judgment, of which it is said, \u201cGod will come manifest; our God, and He will not be silent.\u201d 686 Why is it said, \u201cwill come manifest\u201d? Because He, our God,\u2014namely, Christ,\u2014came hidden, will come manifest. \u201cAnd will not be silent:\u201d why this \u201cwill not be silent\u201d? Because at first He did keep silence. When? When He was judged; that this, too, might be fulfilled which the prophet had foretold: \u201cAs a sheep He was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.\u201d 687 He would not have suffered did He not will to suffer: did He not suffer, that blood had not been shed; if that blood were not shed, the world would not be redeemed. Therefore let us give thanks to the power of His divinity, and to the compassion of His infirmity; both concerning the hidden power which the Jews did not recognize, whence it is now said to them, \u201cYe neither know me nor my Father,\u201d and also concerning the flesh assumed, which the Jews did not recognize, and yet knew His lineage: whence He said to them elsewhere, \u201cYe both know me, and ye know whence I am.\u201d Let us know both in Christ, both wherein He is equal to the Father and wherein the Father is greater than He. That is the Word, this is the flesh; that is God, this is man; but yet Christ is one, God and man.","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VII: Lectures or Tra...","type":"page"}