{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/114/1140046.htm","path":"chr/ecf/114/1140046.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/114/1140046.htm","text":"\u201cSearch the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of Me. And ye will not come to Me that ye might have [eternal 1126 ] life.\u201d\n[1.] Beloved , let us make great account of spiritual things, and not think that it is sufficient for us to salvation to pursue them anyhow. For if in things of this life a man can gain no great profit if he conduct them in an indifferent and chance way, much more will this be the case in spiritual things, since these require yet greater attention. Wherefore Christ when He referred the Jews to the Scriptures, sent them not to a mere reading, but a careful and considerate 1127 search; for He said not, \u201cRead the Scriptures,\u201d but, \u201cSearch the Scriptures.\u201d Since the sayings relating to Him required great attention, (for they had been concealed from the beginning for the advantage of the men of that time,) He biddeth them now dig down with care that they might be able to discover what lay in the depth below. These sayings were not on the surface, nor were they cast forth to open view, but lay like some treasure hidden very deep. Now he that searcheth for hidden things, except he seek them with care and toil, will never find the object of his search. For which cause He said, \u201cSearch the Scriptures, because in them ye think ye have eternal life.\u201d He said not, \u201cYe have,\u201d but \u201cye think,\u201d showing that they gained from them nothing great or high, expecting as they did to be saved by the mere reading, without the addi p. 146 tion of 1128 faith. What He saith therefore is of this kind: \u201cDo ye not admire the Scriptures, do ye not think that they are the causes of all life? By these I confirm My claims now, for they are they which testify of Me, yet ye will not come to Me that ye may have eternal life.\u201d It was thus with good reason that He said, \u201cye think,\u201d because they would not obey, but merely prided themselves on the bare reading. Then lest owing to His very tender care He should incur among them the suspicion of vainglory, and because He desired to be believed by them, should be deemed to be seeking His own; (for He reminded them of the words of John, and of the witness of God, and of His own works, and said all He could to draw them to Him, and promised them \u201clife\u201d; 1129 ) since, I say, it was likely that many would suspect that He spake these things from a desire of glory, hear what He saith:\nJohn 5.41 . \u201cI receive not honor from men.\u201d\nThat is, \u201cI need it not\u201d: \u201cMy nature,\u201d He saith, \u201cis not of such a kind as to need the honor which is from men, for if the sun can receive no addition from the light of a candle, much farther am I from needing the honor which is from men.\u201d \u201cWhy then,\u201d asks some one, \u201csayest thou these things, if thou needest it not?\u201d \u201cThat ye may be saved.\u201d This He positively asserted above, and the same He implied here also, by saying, \u201cthat ye might have life.\u201d Moreover, He putteth another reason:\nJohn 5.42 . \u201cBut I know you that ye have not the love of God in you.\u201d\nFor when under pretense of loving God they 1130 persecuted Him because He made Himself equal with God, and He knew that they would not believe Him, lest any one should ask, \u201cwhy speakest thou these words?\u201d \u201cI speak them,\u201d He saith, \u201cto convict you of this, that it is not for the love of God that ye persecute Me, if it be so that He testifieth to Me both by works and by the Scriptures. For as before this when ye deemed Me an enemy of God ye drove Me away, so now, since I have declared these things, ye ought to have hastened to Me, if ye had really loved. God. But ye love Him not. And therefore have I spoken these words, to show that you are possessed with excessive pride, that you are vainly boasting and shading over 1131 your own enviousness.\u201d And the same He proveth not by these things only, but by those that should come to pass.\nJohn 5.43 . \u201cI am come in My Father\u2019s name, and ye receive Me not; if another shall come in his own name, him will ye receive.\u201d\n[2.] Seest thou that He everywhere declareth that He hath been \u201csent,\u201d that judgment hath been committed to Him by the Father, that He can do nothing of Himself, in order that He may cut off all excuse for their unfairness? But who is it that He here saith shall come \u201cin his own name\u201d? He alludeth here to Antichrist, and putteth 1132 an incontrovertible proof of their unfairness. \u201cFor if as loving God ye persecute Me, much more ought this to have taken place 1133 in the case of Antichrist. For he will neither say that he is sent by the Father, nor that he cometh according to his will, but in everything contrariwise, seizing like a tyrant what belongeth not to him, and asserting that he is the very God over all, as Paul saith, \u2018Exalting himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, showing himself that he is God.\u2019 ( 2 Thess. ii. 4 .) This is to \u2018come in his own name.\u2019 I do not so, but am come in the Name of My Father.\u201d That they received not One who said that He was sent of God, was a sufficient proof that they loved not God; but now from the contrary of this fact, from their being about to receive Antichrist, He showeth their shamelessness. 1134 For when they received not One who asserteth that He was sent by God, and are about to worship one who knoweth Him not, and who saith that he is God over all, it is clear that their persecution proceeded from malice and from hating God. On this account He putteth two reasons for His words; and first the kinder one, 1135 \u201cThat ye may be saved\u201d; and, \u201cThat ye may have life\u201d: and when they would have mocked at Him, He putteth the other which was more striking, showing that even although His hearers should not believe, yet that God was wont always to do His own works. Now Paul speaking concerning Antichrist said prophetically, that \u201cGod shall send them strong delusion,\u2014that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.\u201d ( 2 Thess. 2:11, 12 .) Christ said not, \u201cHe shall come\u201d; but, \u201cif He come,\u201d from tenderness for His hearers; and because all their obstinacy 1136 was not yet complete. He was silent as to the reason of His coming; but Paul, for those who can understand, has particularly alluded to it. For it is he who taketh away all excuse from them.\nChrist then putteth also the cause of their unbelief, saying,\nJohn 5.44 . \u201cHow can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?\u201d\nHence again He showeth that they looked not to the things of God, but that under this pretense they desired to gratify private feeling, and were so far from doing this on account of p. 147 His glory, that they preferred honor from men to that which cometh from Him. How then were they likely to entertain 1137 such hostility towards Him 1138 for a kind of honor which they so despised, as to prefer to it the honor which cometh from men?\nHaving told them that they had not the love of God, and having proved it by what was doing in His case, and by what should be in the case of Antichrist, and having demonstrated that they were deprived of all excuse, He next bringeth Moses to be their accuser, going on to say,\nJohn 5.45-47 . \u201cDo not think that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me; for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?\u201d\nWhat He saith is of this kind: \u201cIt is Moses 1139 who has been insulted more than I 1140 by your conduct towards Me, for ye have disbelieved him rather than Me.\u201d See how in every way He hath cast them out from all excuse. \u201cYe said that ye loved God when ye persecuted Me; I have shown that ye did so from hatred of Him: ye say 1141 that I break the Sabbath and annul the Law; I have rid Me of this slander also: ye maintain 1142 that ye believe in Moses by what ye dare to do against Me; I on the contrary show that this is most to disbelieve in Moses; for so far am I from opposing the Law, that he who shall accuse you is none other than the man who gave you the Law.\u201d As then He said of the Scriptures, in which \u201cye think ye have eternal life,\u201d so of Moses also He saith, \u201cin whom ye trust\u201d; everywhere conquering them by their own weapons.\n\u201cAnd whence,\u201d saith some one, \u201cis it clear that Moses will accuse us, and that thou art not a boaster? What hast thou to do with Moses? Thou hast broken the Sabbath which he ordained that we should keep; how then should he accuse us? And how doth it appear that we shall believe on another who cometh in his own name? All these assertions thou makest without evidence.\u201d Now in truth all these points are proved above. \u201cFor\u201d (Christ would reply) \u201csince it is acknowledged that I came from God, both by the works, by the voice of John, and by the testimony of the Father, it is evident that Moses will accuse the Jews.\u201d For what saith he? \u201cIf a man come doing miracles and leading you to God, and truly foretelling things future, ye must hearken unto him with all readiness.\u201d Now Christ had done all this. He wrought miracles in very truth, He drew all men to God, and (so that He 1143 ) caused accomplishment to follow His predictions. 1144\n\u201cBut whence doth it appear that they will believe another?\u201d From their hating Christ, since they who turn aside from Him who cometh according to the will of God will, it is quite plain, receive the enemy of God. And marvel not if He now putteth forward Moses, although He said, \u201cI receive not witness from man,\u201d for He referreth them not to Moses, but to the Scriptures of God. However, since the Scriptures terrified them less, He bringeth round His discourse to the very person (of Moses), setting over against them their Lawgiver as their accuser, thus rendering the terror more impressive; 1145 and each of their assertions He refuteth. Observe: they said that they persecuted Him through love for God, He showeth that they did so through hating God; they said that they held fast to Moses, He showeth that they acted thus because they believed not Moses. For had they been zealous for the law, they ought to have received Him who fulfilled it; if they loved God they ought to have believed One who drew them to Him, if they believed Moses they ought to have done homage to One of whom Moses prophesied. \u201cBut\u201d (saith Christ) \u201cif Moses is disbelieved before My coming, it is nothing unlikely that I, who am heralded by him, should be driven away by you.\u201d As then He had shown from their conduct towards Himself that they who admired John (really) despised him, so now He showeth that they who thought that they believed Moses, believed him not, and turneth back on their own head all that they thought to put forward in their own behalf. \u201cSo far,\u201d He saith, \u201cam I from drawing you away from the Law, that I call your Lawgiver himself to be your accuser.\u201d\nThat the Scriptures testified of Him He declared, but where they testify He added not; desiring to inspire them with greater awe, and to prompt them to search, and to reduce them to the necessity of questioning. For had He told them readily and without their questioning, they would have rejected the testimony; but now, if they gave any heed to His words, they needed first of all to ask, and learn from Him what that testimony was. 1146 On this account He dealeth the more largely in assertions and threats, not in proofs only, that even so He may bring them over by fear of what He saith; but they even so were silent. Such a thing is wickedness; whatsoever a man say or do it is not stirred to move, but remaineth keeping its peculiar venom.\np. 148 Wherefore we must cast out all wickedness from our souls, and never more contrive any deceit; for, saith one, \u201cTo the perverse God sendeth crooked paths\u201d ( Prov. xxi. 8 , LXX.); and, \u201cThe holy spirit of discipline 1147 will flee deceit, and remove from thoughts that are without understanding.\u201d ( Wisd. i. 5 .) For nothing maketh men so foolish as wickedness; since when a man is treacherous, unfair, 1148 ungrateful, (these are different forms of wickedness,) when without having been wronged he grieves another, when he weaves deceits, how shall he not exhibit an example of excessive folly? Again, nothing maketh men so wise as virtue; it rendereth them thankful and fair-minded, merciful, mild, gentle, and candid; it is wont to be the mother of all other blessings. And what is more understanding than one so disposed? for virtue is the very spring and root of prudence, just as all wickedness hath its beginning in folly. For, the insolent man and the angry become the prey of their respective passions from lack of wisdom; on which account the prophet said, \u201cThere is no soundness in my flesh: my wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness\u201d ( Ps. 38:3, 4 ): showing that all sin hath its beginning in folly: and so the virtuous man who hath the fear of God is more understanding than any; wherefore a wise man hath said, \u201cThe fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.\u201d ( Prov. i. 7 .) If then to fear God is to have wisdom, and the wicked man hath not that fear, he is deprived of that which is wisdom indeed;\u2014and deprived of that which is wisdom indeed, he is more foolish than any. And yet many admire the wicked as being able to do injustice and harm, not knowing that they ought to deem them wretched above all men, who thinking to injure others thrust the sword against themselves;\u2014an act of extremest folly, that a man should strike himself and not even know that he doth so, but should think that he is injuring another while he is killing himself. Wherefore Paul, knowing that we slay ourselves when we smite others, saith, \u201cWhy do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?\u201d ( 1 Cor. vi. 7 .) For the not suffering wrong consists in doing none, as also the not being ill-used in not using others ill; though this assertion may seem a riddle to the many, and to those who will not learn true wisdom. Knowing this, let us not call wretched or lament for those who suffer injury or insult, but for such who inflict these things; these are they who have been most injured, who have made God to be at war with them, and have opened the mouths of ten thousand accusers, who are getting an evil reputation in the present life, and drawing down on themselves severe punishment in the life to come. While those who have been wronged by them, and have nobly borne it all, have God favorable to them, and all to condone with, and praise, and entertain them. Such as these in the present life, shall enjoy an exceeding good report, as affording the strongest example of true wisdom, and in the life to come shall share the good things everlasting; to which may we all attain through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father and the Holy Ghost be glory, now and ever, and world without end. Amen.\nal. \u201c and promised all those things so as to draw them to Himself. \u201d\n146:1130 146:1131 146:1132 146:1133 146:1134 146:1135 146:1136 147:1137 147:1138\nor, \u201c to take on them such hostility as they would have incurred by following Him. \u201d\n147:1139 147:1140 147:1141 147:1142 147:1143 147:1144\nNot found in so many words. The command is given with this test, Deut. 18:18, Deut. 8:1Deut. xviii. 18-22; see also Deut. xiii. 1\n147:1145 147:1146\nal. \u201c to enquire even if He held His peace. \u201d\n148:1147 148:1148","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. XIV: The Homilies of...","type":"page"}