Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John 85
85.1 Chapter XV. 14, 15 PL 35, 1848
1. When the Lord Jesus had commended the love which He manifested toward us in dying for us, and had said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,” He added, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” What great condescension! when one cannot even be a good servant unless he do his lord’s commandments; the very means, which only prove men to be good servants, He wished to be those whereby His friends should be known. But the condescension, as I have termed it, is this, that the Lord condescends to call those His friends whom He knows to be His servants. For, to let us know that it is the duty of servants to yield obedience to their master’s commands, He actually in another place reproaches those who are servants, by saying, “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?” Accordingly, when ye say Lord, prove what you say by doing my commandments. Is it not to the obedient servant that He is yet one day to say, “Well done, thou good servant; because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord”? One, therefore, who is a good servant, can be both servant and friend.
Cum Dominus Jesus commendasset charitatem quam exhibuit nobis moriendo pro nobis, atque dixisset, Majorem hac dilectionem nemo habet, ut animam suam ponat quis pro amicis suis: Vos, inquit, amici mei estis, si feceritis quae ego praecipio vobis. Magna dignatio! cum servus bonus esse non possit, nisi praecepta domini sui fecerit; hinc amicos suos voluit intelligi, unde servi boni possunt probari. Sed, ut dixi, ista dignatio est, ut dominus quos novit servos suos, dignetur dicere amicos suos. Nam ut sciatis ad servorum officium pertinere praecepta domini sui facere, alio loco servos utique objurgat dicens: Quid autem vocatis me, Domine, Domine, et non facitis quae dico ? Cum ergo dicitis, inquit, Domine; jussa faciendo, quid dicatis ostendite. Nonne servo obedienti ipse dicturus est, Euge, serve bone, quia in paucis fuisti fidelis, supra multa te constituam; intra in gaudium Domini tui ? Potest igitur esse servus et amicus, qui servus est bonus.
85.2 PL 35, 1848
2. But let us mark what follows. “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth.” How, then are we to understand the good servant to be both servant and friend, when He says, “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth”? He introduces the name of friend in such a way as to withdraw that of servant; not as if to include both in the one term, but in order that the one should succeed to the place vacated by the other. What does it mean? Is it this, that even in doing the Lord’s commandments we shall not be servants? Or this, that then we shall cease to be servants, when we have been good servants? And yet who can contradict the Truth, when He says, “Henceforth I call you not servants?” and shows why He said so: “For the servant,” He adds, “knoweth not what his lord doeth.” Is it that a good and tried servant is not likewise entrusted by his master with his secrets? What does He mean, then, by saying, “The servant knoweth not what his lord doeth”? Be it that “he knoweth not what he doeth,” is he ignorant also of what he commands? For if he were so, how can he serve? Or how is he a servant who does no service? And yet the Lord speaks thus: “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants.” Truly a marvellous statement! Seeing we cannot serve the Lord but by doing His commandments, how is it that in doing so we shall cease to be servants? If I be not a servant in doing His commandments, and yet cannot be in His service unless I so do, then, in my very service, I am no longer a servant.
Sed quod sequitur attendamus. Jam non dico vos servos; quia servus nescit quid faciat dominus ejus. Quomodo ergo intellecturi sumus, et servum et amicum esse servum bonum, cum dicat, Jam non dico vos servos, quia servus nescit quid faciat dominus ejus? Ita nomen constituit amici, ut auferat servi; non ut in uno utrumque maneat, sed ut alterum altero decedente succedat. Quid est hoc? Itane cum praecepta Domini fecerimus, servi non erimus? Itane tunc servi non erimus, quando boni servi fuerimus? Et quis contradicere potest veritati quae ait, Jam non dico vos servos? Et cur hoc dixerit, docet: Quia servus, inquit, nescit quid faciat dominus ejus. Numquidnam servo bono et probato dominus ejus non etiam secreta sua committit? Quid est ergo quod ait, Servus nescit quid faciat dominus ejus? Verum, esto, nescit quid faciat; numquid nescit etiam quid praecipiat? Nam et si hoc nescit, quomodo servit? Aut quomodo servus est, qui non servit? Et tamen Dominus loquitur, Vos amici mei estis, si feceritis quae ego praecipio vobis. Jam non dico vos servos. O rem mirabilem! Cum servire non possimus, nisi praecepta Domini fecerimus, quomodo praecepta faciendo servi non erimus? Si servus non ero praecepta faciendo, et nisi praecepta fecero, servire non potero; ergo serviendo servus non ero.
85.3 PL 35, 1849
3. Let us, brethren, let us understand, and may the Lord enable us to understand, and enable us also to do what we understand. And if we know this, we know of a truth what the Lord doeth; for it is only the Lord that so enables us, and by such means only do we attain to His friendship. For just as there are two kinds of fear, which produce two classes of fearers; so there are two kinds of service, which produce two classes of servants. There is a fear, which perfect love casteth out; and there is another fear, which is clean, and endureth for ever. The fear that lies not in love, the apostle pointed to when he said, “For ye have not received the spirit of service again to fear.” But he referred to the clean fear when he said, “Be not high-minded, but fear.” In that fear which love casteth out, there has also to be cast out the service along with it: for both were joined together by the apostle, that is, the service and the fear, when he said, “For ye have not received the spirit of service again to fear.” And it was the servant connected with this kind of service that the Lord also had in His eye when He said, “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth.” Certainly not the servant characterized by the clean fear, to whom it is said, “Well done, thou good servant: enter thou into the joy of thy lord;” but the servant who is characterized by the fear which love casteth out, of whom He elsewhere saith, “The servant abideth not in the house for ever, but the Son abideth ever.” Since, therefore, He hath given us power to become the sons of God, let us not be servants, but sons: that, in some wonderful and indescribable but real way, we may as servants have the power not to be servants; servants, indeed, with that clean fear which distinguishes the servant that enters into the joy of his lord, but not servants with the fear that has to be cast out, and which marketh him that abideth not in the house for ever. But let us bear in mind that it is the Lord that enableth us to serve so as not to be servants. And this it is that is unknown to the servant, who knoweth not what his Lord doeth; and who, when he doeth any good thing, is lifted up as if he did it himself, and not his Lord; and so, glories not in the Lord, but in himself, thereby deceiving himself, because glorying, as if he had not received. But let us, beloved, in order that we may be the friends of the Lord, know what our Lord doeth. For it is He who makes us not only men, but also righteous, and not we ourselves. And who but He is the doer, in leading us to such a knowledge? For “we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” Whatever good there is, is freely given by Him. And so because this also is good, by Him who graciously imparteth all good is this gift of knowing likewise bestowed; that, in respect of all good things whatever, he that glorieth may glory in the Lord. But the words that follow, “But I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you,” are so profound, that we must by no means compress them within the limits of the present discourse, but leave them over till another.
Intelligamus, fratres, intelligamus, et hoc in nobis Dominus faciat ut intelligamus, faciat etiam ut intellecta faciamus. Hoc autem si scimus, profecto scimus quod facit Dominus, quia nos ipsos tales non facit nisi Dominus, et per hoc ad ejus amicitiam pertinemus. Sicut enim duo sunt timores, qui faciunt duo genera timentium; sic duae sunt servitutes, quae faciunt duo genera servorum. Est timor quem perfecta charitas foras mittit , et est alius timor castus permanens in saeculum saeculi . Illum timorem qui non est in charitate, attendebat Apostolus, cum dicebat: Non enim accepistis spiritum servitutis iterum in timore . Illum autem timorem castum attendebat, cum dicebat: Noli altum sapere, sed time . In illo timore quem foras charitas mittit, est etiam servitus simul foras cum ipso timore mittenda: utrumque enim junxit Apostolus, hoc est servitutem et timorem, dicendo, Non enim accepistis spiritum servitutis iterum in timore. Ad hanc servitutem servum pertinentem intuebatur et Dominus dicens, Jam non dico vos servos; quia servus nescit quid faciat dominus ejus. Non utique ille servus pertinens ad timorem castum, cui dicitur, Euge, serve bone, intra in gaudium Domini tui: sed ille servus pertinens ad timorem foras a charitate mittendum, de quo alibi dicit, Servus non manet in domo in aeternum; filius autem manet in aeternum . Quoniam itaque dedit nobis potestatem filios Dei fieri , non servi, sed filii simus: ut miro quodam et ineffabili, sed tamen vero modo, servi non servi esse possimus; servi scilicet timore casto, ad quem pertinet servus intrans in gaudium domini sui; non servi autem timore foras mittendo, ad quem pertinet servus non manens in domo in aeternum. Ut autem tales servi non servi simus, Dominum facere sciamus. Hoc autem servus ille nescit, qui nescit quid faciat Dominus ejus; et cum aliquid boni facit, sic extollitur quasi hoc ipse faciat, non Dominus ejus; et in se, non in Domino gloriatur, cum se ipse deceperit, quia sic gloriatur, quasi non acceperit . Nos autem, charissimi, ut amici Domini esse possimus, quid noster Dominus faciat sciamus. Non solum enim homines, verum etiam justos ipse facit nos, et non ipsi nos. Et ut hoc sciamus, quis nisi ipse facit? Non enim spiritum hujus mundi accepimus, sed Spiritum qui ex Deo est, ut sciamus quae a Deo donata sunt nobis . Ab ipso quidquid boni est, donatur. Ergo quia et hoc bonum est, ab ipso utique donatur ut sciatur a quo bonum omne donetur; ut omnino de omnibus bonis, qui gloriatur, in Domino glorietur (Id I, 31). Quod vero sequitur, Vos autem dixi amicos; quia omnia quaecumque audivi a Patre meo, nota feci vobis, ita est profundum, ut nullo modo sit isto sermone coarctandum, sed in alium differendum.