Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John 14
14 1 John V. 20; Contra Maximinum. lib. ii. c. 14, § 2, 3 PL 35, 1996
Contra Maximinum. lib. ii. c. 14, § 2, 3.
1 Joann. v. 20. “Ut simus in vero Filio ejus Jesu Christo; ipse est verus Deus et vita æterna.”
When ye read, “That we may be in His true Son Jesus Christ,” think of the “true Son” of God. But this Son ye in no wise think to be the true Son of God, if ye deny Him to be begotten of the substance of the Father. For was He already Son of Man and by gift of God became Son of God, begotten indeed of God, but by grace, not by nature? Or, though not Son of Man, yet was He some sort of creature which, by God’s changing it, was converted into Son of God? If you mean nothing of this sort, then was He either begotten of nothing, or of some substance. But thou hast relieved us from all fear of having to suppose that you affirm the Son of God to be of nothing, for thou hast declared that this is not your meaning. Therefore, He is of some substance. If not of the substance of the Father, then of what? Tell me. But ye cannot find any other . . . Consequently, the Father and the Son are of one and the same substance. This is the Homöusion . . . . In the Scriptures both you and we read, “That we may be in His true Son Jesus Christ; He is the true God and Eternal Life.” Let both parties yield to such weighty evidence. Tell us then, whether this “true Son” of God, discriminated as He is by the property of this name from those who are sons by grace, be of no substance or of some substance. Thou sayest, “I do not say that He is of no substance, lest I should say that He is of nothing.” He is therefore of some substance: I ask, of what? If not of the substance of the Father, seek another. If thou findest not another, as indeed thou canst find none at all, then acknowledge it to be the Father’s, and confess the Son Homöusios, “of one substance with the Father.” Flesh is begotten of flesh, the Son of flesh is begotten of the substance of the flesh. Set aside corruption, reject from the eye of the mind all carnal passions, and behold “the invisible things of God understood by the means of the things that are made.” Believe that the Creator who hath given flesh power to beget flesh, who hath given parents power of the substance of the flesh to generate “true sons” of flesh, much more had power to beget a “true Son” of His own substance, and to have one substance with the true Son, the spiritual incorruption remaining and carnal corruption being altogether alien therefrom.
Tria sunt ista, et nihil invenis unde tentetur cupiditas humana, nisi aut desiderio carnis, aut desiderio oculorum, aut ambitione saeculi. Per ista tria tentatus est Dominus a diabolo. Desiderio carnis tentatus est, quando dictum est ei, Si Filius Dei es, dic lapidibus istis ut panes fiant; quando esurivit post jejunium. Sed quomodo repulit tentatorem, et docuit pugnare militem? Attende quid illi ait: Non in solo pane vivit homo, sed in omni verbo Dei. Tentatus est et desiderio oculorum de miraculo, quando ei dixit: Mitte te deorsum, quia scriptum est, Angelis suis mandavit de te, ut suscipiant te, ne quando offendas ad lapidem pedem tuum. Ille restitit tentatori: si enim faceret miraculum, non videretur nisi aut cessisse, aut curiositate fecisse: fecit enim quando voluit tanquam Deus, sed tanquam infirmos curans. Nam si tunc faceret, quasi tantummodo miraculum voluisse facere putaretur. Sed ne hoc homines sentirent, attende quid respondit; et quando tibi talis tentatio evenerit, dic illud et tu, Redi post me, satanas; scriptum est enim, Non tentabis Dominum Deum tuum: id est, Si hoc fecero. tentabo Deum. Hoc dixit, quod te voluit dicere. Quando tibi suggerit inimicus, Qualis homo, qualis christianus? modo vel unum miraculum fecisti, aut orationibus tuis mortui surrexerunt, aut febrientes sanasti? si vere esses alicujus momenti, faceres aliquod miraculum: responde et dic, Scriptum est, Non tentabis Dominum Deum tuum: non ergo tentabo Deum, quasi tunc pertineam ad Deum si fecero miraculum, et non pertineam si non fecero. Et ubi sunt verba ejus, Gaudete quia nomina vestra scripta sunt in coelo? De ambitione saeculi quomodo tentatus est Dominus? Quando elevavit eum in excelsum, et dixit ei: Haec omnia tibi dabo, si prostratus adoraveris me. De elatione regni terreni voluit tentare regem saeculorum: sed Dominus qui fecit coelum et terram, diabolum calcabat. Quid magnum, a Domino diabolum vinci? Quid ergo respondit diabolo, nisi quod te docuit ut respondeas? Scriptum est, Dominum Deum tuum adorabis, et illi soli servies . Tenentes ista, non habebitis concupiscentiam mundi: non habendo concupiscentiam mundi, non vos subjugabit nec desiderium carnis, nec desiderium oculorum, nec ambitio saeculi; et facietis locum charitati venienti, ut diligatis Deum. Quia si fuerit ibi dilectio mundi, non ibi erit dilectio Dei. Tenete potius dilectionem Dei, ut quomodo Deus est aeternus, sic et vos maneatis in aeternum: quia talis est quisque, qualis ejus dilectio est. Terram diligis? terra eris. Deum diligis? quid dicam? deus eris? Non audeo dicere ex me, Scripturas audiamus: Ego dixi, Dii estis, et filii Altissimi omnes . Si ergo vultis esse dii et filii Altissimi, nolite ailigere mundum, nec ea quae sunt in mundo. Si quis dilexerit mundum, non est charitas Patris in illo. Quia omnia quae sunt in mundo, desiderium carnis est, et desiderium oculorum, et ambitio saeculi, quae non est ex Patre, sed ex mundo: id est, ab hominibus dilectoribus mundi. Et mundus transit, et desideria ejus: qui autem facit voluntatem Dei, manet in aeternum, sicut et Deus manet in aeternum.