Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 90
90.0 On the words of the Gospel, John xii. 44, ‘He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.’ Against a certain expression of Maximinus, a bishop of the Arians, who spread his blasphemy in Africa where he was with the Count Segisvult PL 38, 773
90.1 On the words of the Gospel, John xii. 44, ‘He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.’ Against a certain expression of Maximinus, a bishop of the Arians, who spread his blasphemy in Africa where he was with the Count Segisvult PL 38, 773
1. What is it, Brethren, which we have heard the Lord saying, “He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me”? It is good for us to believe on Christ, especially seeing that He hath also Himself expressly said this which ye have now heard, that is, that “He had come a Light into the world, and whosoever believeth on Him shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Good then it is to believe on Christ; and a great evil it is not to believe on Christ. But because Christ the Son is, Whatsoever He is, of the Father, but the Father is not of the Son, but is the Father of the Son; He recommends to us indeed faith in Himself, but refers the honour to His Original.
Fides in Christum. Quid est quod audivimus, fratres, dicentem Dominum, Qui credit in me, non credit in me, sed in eum qui me misit? Bonum est nobis credere in Christum; maxime quia ipse aperte etiam dixit istud quod audistis, hoc est, quoniam ipse lux venerat in mundum, et qui credit in eum, non ambulabit in tenebris, sed habebit lumen vitae . Bonum est ergo credere in Christum. Magnum bonum est credere in Christum: et magnum malum est non credere in Christum. Sed quia Christus Filius de Patre est quidquid est, Pater autem non est de Filio, sed Pater est Filii; commendat quidem in se fidem, sed honorem revocat ad auctorem.
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2. For hold this fast as a firm and settled truth, if ye would continue Catholics, that God the Father begat God the Son without time, and made Him of a Virgin in time. The first nativity exceedeth times; the second nativity enlighteneth times. Yet both nativities are marvellous; the one without a mother, the other without a father. When God begat the Son, He begat Him of Himself, not of a mother; when the Mother gave birth to her Son, she gave Him birth as a Virgin, not by man. He was born of the Father without a beginning; He was born of a mother, as to-day at an appointed beginning. Born of the Father He made us; born of a mother He re-made us. He was born of the Father, that we might be; He was born of a mother, that we might not be lost. But the Father begat Him equal to Himself, and All Whatsoever the Son is, He hath of the Father. But What God the Father is, He hath not of the Son. Accordingly we say that the Father is God, of none; the Son, God of God. Wherefore all that the Son doeth marvellously, all that He saith truly, He attributeth to Him of whom He is; yet can He not be ought else than He of whom He is. Adam was made a man; he had power to become something other than he was made. For he was made righteous, and he had power to become unrighteous. But the Only-Begotten Son of God, What He is, This cannot be changed; He cannot be changed into anything else, cannot be diminished, What He was He cannot but be, He cannot but be equal to the Father. But undoubtedly He who gave all things to the Son by His Birth, gave it to One not needing ought; without doubt this very equality too with the Father, the Father gave to the Son. How did the Father give It? did He beget Him less, and add to Him to complete His Form, that He might make Him equal? If he had done this, He would have given it to one in need. But I have told you already what ye ought most firmly to hold fast, that is, that All That the Son is, the Father gave Him, gave Him, that is, by His Birth, not as in need of ought. If He gave it to Him by His Birth, and not as in need, then doubtless He both gave Him equality, and in giving Him equality, begat Him equal. And although the One be One Person, and the Other Another; yet is not the One one thing, and the Other another; but What the One is, That the Other also. He who is the One, is not the Other; but What the One, That too the Other.
Nativitates Christi duae. Hoc enim firmum et fixum tenete, si vultis perseverare catholici, quia Deus Pater Deum Filium genuit sine tempore, et fecit ex Virgine in tempore. Nativitas illa excedit tempora: nativitas ista illuminat tempora. Ambae tamen nativitates mirabiles: illa sine matre, ista sine patre. Quando genuit Deus Filium, de se genuit, non de matre: quando genuit mater filium, virgo genuit, non de viro. De Patre natus est sine initio: de matre natus est hodie certo initio. De Patre natus fecit nos: de matre natus refecit nos. De Patre natus est, ut essemus: de matre natus est, ne periremus. Genuit autem Pater aequalem sibi, et totum quidquid est Filius, habet de Patre. Quod autem Deus Pater est, non habet de Filio. Itaque dicimus Patrem Deum de nullo, Filium Deum de Deo. Propterea omne quod Filius facit mirabiliter, omne quod dicit veraciter, ei tribuit de quo est; nec esse potest aliud, quam ille de quo est. Adam factus est homo: potuit esse aliud, quam est factus. Factus est enim justus, et potuit esse injustus. Unigenitus autem Dei Filius, quod est, hoc mutari non potest: in aliud converti non potest, minui non potest, quod erat non esse non potest, non esse Patri aequalis non potest. Sed plane ille, qui omnia Filio dedit nascenti, dedit non indigenti; sine dubio et ipsam aequalitatem cum Patre Pater dedit Filio. Quomodo Pater dedit? numquid minorem genuit, et addidit illi ad formam, ut faceret aequalem? Si hoc fecisset, indigenti dedisset. Jam vero dixi vobis, quod firmissime tenere debetis, id est, totum quod est Filius Pater dedit, sed nascenti, non indigenti. Si nascenti dedit, non indigenti, et aequalitatem sine dubio dedit, et aequalitatem dando aequalem genuit. Et licet alius sit ille, alius iste; non tamen aliud est ille, aliud iste: sed quod ille, hoc et iste. Non qui ille, hic et iste: sed quod ille, hoc et iste.
90.3 PL 38, 774
3. “He Who sent Me,” saith He, ye have heard it; “He Who sent Me,” saith He, “He gave Me a commandment what I should say, and what I should speak; and I know that His commandment is life everlasting.” It is John’s Gospel, hold it fast. “He Who sent Me, He gave Me a commandment what I should say, and what I should speak; and I know that His commandment is life everlasting.” O that He would grant me to say what I wish! For my poverty and His abundance straiteneth me. “He,” saith He, “gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak; and I know that His commandment is life everlasting.” Search in the Epistle of this John the Evangelist for what he hath said of Christ. “Let us believe,” he says, “His True Son Jesus Christ. This is the True God and Everlasting Life.” What is, “The True God, and Everlasting Life”? The True Son of God is the “the True God, and Everlasting Life.” Why did He say, “On His True Son”? Because God hath many sons, therefore was He to be distinguished, by adding that He was the True Son. Not by simply saying that He is the Son; but by adding, as I have said, that He is the True Son; therefore He was to be distinguished, because of the many sons which God hath. For we are sons by grace, He by Nature. We made by the Father through Him; He Himself That Which the Father is; are we too That Which God is?
Verus Filius Dei cur dictus Christus.--Qui me misit, inquit, audistis: Qui me misit, inquit, ipse mihi mandatum dedit quid dicam, et quid loquar: et scio quia mandatum ejus vita aeterna est. Joannis Evangelium est, tenete. Qui me misit, ipse mihi mandatum dedit quid dicam, et quid loquar: et scio quia mandatum ejus vita aeterna est. O si donet ut dicam quod volo? Facit enim mihi angustias inopia mea, et copia illius. Ipse, inquit, mandatum mihi dedit quid dicam, et quid loquar: et scio quia mandatum ejus vita aeterna est. Quaere in Epistola Joannis hujus evangelistae quid de Christo dixit. Credamus, inquit, in verum Filium ejus Jesum Christum. Ipse est verus Deus, et vita aeterna . Quid est, Verus Deus, et vita aeterna? Verus Filius Dei, verus Deus est, et vita aeterna. Quare dixit, in verum Filium ejus? Quia multos filios habet Deus, propterea discernendus erat, addendo quod verus esset Filius. Non tantum dicendo quod est Filius; sed addendo, ut dixi, quod est verus Filius: ideo discernendus erat, propter multos filios, quos habet Deus. Nos enim filii sumus gratia, ille natura. Nos facti a Patre per ipsum: ille quod Pater, hoc et ipse est: numquid quod Deus est, sumus et nos?
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4. But some man coming across us, knowing not what he is saying, says, “For this reason was it said, “I and My Father are One; for that They have with One Another an agreement of will, not because the Nature of the Son is the Very Same as the Nature of the Father. For the Apostles too (now this is what he said, not I), for the Apostles too are one with the Father and the Son.” Horrible blasphemy! “And the Apostles,” says he, “are one with the Father and the Son, in that they obey the will of the Father and the Son.” Has he dared to say this? Let Paul then say, “I and God are one.” Let Peter say it, let every one of the Prophets say, “I and God are one.” They do not say it; God forbid they should. They know that they are a different nature, a nature that needeth to be saved; they know that they are a different nature, a nature that needeth to be enlightened. No one says, “I and God are one.” Whatsoever progress he may make, howsoever he may surpass others in holiness, with how great eminence soever of virtue he may excel, he never saith, “I and God are one;” for if he have excellence, and therefore saith it; by saying it, he loseth what he had.
Unum se esse cum Patre nemo praeter Christum dicere ausit. Sed quidam de transverso, nesciens quid loquatur ait: Propterea, dictum est, Ego et Pater unum sumus , quia habent inter se concordem voluntatem, non quia ipsa est natura Filii, quae est natura Patris. Nam et Apostoli (et hoc ille dixit, non ego), nam et Apostoli unum sunt cum Patre et Filio. Horrenda blasphemia! Et Apostoli, inquit, unum sunt cum Patre et Filio, quia obediunt voluntati Patris et Filii. Hoccine ausus est dicere? Dicat ergo Paulus: Ego et Deus unum sumus. Dicat Petrus, dicat quilibet propheta: Ego et Deus unum sumus. Non dicit: absit ut dicat. Novit se aliam esse naturam, salvandam naturam: novit se aliam esse naturam, illuminandam naturam. Nemo dicit: Ego et Deus unum sumus. Quantumcumque proficiat, quantumcumque sanctitate praepolleat, quantolibet culmine virtutis excellat, nunquam dicit, Ego et Deus unum sumus: quia si habet virtutem, et ideo hoc dicit; hoc dicendo, quod habebat, amisit.
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5. Believe then that the Son is equal with the Father; but yet that the Son is of the Father; but the Father not of the Son. The Original is with the Father, equality with the Son. For if He be not equal, He is not a true Son. For what are we saying, Brethren? If He is not equal, He is less; if He is less, I ask the nature that needeth to be saved, in its misbelief, “how is He born less?” Answer, Doth He as being less grow or not? If He groweth, then the Father groweth old. But if He will ever be what He was born; if He was born less, He will continue less; with this His loss He will be perfect; born perfect with this loss of the Father’s Form, He is never to attain to the Father’s Form. Thus do ye ungodly assail the Son; thus do ye heretics blaspheme the Son. What then saith the Catholic faith? The Son is God, of God the Father; God the Father, not God of the Son. But God the Son equal with the Father, Born equal; not Born less, not made equal, but Born equal. What the Father is, That is He also who was born. Was the Father ever without the Son? God forbid! Take away your “ever,” where there is no time. The Father always, the Son always. The Father without beginning of time, the Son without beginning of time; the Father never before the Son, the Father never without the Son. But yet because the Son is God of God the Father, and the Father God, but not of God the Son; let not the honouring of the Son in the Father displease us. For the honouring of the Son giveth honour to the Father, it diminisheth not His Own Divinity.
Aequalitas Filii cum Patre. Aequalem ergo Patri credite Filium, sed tamen de Patre Filium, Patrem vero non de Filio. Origo apud illum, aequalitas apud istum. Nam si aequalis non est, verus Filius non est. Quid enim dicimus, fratres? Si aequalis non est, minor est: si minor est, interrogo salvandam naturam male credentem, quomodo minor natus est. Responde: minor crescit, an non? Si crescit, ergo et Pater senescit. Si autem quod natus est, hoc erit; si minor natus est, et minor erit: cum detrimento suo perfectus erit, cum detrimento formae Patris perfectus natus, nunquam perventurus est ad formam Patris. Sic impii addicitis Filium: sic haeretici blasphematis Filium. Quid ergo catholica fides dicit? Filius Deus de Patre Deo: Pater Deus non de Filio Deus. Sed Filius Deus aequalis Patri, aequalis natus, non minor natus; non aequalis factus, sed aequalis natus. Quod est ille, hoc et iste qui natus est. Aliquando fuit Pater sine Filio? Absit. Tolle Aliquando, ubi tempus non est. Semper Pater, semper Filius. Sine initio temporis Pater, sine initio temporis Filius: nunquam Pater ante Filium, nunquam Pater sine Filio. Sed tamen quia Filius Deus de Deo Patre, Pater autem Deus, sed non de Deo Filio; non nobis displiceat honorificentia Filii in Patre. Honorificentia enim Filii Patri tribuit honorem, non suam minuit divinitatem.
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6. Because then I was speaking of what I had brought forward, “And I knew,” saith He, “that His commandment is everlasting life.” Mark, Brethren, what I am saying; “I know that His commandment is everlasting life.” And we read in the same John concerning Christ, “He is The True God and Everlasting Life.” If the Father’s commandment is “everlasting Life,” and Christ the Son Himself is “everlasting Life;” the Son is Himself the Father’s Commandment. For how is not That the Father’s Commandment, which is the Father’s Word? Or if you take the commandment given to the Son by the Father in a carnal sense, as if the Father said to the Son, “I command Thee this, I wish Thee to do that;” in what words spake He to the Only Word? When He gave commandment to the Word, did He look for words? That the Father’s Commandment then is “Life everlasting,” and that the Son Himself is “Life everlasting,” believe ye and receive, believe and understand, for the Prophet saith, “Unless ye believe ye shall not understand.” Do ye not comprehend? Be enlarged. Hear the Apostle: “Be ye enlarged, bear not the yoke with unbelievers.” They who will not believe this before they comprehend, are unbelievers. And because they have determined to be unbelievers, they will remain in their ignorance. Let them believe then that they may understand. Most certainly the Father’s Commandment is “everlasting Life.” Therefore the Father’s Commandment is the Very Son who was born this day; a Commandment not given in time but a Commandment Born. The Gospel of John exercises our minds, refines and uncarnalizes them, that of God we may think not after a carnal but a spiritual manner. Let so much then, Brethren, suffice you; lest in length of disputation, the sleep of forgetfulness steal over you.
Verbum Dei mandatum Patris. Quia ergo dicebam, quod proposueram, Et scio, ait, quia mandatum ejus vita aeterna est. Intendite, fratres, quod dico: Scio quia mandatum ejus vita aeterna est. Et legimus apud ipsum Joannem de Christo, Ipse est verus Deus, et vita aeterna. Si mandatum Patris vita aeterna est, et Christus Filius ipse est vita aeterna; mandatum Patris ipse Filius est. Quomodo enim non est mandatum Patris, quod est Verbum Patris? Aut si mandatum a Patre Filio datum carnaliter accipitis, tanquam dixerit Pater Filio, Hoc mando tibi, hoc illud volo facias: quibus verbis locutus est unico Verbo? Numquid quando mandatum dabat ad Verbum, verba quaerebat? Quia ergo vita aeterna est Patris mandatum, et ipse Filius est vita aeterna, credite et accipite, credite et intelligite, quia Propheta dicit, Nisi credideritis, non intelligetis . Non capitis? dilatamini. Apostolum audite: Dilatamini, ne sitis jugum ducentes cum infidelibus . Qui hoc nolunt credere antequam capiant, infideles sunt. Quia vero infideles esse voluerunt, imperiti remanebunt. Credant ergo, ut intelligant. Prorsus mandatum Patris vita aeterna est. Ergo mandatum Patris ipse Filius est, qui hodie natus est: mandatum non a tempore datum, sed mandatum natum. Exercet mentes Evangelium Joannis, limat et excarnat, ut de Deo non carnaliter, sed spiritualiter sapiamus. Sufficiant ergo ista, fratres, vobis: ne in longitudine disputationis subrepat somnus oblivionis.