Thine inheritance.''- Hear in wliat manner He becomes their inheritance. He says in the Psalms: " 'i'he Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup."' Let us possess Him, and let Him possess us: let Him possess us as Lord; let us possess Him as salvation, let us possess Him as light. What then tlid He give to them who received Him? '* To them He gave power to become sons of God, even to them tliat believe on His name;" that they may cling to the wooil and cross the sea.
14. And how are tliey born? Because they become sons of God and bretliren of Christ, they are certainly born. For if they arc not born, liow can tiiey be sons? Hut the sons of men are born of flesli and lilood, and of t!ie will of man, and of tlie embrace of wedlock. But in what manner are they born? "Who not of blood.s," as if of male anil female. Bloods is not Latm; but because it is plural in (ireck, tlie interpreter preferred so to express it, and to speakljad Latin according to a P». ii. 7, 8.
1 Pi. xv. 3.
i8 [Tractate II.
the grammarian that he might make the matter plain to the understanding of the weak among his hearers. For if he had said blood in the singular number, he would not have explained what he desired; for men are born of the bloods of male and female. Let us say so, then, and not fear the ferule of grammarians, so long as we reach the solid and certain truth. He who understands it and blames it, is thankless for his having understood. " Not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man." The apostle puts flesh for woman; because, when she was made of his rib, Adam said, "This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh."' And the apostle saith, " He that loveth his wife loveth himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh. "^ Flesh, then, is put for woman, in the same manner that spirit is sometimes put for husband. Wherefore? Because the one rules, the other is ruled; the one ought to command, the other to serve. For where the flesh commands and the spirit serves, the house is turned the wrong way. What can be worse than a house where the woman has the mastery over the man? But that house is rightly ordered where the man commands and the woman obeys. In like manner that man is rightly ordered where the spirit commands and the flesh serves.
15. These, then, "were born not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." But that men might be born of God, God was first born of them. For Christ is God, and Christ was born of men. It was only a mother, indeed, that He sought upon earth; because He had already a Father in heaven: He by whom we were to be created was born of God, and He by whom we were to be re-created was born of a woman. Marvel not, then, O man, that thou art made a son by grace, that thou art born of God according to His Word. The Word Himself first chose to be born of man, that thou mightest be born of God unto salvation, and say to thyself. Not without reason did God wish to be born of man, but because He counted me of some importance, that He might make me immortal, and for me be born as a mortal man. When, therefore, he had ' Gen. ii. 23.
2 Eph. V. 28, 29.
said, "born of God," lest we should, as it were, be filled with amazement and trembling at such grace, at grace so great as to exceed belief that men are born of God, as if assuring thee, he says, " And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." Why, then, dost thou marvel that men are born of God? Consider God Himself born of men: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." 16. But because " the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," by His very nativity he made an eye-salve to cleanse the eyes of our heart, and to enable us to see His majesty by means of His humility. Therefore "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us:" He healed our eyes; and what follows? " And we beheld His glory." His glory can no one see unless healed by the humility of His flesh. Wherefore were we not able to see? Consider, then, dearly beloved, and see what I say. There had dashed into man's eye, as it were, dust, earth; it had wounded the eye, and it could not see the light: that wounded eye is anointed; by earth it was wounded, and earth is applied to it for healing. For all eye-salves and medicines are derived from the earth alone. By dust thou wert blinded, and by dust thou art healed: flesh, then, had wounded thee, flesh heals thee. The soul had become carnal by con-.
senting to the affections of the flesh; thus had the eye of the heart been blinded. "The Word was made flesh:" that Physician made for thee an eye-salve. And as He thus came by flesh to extinguish the vices of the flesh, and by death to slay death; therefore did this take place in thee, that, as " the Word became flesh," thou mayest be able to say, " And we beheld His glory." What sort of glory? Such as He became as Son of man? That was His humility, not His glory. But to what is the sight of man brought when cured by means of flesh? " We beheld His glory, the glory as of the 0nly-beg6tten from the Father, full of grace and truth.'' Of grace and truth we shall speak more fully in another place in this same Gospel, if the Lord vouchsafe us opportunity. Let these things suffice for the present, and be ye edified in Christ: be ye comforted in faith, and watch in good works, ■ and see that ye do not depart from the wood by which ye may cross the sea.
-f < Tractate III.]
TRACTATE III.
Chapter I. 15-1S.
Wk undertook, in the name of the Lord, and promised to you, beloved, to treat of that grace and truth ot God, full of which the only-begotten Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, appeared to the saints, and to show how, as a matter belonging to the New Testament, it is to be distinguished from the Old Testament. Give, then, your attention, that what I receive in my measure from God, you in your measure may receive and hear the same. For it will only remain if, when the seed is scattered in your hearts, the birds take it not away, nor thorns choke it. nor heat scorch it, and there descend upon it the rain of daily exhortations and your own good thoughts, by which that is done in the heart which in the field is done by means of harrows, so that the clod is broken, and the seed covered and enabled to germinate: that you bear fruit at which the husbandman may be glad and rejoice. But if, in return for good seed and good rain, you bring forth not fruit but thorns, the seed will not be blamed, nor will the rain be in fault; but for thorns due fire is prepared. ' 2. I do not think that I need spend much time in endeavoring to persuade you that we are Christian men; and if Christians, by virtue of the name, belonging to Christ. Upon the forehead we bear His sign; and we do not blush because of it, if we also bear it in the heart. His sign is His humility. By a star the Magi knew Him; = and this sign was given by the Lord, and it was heavenly and beautiful. He did not desire that a star should be His sign on the forehead of the faithful, but His cross. By it humbled, by it also glorified; by it He raised the humble, even by that to which He, when humbled, descended. We belong, then, to the gospel, we belong to the New Testament. " The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." We ask the apostle, and he says to us, since we are not under the law but under irrace.^ " He sent therefore His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that He might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."" Behold, for this end Christ came, that He might redeem those who were under the law; that now we may not be under tiie ' Matt. xiii. 3-25. 3 Rom. vi. 14.
law, but under grace. \\'ho, then, gave the law? He gave tae law who gave likewise grace; but the law He sent by a servant, with grace He Himself came down. And in what manner were men made under the law? By not fu filling the law. For he who fulfills the law is not under the law, but with the law; but he who is under the law is not raised up, but pressed down by the law. All men, therefore, being placed under the law, are by the law made guilty; and for this purpose it is over their head, that it may show sins, not take them away. The law then commands, the Giver of the law slioweth pity in that which the law commands. Men, endeavoring by their own strength to fulfill that which the law commands, fell by their own rash and headstrong presumption; and not with the law, but under the law, became guilty: and since by their own strength they were unable to fulfill the law, and were become guilty under the law, they implored the aid of the Deliverer; and the guilt which the law brought caused sickness to the proud. The sickness of the proud became the confession of the humble. Now tiie sick confess that they are sick; let the physician come to heal the sick.
3. Who is tiie Physician? Our Lord Jesus Christ. Who is our Lord Jesus Christ? He who was seen even by those by whom He was crucified. He who was seized, buffeted, scourged, spit ui)on, crowned witli thorns, suspended ui)on the cross, died, pierced by the spear, taken down from the cross, laid in the sepulchre. That same Jesus Christ our Lord, that same Jesus exactly, He is the com])lete Physician of our wounds. Tliat crucified One at whom insults were cast, and while He hung on tlie cross His persecutors wagging tlie head, and saying. " If he be the Son of God, let him come down from the cross,"' — He, and no otiier, is our ct)mplete Physician. Wiierefore, then, ilitl He not show to his deriders that He was the Son of God; so that if He allowed Himself to l)e lifted up upon tlie cross, at least when they said, " If he be the Son of GotI, let him come down from the cross." He should then come down, and show to tiiem that He was the very Son of God wliom tliey had dared to ileride? He would not. Wherefore would He not? Was it because He could not? Manifestly [Tractatk III.
He couid. For which is greater, to descend from the cross or to rise from the sepulchre? But He bore with His insulters; for the cross was taken not as a proof of power, but as an example of patience. There He cured thy wounds, where He long bore His own; there He healed thee of death eternal, where He vouchsafed to die the temporal death. And did He die, or in Him did death die? What a death was that, which slew death!
4. Is it, however, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself — His whole self — who was seen, and held, and crucified? Is the whole very self that? It is the same, but not the whole, that which the Jews saw; this is not the whole Christ. And what is? "In the beginning was the Word." In what beginning? " And the Word was with God." And what word? "And the Word was God.'' Was then perhaps this Word made by God? No. For " the same was in the beginning with God." What then? Are the other things which God made not like unto the Word? No: because " all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made." In what manner were all things made by Him? Because "that which was made in Him was life;'' and before it was made there was life. That which was made is not life; but in the art, that is, in the wisdom of God, before it was made, it was life. That which was made passes away; that which is in wisdom cannot pass away. There was life, therefore, in that which was made. And what sort of life, since the soul also is the life of the body? Our body has its own life; and when it has lost it, the death of the body ensues. Was then the life such as this? No; but "the life was the light of men." W'as it the light of cattle? For this light is the light of men and of cattle. There is a certain light of men: let us see how far men differ from the cattle, and then we shall understand what is the light of men. Thou dost not differ from the cattle except in intellect: do not glory in anything besides. Dost thou presume upon thy strength? By i the wild beasts thou art surpassed. Upon thy j swiftness dost thou presume? By the flies; thou art surpassed. Upon thy beauty dost thou presume? How great beauty is there in the feathers of a peacock! Wherein then art thou better? In the image of God. Where is the image of.God? In the mind, in the intellect. If then thou art in this respect better than the cattle, that thou hast a mind by which thou mayest understand what the cattle cannot understand; and therein a man, because better than the cattle; the light of men is the light of minds. The light of minds is above minds and surpasses all minds.
This was that life by which all things were made.
5. Where was it? Was it here? was it with the Father, and was it not here? or, what is more true, was it both with the Facher and here also? If then it was here, wherefore was it not seen? Because "the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." Oh men, be not darkness, be not unbelieving, unjust, unrighteous, rapacious, avaricious lovers of this world: for these are the darkness. The light is not absent, but you are absent from the light. A blind man in the sunshine has the sun present to him, but is himself absent from the sun. Be ye not then darkness. For this is perhaps the grace regarding which we are about to speak, that now we be no more darkness, and that the apostle may say to us, "We were sometime darkness, but now light in the Lord. ' ' Because then the light of men was not seen, that is, the light of minds, there was a necessity that a man should give testimony regarding the light, who was not in darkness, but who was already enlightened; and nevertheless, because enlightened, not the light itself, " but that He might bear witness of the light." For " he was not that light." And what was the light? " That was the true light which enlightened every man thatcometh into this world." And where was that light? " In this world it was." And how was it "in this world?" As the light of the sun, of the moon, and of lamps, was that light thus in the world? No. Because "the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not; " that is to say, " the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." For the world is darkness; because the lovers of the world are the world. For did not the creature acknowledge its Creator? The heavens gave testimony by a star;'' the sea gave testimony, and bore its Lord when He walked upon it; ^ the^ winds gave testimony, and were quiet at His bidding;-* the earth gave testimony, and trembled when He was crucified. 5 If all these gave testimony, in what sense did the world not know Him, unless that the world signifies the lovers of the world, those who with their hearts dwell in the world? And the world is evil, because the inhabitants of the world are evil; just as a house is evil, not because of its walls, but because of its inhabitants.
6. "He came unto His own;" that is to say. He came to that which belonged to Himself; "and His own received Him not." What, then, is the hope, unless that " as many I Eph. V. 8.
4 Matt, xxiii. 27.
2 Matt. ii. 2.
5 Matt, x.wii. 51.
3 Matt. xiv. 26.
Tractate III.]
as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God "? If they become sons, they are born; if born, how are thev born? Not of flesh, "nor of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man; but of God are they born." Let them rejoice, therefore, that they are born of God; let them believe that they are born of God; let them receive the proof that they are born of God: "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us." If the Word was not ashamed to be born of man, are men ashamed to be born of God? And because He did this. He cured us; and because He cured us, we see. For this, " that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," became a medicine unto us, so that as by earth we were made blind, by earth we might be healed; and having been healed, might behold what? "And we beheld," he says, " His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
7. "John beareth witness of Him, and crieth, saying, This was He of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is made before me." He came after me, and He preceded me. What is it, " He is made before me"? He preceded me. Not was made before I was made, but was preferred before me, this is " He was made before me." Wherefore was He made before thee, when He came after thee? "Because He was before me." Before thee, O John! what great thing to be before thee! It is well that thou dost bear witness to Him; let us, however, hear Himself saying, " Even before Abraham, I am." ' But Abraham also was born in the midst of the human race: there were many before him, many after him. Listen to the voice of the Father to the Son: "Before Lucifer I have begotten Thee."^ He who was begotten before Lucifer Himself illuminates all. A certain one was named Lucifer, who fell; for he was an angel and became a devil; and concerning him the Scripture said, " Lucifer, who did arise in the morning, fell."^ And why was he Lucifer 1 Because, being enlightened, he gave forth light. But for what reason did he become dark.! Because he abode not in the truth. ■♦ Therefore He was before Lucifer, before every one that is enlightened; since before every one that is enlightened, of necessity He must be by whom all are enlightened who can be enlightened.
8. Therefore this follows: "And of His fullness have all we received." \Vhat have ye received? "And grace for grace." For so run the words of the Gosjiel, as we find by n comparison of the Greek copies. He does not say, And of His fullness have all we received grace for grace; but thus He says: "And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace," — that is, have we received; so that He would wish us to understand that we have received from His fullness something une.xpressed, and something besides, grace for grace. For we received of His fullness grace in the first instance; and again we received grace, grace for grace. What grace did we, in the first instance, receive? Faith: walking in faith, we walk in grace. How have we merited this? by what previous merits of ours? Let not each one flatter himself, but let him return into his own conscience, seek out the secret places of his own thouglits, recall the series of his deeds; let him not consider what he is if now he is something, but what he was that he might be something: he will find that he was not worthy of anything save punishment. If, then, thou wast wortiiy of punishment, and He came not to punish sins, but to forgive sins, grace was given to thee, and not reward rendered. Wherefore is it called grace? Because it is bestowed gratuitously. For thou didst not, by previous merits, purchase that which thou didst receive. This first grace, then, the sinner received, that his sins were forgiven. What did he deserve? Let him interrogate justice, he finds punishment; let him interrogate mercy, he finds grace. But God promised this also through the propiiets; therefore, when He came to give what He had promised, He not only gave grace, but also truth. How was truth exhibited? Because that was done which had been promised.
9. What, tlien, is " grace for grace "? By faith we render God favorable to us; and inasmuch as we were not wortliy to have our sins forgiven, and because we, who were unworthy, received so great a benefit, it is called grace. What is grace? That which is freely given. AN'hat is "freely given"? Given, not paid. If it was due, wages were given, not grace bestowed; but if it was really <\\\g., thou wast g<K->d; but if, as is true, thou wast evil, but didst believe on Him who justifieth the ungodly' (Wiiat is, Who justifieth the ungodly? Of the imgodiy maketh pious), consider what did by right hang over thee by the law, and wiiat thou hast ol)tained by grace. But having obtained that grace of faith, thou siialt be just l)y faitti (for the just lives by faith);'' and thou shall obtain favor of God by living by faith..\iul having obtained favor from God t>y living by faith, ' Jolin viii. 58. 3 Isa.
. XIV. 27.
2 Ps. ex. y — Vulgate. 4 John viii. 44.
Rom. iv. 5.
[Tractate III.
thou shalt receive immortality as a reward, and life eternal. And that is grace. For because of what merit dost thou receive life eternal? Because of grace. For if faith is grace, life eternal is, as it were, the wages of faith: God, indeed, appears to bestow eternal life as if it were due (To whom due? To the faithful, because he had merited it by faith); but because faith itself is grace, life eternal also is grace for grace.
10. Listen to the Apostle Paul acknowledging grace, and afterwards desiring the payment of a debt. What acknowledgment of grace is there in Paul? " Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained," saith he, "mercy."' He said that he who obtained it was unworthy; that he had, however, obtained it, not through his own merits, but through the mercy of God. Listen to him now demanding the payment of a debt, who hc-d first received unmerited grace: " For," saith he, " I am now ready to be offered up, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness."^ Now he demands a debt, he exacts what is due. For consider the following words: "Which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall render unto me in that day." That he might in the former instance receive grace, he stood in need of a merciful Father; for the reward of grace,of a just judge. Will He who did not condemn the ungodly man condemn the faithful man? And yet, if thou dost rightly consider, it was He who first gave thee faith, whereby thou didst obtain favor; for not of thine own didst thou so obtain favor that anything should be due to thee. Wherefore, then, in afterwards bestowing the reward of immortality. He crowns His own gifts, not thy merits. Therefore, brethren, " we all of His fullness have received;" of the fullness of His mercy, of the abundance of His goodness have we received. What? The remission of sins that we might be justified by faith. And what besides? "And grace for grace;" that is, for this grace by which we live by faith we shall receive another grace. What, then, is it except grace? For if I shall say that tliis also is due, I attribute something to myself as if to me it were due. But God crowns in us the gifts of His own mercy; but on condition that we walk with perseverance in that grace which in the first instance we received.
11. " For the law was given by Moses;" which law held the guilty. For what saith the ' I Tim. i. 13.
2 2 Tim. iv. 6-8.
apostle? " The law entered that the offense might abound." It was a benefit to the proud that the offense abounded, for they gave much to themselves, and, as it were, attributed much to their own strength; and they were unable to fulfill righteousness without the aid of Him who had commanded it. God, desirous to subdue their pride, gave the law, as if saying: Behold, fulfill, and do not think that there is One wanting to command. One to command is not wanting, but one to fulfill.
12. If, then, there is one A^anting to fulfill, whence does he not fulfill? Because born with the heritage of sin and death. Born of Adam, he drew with him that v/hich was there conceived. The first man fell, and all who were born of him from him derived the concupiscence of the flesh. It was needful that another man should be born who derived no concupiscence. A man and a man: a man to death and a man to life. Thus saith the apostle: "' Since, indeed, by man death, by man also the resurrection of the dead." By which man death, and by which man the resurrection of the dead? Do not make haste: he goes' on to say, " For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. "3 Who belong to Adam? All who are born of Adam. Who to Christ? All who were born through Christ. Wherefore all in sin? Because no one was born except through Adam. But that they were born of Adam was of necessity, arising from damnation; to be born through Christ is of will and grace. Men are not compelled to be born through Christ: not because they wished were they born of Adam. All, however, who are of Adam are sinners with sin: all who are through Christ are justified, and just not in themselves, but in Him. For in themselves, if thou shouldest ask, they belong to Adam: in Him, if thou shouldest ask, they belong to Christ. Wherefore? Bep^use He, the Head, our Lord Jesus Christ, did not come with the heritage of sin; but He came nevertheless with mortal flesh.
13. Death was the punishment of sins; in the Lord was the gift of mercy, not the punishment of sin. For the Lord had nothing on account of which He should justly die. He Himself says, " Behold, the prince of this world cometh, and findeth nothing in me." Wherefore then dost Thou die? " But that all may know that I do the will of my Father, arise, let us go hence. ""• He had not in Himself any reason why He should die, and He died: thou hast such a reason, and I Cor..\v. 21, 22.
4 John.\iv. 30, 31.
Tractate III.]
dost thou refuse to die? Do not refuse to bear with an equal mind thy desert, when He did not refuse to suffer, to dehver thee from eternal death. A man and a man; but the one nothing but man, the other Godman. The one a man of sin, the other of righteousness. Thou didst die in Adam, rise in Christ; for both are due to thee. Now thou hast believed in Christ, render nevertheless that which thou owest through Adam. But the chain of sin shall not hold thee eternally; because the temporal death of thy Lord slew thine eternal death. The same is grace, my brethren, the same is truth, because promised and manifested.
14. This grace was not in the Old Testament, because the law threatened, did not bring aid; commanded, did not heal; made manifest, but did not take away our feebleness: but it prepared the way for that Physician who was to come with grace and truth; as a physician who, about to come to any one to cure him, might first send his servant that he might find the sick man bound. He was not sound; he did not wish to be made sound; and lest he should be made sound, he boasted that he was so. The law was sent, it bound him; he finds himself accused, now he exclaims against the bandage. The Lord comes, cures with somewhat bitter and sharp medicines: for He says to the sick. Bear; He says. Endure; He says, Love not the world, have patience, let the fire of continence cure thee, let thy wounds endure the sword of persecutions. Wert thou greatly terrified althouijh bound? He, free and unbound, drank what He gave to thee; He first suffered that He might console thee, saying, as it were, that which thou fearest to suffer for thyself, I first suffer for thee. This is grace, and great grace. Who can praise it in a worthy manner?
15. I speak, my brethren, regarding the humility of Christ. Who can speak regarding the majesty of Christ, and the divinity of Christ? In explaining and speaking of the humility of Christ, to do so in any fashion we find ourselves not sufificient, indeed wholly insufficient: we commend Him entire to your thoughts, we do not endeavor to fill Him up to your hearing. Consider the humility of Christ. l>ut who, thou saye'st, may explain it to us, unless thou declare it? Let Him declare it within. Better does He declare it who dwellcth within, than he who crieth without. Let Himself show to you the grace of His humility, who has begun to dwell in your hearts. But now, if in explaining and setting forth His luunility we are deficient, who can speak of His ma jesty? If " the Word made flesh " disturbs us, who shall explain " In the beginning was the Word "? Keep hold then, brethren, upon the entireness of Christ.
16. "The law was given by Moses: gra'ce and truth came by Jesus Christ." By a servant was the law given, and made men guilty: by an Emperor was pardon given, and delivered the guilty. "The law was given by iMoses." Let not the servant attribute to himself more than was done through him. Chosen to a great ministry as one faithful in his house, but yet a servant, he is able to act according to the law, but cannot release from the guilt of the law. " The law," then, " was given by Moses: grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. '^ 17. And lest, perhaps, any one should say, And did not grace and truth come through Moses, who saw God? immediately he adds, " No one hath seen God at any time." And how did God become known to Moses? Because the Lord revealed Himself to His servant. What Lord? The same Christ,