The Great Commentary (Mossman/Cobb English)

If I have told you earthly things , &c. “If thou understandest not Divine things by means of the earthly similitudes of human generation of flesh and spirit, how wilt thou understand them, Digitized by V^rOOQie COMMUNICATIO IDIOMATUM. 109 if I were to set them before thee without any figures? For this I might do, since I have seen them as they are in themselves, and beheld them with the eyes of the mind. But thine eyes would be blinded by such light as that, and couldst not look upon it Wherefore I advise thee not to dispute with Me about them, but to believe them by simple faith.” S. Chrysostom explains somewhat differently : thus, “ earthly things ” refer to earthly baptism, or that which is done on earth, or that which, in comparison with His own ineffable generation, He calls such. It means, If you do not understand My earthly baptism, how will you understand the Divine mysteries of the Holy Trinity, the eternal generation of the Word, the procession of the Holy Ghost ? Do not therefore curiously inquire into those things, or dispute with Me about them, but simply believe Me, who am, as it were, a Divine Witness

For God sent not , &c. He confirms and intensifies the assertion of the infinite love of God to men, as proved by Christ's being crucified. For God might justly have sent His Son into the world to destroy it for its great wickedness. For this was what His justice demanded, but the infinite love of God overcame justice in that it bestowed the highest blessing upon the world, which deserved the utmost extremity of punishment, in giving it salvation through Him, Observe : the expression judge the world , as it is in the Vulgate, means to condemn, and destroy it in helL It is opposed to the word saved. Hence S. Augustine observes that this was the end of Christ's Incarnation, that all men might be saved, and that He earnestly desired and willed this. Wherefore it is of themselves, through their own fault, and not Christ's, that many of them will be damned. He that believeth ... is not judged, , shall not be condemned, but saved. But he that believeth not is judged, i.e., is condemned already. For such an one manifestly condemns himself by his unbelief; for by it he cuts himself off from the very pathway and beginning of salvation, i.e., faith ; because he hath not believed in the name , &c., Greek, fropa, which means the same thing as believing on the Son of God Himself. For name is here put by metonymy for the thing named. “He shows,'' says S. Cyril, “how dreadful a crime Digitized by V^rOOQie MEANING OF JUDGMENT. 115 unbelief is, because He is the Only Begotten Son of God. For by how much greater is the excellence of that which is despised, by so much will he who despises be liable to severer punishment Especially, because such persons make God a liar, because they believe not the witness which God hath testified of His Son” (1 John v. 10)

Ye yourselves bear me witness , &c. That I said I went before Him, that as His forerunner, minister, and herald, I should precede His advent “ You know that I have always professed that I am not the Christ, but His forerunner. Why then do you urge me to revoke what I have said, and prefer myself to Jesus, and steal away from Him the name of Christ ? Truly this would be intolerable pride, inconsistency, and blasphemy. Suffer me then to live contented with my office, and with me prepare His way, and follow and serve Him the Messias, both your and my Lord and God.” Digitized by V^rOOQie THE PARANYMPH. T2I