The Great Commentary (Mossman/Cobb English)

But Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives . On the last day of the Feast Jesus had taught in the temple, and confuted the Pharisees, while they, after their wont, returned home to a sumptuous banquet But no one showed hospitality to Jesus for fear of the rulers and Pharisees. He went therefore probably to Gethsemane, to continue there all night in prayer (see xviii. 1, 2, and Matt xxvi. 36). Food was either secretly sent Him by Martha from Bethany, or bought by the disciples at Jerusalem. He selected this spot as His nightly refuge, or rather His place of prayer, six months before His death, and used to retire there to pray by night Digitized by V^rOOQie PUNISHMENT OF ADULTERY. 293 (see Matt. xxvi. 36). The Mount of Olives was a type of Christ's sorrow, when He there prayed for the pardon of sinners : as the feast of tabernacles signified that He and His people are but strangers and pilgrims here, on their way to their heavenly country, travelling from the wealthy and splendid dty Jerusalem, to the mountain of heavenly refreshment Yer. 2 . — And early in the mornings &c. He gave the night to prayer, the day to teaching, setting an example to apostolic men, as S. Paul, S. Francis Xavier, and others. Vers. 3, 4, 5 . — But the Scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery , &c. Now Moses in the Law commanded us that such should be stoned. This story is not found in the Greek Fathers, but as it is found in the Vulgate and thus approved by the Council of Trent, Cornelius Lapide regards it as canonical. Here note that the Mosaic law ordered adulteresses to be killed. But the rulers ordered them to be stoned, according to the Rabbinical tradition. For the Law ordered a betrothed woman should be stoned, if she had committed adultery, and thence the Scribes extended this punishment to an adulterous wife. But the punishment of stoning (Lev. xx. 10) is to be extended to all the cases mentioned in that chapter. (See also Ezek. xvi. 38, 40.) And this is clear from the History of Susanna, where, by the law of requital, her false accusers were stoned. This was also the punishment of adulteresses in many heathen nations. (See notes on Gen. xxxviiL 24, and Num. v. ad fin.) Yer. 6 . — This they said tempting Him , that they might have to accuse Him 9 as being opposed to the law, if He said that she was not to be stoned, but as cruel and harsh if He said otherwise. But they rather supposed He would not order her to be stoned, “in order to keep up His appearance of gentleness, and not to lose the favour of the people.” So Rupertus, Bede, and S. Augustine, who says, “ They saw that He was very gentle ; they said therefore among themselves, If He rules that she be let go, He will not observe that righteousness which the Law enjoins. But not Digitized by V^rOOQie 2Q4 to lose His (character for) gentleness, by which He has already won the love of the people, He will say that she ought to be released. And we shall hence find occasion to accuse Him. But the Lord in His answer both observed justice, and did not forego His gentleness.” They thought to accuse Him of violating the law by her acquittal, and would say to Him, says S. Augustine, “ Thou art an enemy of the law, thou judgest contrary to Moses, or rather against Him who gave the law. Thou art guilty of death, and must be stoned together with her.' But Jesus stooped down , and with His finger wrote on the ground. To turn away His face, not so much from the adulteress as from her accusers, as if to say, “Why do ye bring her before Me, who am not a civil judge, but the physician and Saviour of sinners?” So S. Augustine. Some Greek MSS. add pil cfowo/ofyuioc, not attending to them and their accusations . Though Toletus and others translate, “ not pretending, but really writing on the ground.” Either meaning is suitable. (2.) Christ refers to Jer. xvii. 1. “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond,” and as S. Augustine, S. Jerome and others say more fittingly on verse 13, “They that depart from thee, shall be written in the earth.” Jeremiah has here painted you, O Scribes, to the life. Ye accuse this adulteress, but ye have committed greater sins than hers ; ye deserve punishment rather than she doth ; ye deserve to be stoned more than she does, even to be cast into hell For your sins of rebellion, unbelief, obstinacy, and persecution against Me are indelible, written as it were with a pen of iron, and the point of a diamond, because ye have forsaken the Lord and turned your back upon Him, therefore has He in His turn turned His back upon you.” (See Jer. xviii. 17.) Ye have neglected heavenly, and followed after worldly goods, and therefore ye will speedily pass away with them, just as that which is written in the earth soon comes to nothing by a breath of wind, and by the foot passing over it. Ye have departed from God, and therefore ye will not be written in Heaven, but on the earth, yea in its very centre, in hell itself. (See S. Augustine Lib. iv. de. Digitized by V^rOOQie w WHAT CHRIST WROTE ON THE GROUND. 295 Comm. Evang.y cap 10.) And S. Ambrose (Ep. lxxvi. ad Studitem . ) says, M He wrote on the ground, for sinners are written on the earth, the just in heaven.” Symbolically, S. Augustine (as above) gives two other reasons. (1.) To show that He worked miracles on earth, for, though God, He humbled Himself to become man, for miracles are signs which are wrought on earth. (2.) To point out that the time had now come for His law to be written on the fruitful earth, not on barren stones. (3.) He adds here (Tract, xxxiil) a third reason, that it was to signify that it was He who had written the old law on tables of stone, but that the new law was to be written on the productive earth. But what did Christ write ? He could not in the paved court of the temple cut out the shape of the letters, but merely delineate them with His finger. But He seems to have marked out something to put them to shame, or to expose their sin. For He added, in explanation of what He had done, “ He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” S. Jerome even says that He wrote the mortal sins of the Scribes and of all men (Lib. ii. Contra Pelag. S. Ambrose (Ep. lvl) that He wrote Jer. xxii. 29 ; and (Epist. lxxix.) that He wrote among other words, Thou secst the mote in thy brothers eye , but seest not the beam in thine own. Others think that He wrote “Afene, Mene ” (Dan. v. 25). But nothing certain can be stated

When therefore they continued asking Him. Because they did not see clearly what He had written, or pretended they did not. They therefore urge Him to reply explicitly to their captious question, believing that He could not escape from the horns of a dilemma by going against the law if He acquitted the woman or against His own compassion, were He to condemn her. He lifted up Himself and said He that is without sin among you t let him first cast a stone at her. Ye Scribes and Pharisees have committed greater sins than this woman, as your conscience testifies ; do not therefore so rigidly and importunately urge her condemns tion, but rather have pity for her, as sinners for a sinner, as guilty for a guilty one, as criminals for a criminal For otherwise, if ye condemn her, ye ought to condemn yourselves ; if ye wish to stone Digitized by V^rOOQie 296 L her, ye yourselves ought to be stoned, nay more, to be burned. Observe Christ’s prudence. He maintains the law in conceding that an adulteress was guilty of death, but adds that the Scribes should not so pertinaciously urge her death, but rather have compassion on her, since outwardly professing sanctity, but inwardly conscious of greater sins, they should wish indulgence to be shown to themselves both by God and man. So S. Augustine. “Ye have heard, Let the law be fulfilled, let the adulteress be stoned. But in punishing her must the law be fulfilled by those who deserve punishment?” And again, “Jesus said not, Let her not be stoned ; lest He should seem to speak against the law. But be it far from Him to say, Let her be stoned ; for He came not to destroy that which He had formed, but to save that which had perished. What then answered He ? * He who is without sin of you, 1 &c. O answer of wisdom ! How did He make them look unto themselves 1 They brought charges against others, they did not carefully search out themselves within.” “What more divine,” says S. Ambrose, “than that saying, that He should punish sin who is Himself devoid of it ? For how couldest thou endure one who punishes another’s sin, and defends his own? For does he not condemn himself the more, who condemns in another what he himself commits ? ” But thou wilt say Christ here seems to do away with the use of tribunals of justice, and their strictness. But I answer, Christ launched not this sentence against judges, but only against the Scribes, who as private persons contended that Christ should take on Himself to judge the adulteress, and condemn her according to law. This He refused to do, and having been sent to save, and not to condemn sinners, He retorted it upon themselves, as follows ; “If ye are not judges, and yet are so desirous of punishing this adultery, take it upon yourselves, stone the adulteress, if ye are so pure and holy as not to have committed adultery, or any other sin ; * for if the Scribes had condemned her to be stoned, Jesus would not have freed her from the punishment she justly deserved. Moreover, it is the judge’s duty to condemn a criminal, when convicted, though conscious that he is himself guilty of the same or a similar Digitized by V^rOOQie THE VOICE OF CONSCIENCE. Itfl offence And yet, if guilty himself it is unseemly in him to condemn another for a like offence. Christ then in these words quietly advises judges to lead innocent lives themselves. As a moral rule, Christ teaches us that we ought to judge ourselves before we judge others. S. Gregory {Moral, Lib. 13. cap. iv.) gives the reason. “ For he who judges not himself in the first place, knows not how to pass right judgment on another. For his own conscience supplies no rule to go by. These Scribes then are summoned first to look within, and find out their own faults, before reproving others.” On which head there are wellknown proverbs. “ First prune thy own vineyards,” &c. Ver 8 . And again stooping down He wrote on the ground. Both to inspire them with shame, and also to give the Scribes time to withdraw creditably. So S. Jerome {Lib. ii. contra Pelag.), and Bede, who adds, “ He saw that they were staggered, and would be more likely to retire at once than to put any more questions.”

But on hearing this they went out one by one. Some Greek copies add, 44 Convicted by their own conscience ,” as being adulterers, or even worse. For what Jesus said was true, and ought to strike home to them. And hence S. Augustine says {Epist. liv.) 9 “ Methinks that even the husband himself who had been wronged, would on hearing these words have shrunk back from his desire for punishment.” 44 Went out. 44 By their very withdrawal, 1 * says S. Augustine, 44 confessing that they were guilty of like offences. For they were smitten with a keen sense of justice on looking within, and finding themselves guilty.” They feared also lest Christ should proceed still further to expose their crimes. Beginning at the eldest. As being more inveterate sinners, like the false accusers of Susanna, or because they first felt the force of His words. As says S. Ambrose, 44 They first felt the strength of His answer, which they could not reply to, and being quicker of apprehension, they were the first to go away.” And He was left alone , &c. 44 Two were left,” says S. Augustine, 44 misery and commiseration ; ” deep calling upon deep, the depth of Digitized by V^rOOQie 298 her misery on the depth of His compassion. But she fled not, as having experienced His grace, and hoping for more

When Jesus had lifted up Himself See. Lifting up on her His eyes of gentleness, as He had repulsed His adversaries with the words of righteousness, as saith S. Augustine. He spoke to her, (1.) to show that He had driven away her accusers, and that she could acknowledge what Jesus had, in His mercy, done for her, ind ask pardon from Him of her sin. (2.) That He might the more readily absolve her, because her accusers had withdrawn their charge, and had fled away, as doubting the justice of their cause

Ye judge after the flesh. (1.) Ye judge of Me, not according to truth and equity, but from the carnal hatred ye have against Me ; as living according to the flesh is to live ill, so judging according to the flesh is to judge unjustly. (2.) From My Body, which ye see, ye count Me a mere man ; because I am in the flesh ye count Me mere flesh, judging wrongly. And thus ye rule that Truth can lie. For I am the Truth (S. Cyril). (3.) Ye judge by your senses alone, by that which ye see of Me ; that I am a mean, poor, abject man, not the Messiah, not God who hides Himself in My flesh ; and therefore ye condemn Me as a proud blasphemer for asserting Myself to be the Son of God. And this ye would not do, if ye judged of Me by reason and the spirit of truth. For this would declare to you that I am what I assert, Messiah, the Son of God. “They saw the man,” says S. Augustine, “but did not believe Him to be God.” And the Gloss, "they Digitized by V^rOOQie CHRIST'S JUDGMENT JUST. 30S thought Him to be a man, who was not to be believed when praising Himself” “ Moreover,” says S. Cyril, “ He acts like a physician who heeds not the insults of his patients who are mad, but applies to them the fitting remedies ; fighting against disease, but not against the patient, whom he wishes to restore to health of body and mind.” I judge no man , not as ye do, by outward appearance, but according to reason and the spirit (4.) S. Chrysostom says, “ Because the Jews might make this objection to Christ, ‘ If we judge wrongly of Thee, why dost not thou convince us ? ’ Christ replies, I judge no one. It is not My business. Were I now to judge you, I should assuredly condemn you. But this is not the time for doing so.” (5.) To judge in this place, means to perform a kind of judicial act, and hence it means to testify, or bear witness, for witnesses force as it were the judge to give sentence in accordance with their testimony. And hence a witness is a kind of judge (see Is. lv. 4). For the whole question between Christ and the Jews was with reference to His testimony, whether it could be lawfully accepted. And He maintains that it can be, as He was not alone, but the Father was with him (see S. Ambrose, Lib . v. Epist. 20). And this is plain from what Christ says, verses 17 and 18, “I am He that bear witness of Myself, and the Father that sent Me beareth witness of Me.” But He uses the word “judge” because He seemed just before to have judged the adulteress, which the Pharisees resented. But He meant thereby that He had not judicially acquitted her, though He might have done so, as the Son of God. For I am not a mere man, as ye suppose, nor am I alone, for God the Father is with Me. And in this sense “I fudge” is understood in its own proper sense, “ I pass not a judicial sentence.”

It is also written in your Law (Deut xvii. 6, xix. 5), that the testimony of two men is true: that is to be admitted by the judge, who can base on it a legal sentence, though the testimony may as a matter of fact be false. But a judge must go by the evidence ; and so his sentences may be legally right, but in reality wrong. If then the testimony of two men be true, how much more must the sentence of two Divine Persons, the Father and the Son, be accepted as most true, most equitable, and most just ? Christ applies this to His own case. For that the Father is with Him, and witnesses to Him, and that He is the Son of the Father, He had more than sufficiently proved, and therefore assumes it “ It is,” says v . Augustine, “a grand and roost mysterious question when God says ‘ in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established ; ’ for Susanna was accused by two false witnesses, and all the people witnessed falsely against Christ But in this way is the Trinity represented as in mystery; for therein is the everenduring firmness of truth. If thou wishest to have a good cause, have three witnesses, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost”

These words , &c. ... in the temple (i e. f the Court of the Temple). Rupertus thinks that the reason why no man laid hands on Him was because the treasury was a remote spot, frequented only by the Priests who wished to take money out, and the lay people who wished to pay it in* But it was in fact a public and muchfrequented place, being a large portico close to the court of the temple, and in it were preserved all the treasures of the temple. Christ then spake all these things openly and boldly in a place where He could easily have been taken. But He by His Divine power restrained their hands and their resolve, because the destined hour had not yet come. Adrichoniuus ( Descript . Hieros. 103) describes the treasury as a chest wherein all requisites were kept foi the sacrifices, the support of the poor, repair of the temple, &c. When Heliodorus attempted to plunder it, he was said to have been scourged by angels, and Pilate was prevented by a popular tumult from applying its contents to bringing water into the city. It was afterwards plundered by the Romans. Here also the poor woman cast in her two mites. It was from this chest that the whole porch where it stood was called the treasury. The other reason why Christ spoke thus in the treasury was of a more hidden kind. Because it was the dark hiding-place of the Pharisees, where they wrought all those evil devices which Christ recounts, Matt. v. and xxiil In this very spot He condemns their Digitized by V^rOOQie MYSTICAL MEANING OF TREASURY. 307 dark deeds by saying, “ I am the Light of the world,” the true Light of wisdom and holiness, who teach men to despise earthly riches, as mean and perishing, and to aim at heavenly riches, as being great and eternal. Follow not the Pharisees who are blindly intent on these earthly riches, for Vespasian will speedily carry them all away ; but rather follow Me, the Light of the world, for I preach to you poverty of spirit as the way to gain boundless riches in heaven. And on the other hand, u Woe to you rich,” &c (Luke vi. 24). This then was the cause of the intense hatred they felt against Christ, which led them to persecute Him even to death on the cross. It was out of this treasury that they sacrilegiously took the thirty pieces of silver which they gave to Judas to betray Jesus. And therefore in the very same spot He willed that He would by that means be lifted up on the cross, and draw all men unto Him. Origen gives a mystical reason. “ Christ,” he says, “ spake these things in the treasury, because the treasury, or rather the treasures, are His divine discourses, impressed with the image of the great King. Coins (he says) are divine words. Let every one then contribute to the treasury, />., for the edification of the Church, whatever he is able for the honour of God, and the common benefit” And Bede, “ Christ speaks in the treasury, because He spake to the Jews in parables which were covered and kept close. But the treasury then began (as it were) to be opened, when He explained them to His disciples, and unlocked the heavenly mysteries therein conceived.” For His hour was not yet come. " Not the fated, but the opportune and self-chosen hour,” says the Interlinear Gloss. “ Some,” says S. Augustine, “ on hearing this, believe that Christ was subject to fate. But how can He be under fate, by whom the heaven and the stars were made, when Thy will, if Thou thinkest aught, transcends even the stars ? The hour therefore had not come, not 1 the hour in which He should be forced to die, but in which He deigned to be slain.* ”

I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins. The sin of unbelief and all your other sins, for there is no forgiveness of sin, save through faith in Christ, whom ye reject For if ye believe not that 1 am the Saviour of the world, as I constantly affirm and prove also by so many miracles. So Lyra. Digitized by V^rOOQie CHRIST FROM ETERNITY. But S. Augustine, Bede, and Toletus more ingeniously : “ Because 1 am that I am ; i.e., God. But Rupertus thus subtilly : “ Because I am from above.’’ Ye shall die in your sins, because there is no one but Myself, whom ye despise, who can pardon and take away sin

They said therefore to Him, Who art Thou t Because they did not understand, or pretended they did not, they appositely ask, Who art Thou f Jesus said to them, the Beginning (Vulg.), I who am speaking to you . S. Augustine, Bede, Rupertus, and S. Ambrose (De Fide, iil 4), consider the word, the Beginning, to be in the nominative case, explaining it, I am the Beginning, the First and the Last, or the Beginning of all things, for all things were made by the Word of God. In the Greek the word is not o^xh, but in the beginning. S. Augustine and S. Ambrose explain it (2.) by supplying the word “ credits,” which is not in the text We must therefore consider it to be a Greek form of expression, a^ii* for x&r hgxpi, in the beginning. I am from the beginning, *>., from eternity {before Abraham, as He said Himself, verse 58), Very God of Very God. And therefore I am the beginning of time, and age, and of all things. And yet I am speaking to you ; that is, it is I who announce this to you, for I assumed flesh, and was made man in order to announce it, and save those who believe in it. I am from the beginning, which very thing I solemnly declare to you. Or rather, since I am the Word, which the Father spake from all eternity, I having been made man to announce to you the same truth. For the Son is the Word by whom the Father speaks, and the Son is also the Word which speaks to us. The word “ beginning,” therefore, is more appropriate to the Son than to the Holy Spirit, for the Son is together with the Father the source {principium ) of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit is not the source of any other Divine Person, but only of creatures; and further, because He is the beginning ( principium ) proceeding from the beginning, that is to say, from the Father. And accordingly this word signifies His origin, as being begotten of the Father. This is clear from what is said below. Digitized by V^rOOQie 312 S. JOHN, C VIII. verse 27. The Vulgate does not translate it literally from the beginnings but the beginning, , signifying thereby the Eternal Word, which was from the beginning, and begotten of the Father, to be with the Father, the beginning both of the Holy Spirit and of all creatures. From the beginning signifies two things ; first from all eternity, and next as begotten of God the Father. It is the same thing to say I am from the beginning, or I am the beginning. (See John L 1 ; Rev. L 8, iil 14; and also Col i. 18.) And this is what SS. Augustine, Ambrose, and others above mentioned consider it to meaa So says the Gloss, “The Father is the Beginning, but not from the beginning : the Son is the Beginning, from the Beginning, that is, from the Father, who worketh all things by the Son, for He is the Right Hand, Strength, Wisdom, and Word of the Father.” But the Greek hggfi means also the Chief Rule {principatus meaning that to Christ belongs the dominion and rule over all things. (See Ps. cx. 3, Vulg., and Prov. viii. 22, sec lxx. See also S. Augustine, contra Max . cap. xviii., and S. Thomas, part 1, Quest xxxvi., art 4, who show that the Father and Son are not two , but the one principle of the Holy Spirit .) Morally : learn that Christ, as God and man, must be regarded as the beginning and the end of all our doings ; after the example of S. Paul and the other Apostles both in the beginning and end of their Epistles. S. Gregory Nazianzen begins his acrostics in this way, and Paulinus, “ In Thee my only hopes of life depend, Thou my beginning, Thou my goal and end.” As all numbers start from unity, and all lines run from the centre to the circumference, so should all the actions of a Christian begin and end in Christ (see CoL iii. 17). Nonnus and others explain, I am the same as I said to you at first ; that is, that I am the Messiah, the Light and the Salvation of the world, but ye believe Me not But this is a strange interpretation. Some others refer to what comes afterwards, Because ye do not believe Me, I have more to say to you, and to judge of you. But Digitized by V^rOOQie CHRIST THE SON OF TRUTH. 313 this is a mere evading of the question. As if Christ said, Ye are unworthy of an answer, but yet deserve My condemnation

If therefore the Son , &c. I alone can make you free, not Abraham or Moses, though most beloved servants of God. So S. Chrysostom and others

They answered &c Because Christ seemed to imply that they had another father, they wished to learn from Him who he was. We own Abraham, and none other as our father. Jesus saith unto them. If ye are the children of Abraham , do the works of Abraham. It is so in the Vulgate. But some Greek MSS. read as in the English version. He does not deny their extraction, but condemns their doings. Says S. Augustine, “Your flesh may be from Abraham, but not so your life.”

But now ye seek, &c. Abraham did not injure any one, but saved Lot, and as many as he could. But the Jews were eager to kill Christ The Jews ( Perke . Avoth. cap. v.) draw the same contrast between a disciple of Abraham and of Balaam. Digitized by V^rOOQie 320

Ye do the works of your father. He persists in saying that they were not Abraham’s children, but does not say whose children they were. Then said they unto Him, We be not bom of fornication, &c. Origen, Cyril, and Leontius think that in these words they implicitly reproached Him with His own birth. An atrocious statement, which the Pharisees studiously propagated, to detract from our Lord’s credit and authority. But it would have been atrocious blasphemy. (2.) Euthymius and Rupertus suppose it to be only an assertion of their descent from Sarah, and not from Hagar, and thus not spurious, or in a secondary rank. (3.) We are not born of spiritual fornication, £*., idolatry. We are not Hagarenes, who were idolaters. Rupertus objects that to make out this meaning the word 11 but” should have been inserted. But Maldonatus maintains that such particles are often omitted, adding that fornication in the prophets means idolatry, as being spiritual fornication, drawing away the soul from its true Spouse (see Hos. L 2). Theophylact explains it to mean, “ We are not born of mixed marriages of Jews and Gentiles, which were forbidden, and counted illegitimate by the Jews.” (4.) The Jews reply in a straightforward manner, Abraham is our true earthly father; and one is our Father, even God in heaven. Your charge is therefore false. You unjustly claim the God of Abraham for thyself alone, and exclude us from sonship with Him, and hand us over to another father, the devil, making us spurious, and consequently infamous

Ye are of your father the devil. “Not by descent but by imitation,” says S. Augustine, quoting Ezek. xvi 4 ; and adding, “The Jews, by imitating their impieties, found for themselves parents, not of whom to be born, but with whom they would be lost, by following their evil ways.” S. Epiphanius {Her. 38, 40) by the devil in this place understands Judas Iscariot, whom our Lord also calls a devil But the author of u Questions on the Old and New Testament ” {apud S. Augustine) understands Cain. But it is certain that it must be taken literally to mean Lucifer. For the Jews in persecuting Jesus followed him VOL. iv. x Digitized by V^rOOQie 322 as their father ; “ not by succession in the flesh, but in sin,* says & Ambrose (Lib. iv. in loc .) Ye are of, &c. “ In order to kill Me.” He explains that they are of the devil, by following his suggestion. & Chrysostom says he speaks not of “ works,” but of desires (or lusts), showing that both he and they greatly delighted in murders. For the devil has an ardent desire to destroy all men, both because he grudges them the glory from which he himself fell, but also to injure God, whom he hates as his torturer, and wishes to tear away men from Him whom He created in His own image, and called and predestinated to His own eternal grace and glory. He was a murderer , &c. For as soon as Adam was created, Lucifer, the very same day through envy destroyed both him and all his posterity, by persuading him to eat of the forbidden fruit And in like manner does he endeavour through you, O Jews, to kill Me, by Whom all men are to be redeemed from dearth. For he ever persists in his eager desire to destroy men, as the leopard and wolf, which feed on human flesh. He urged on Cain to kill Abel, and Joseph’s brethren to destine him to death. And even now instigates all murderers to commit their murders. And much more does he thirst for the death and destruction of souls, though bodily death is here more properly meant, for this it was they plotted against Christ Euthymius and S. Augustine (Contra Petib. il 13). And abode not in the truth , *>., in the integrity and perfection, the grace, righteousness, and sanctity in which he was created. True means pure and unadulterated. As Nathaniel is called “a true Israelite, in whom is no guile.” Again “ in truth ” means in that which was his duty. In S. John, David, and Solomon “the truth” commonly means this (see John iiL 21). There is a threefold truth, in heart, word, and deed. The truth of the heart is opposed to error ; the truth of word is opposed to a lie, the truth of deed is when a man acts in accordance with what is practically right, and this is opposed to iniquity and sin. Now the devil did not stand in the truth because he did not persevere in what he ought to have done. THE FATHER OF LIES. 323 He refused to be under God. He claimed to be His equal, a kind of second god, and rose up against Him through pride. Hence he fell from his state of grace, and was cast down to hell (see Is. xiv. 12). And so S. Chrysostom (Horn. liv. ; S. Leo, Ser. de Quadr ., and others). Hence (1.) S. Augustine (contr. Adimantum iv. 4), understands by the “ truth,” the law, meaning that the devil did not abide in the Law of God. Others by u truth ” understand fidelity, or the obedience due to God as the Creator. (2.) S. Irenseus (v. 22, 23) understands it to mean " veracity,” as our Lord says below he is “ a liar, and the father of it” Christ seems to charge the Jews with two faults, which they had learned from the devil, murder, and mendacity, and calumny. (3.) Origen (Tom. xxiv.) understands it to mean “ truth in practical matters,” which Lucifer abandoned when he sinned by pride, which practically was a false step. This resulted from his not abiding in truth of act, and thus he departed from truth in heart and word, and thus by his lies deceived mankind. Hence S. Augustine (de Civ. xi. 13) rightly infers that he was created in grace and righteousness, and that the Manichees were wrong in asserting that he was naturally wicked or created by an evil god. They inferred this wrongly from 1 John iii, “The devil sinnethfrom the beginning.” The true meaning of this passage is explained in loco. Because there is no truth in him. Neither in thought, word, or deed, for those three kinds of truth have a sisterly relation to each other. But here “ truth ” rather signifies veracity. When he speaketh a lie> &c. When he fell from his original beauty as an angel and became a hideous demon, it was innate in him to deceive ; his special and proper business was to lie, and to this he entirely devotes himself. (2.) “ Of his own,” means of his own special invention. But men lie from imitating him, and by his suggestion. (3.) “ Of his own,” from his own inward delight in it He delights in it, as a thief in his thefts. For he is a liar. From his constant habit of lying, he is altogether Digitized by V^OOQle 324 made up of lies. And if he ever speaks truth, it is by compulsion, or else by means of truth to persuade men to what is false. And the father of it. “His father,” says Nonnus. The Caiman heretics understood the devil to mean Cain. But the Manicheans on S. Augustine’s authority (in loco) said that the devil had a father, even the evil god, and that both he and his son were liars. But I maintain that “ of it ” refers to the word “ lie,” which is understood in the term liar which occurs just before. And he is the father of a lie. (i.) Because he first invented the act of lying. (2.) Because he fashions and forms lies, as the potter moulds the clay. So S. Augustine and others. It is a Hebraism. Origen says, “The devil begot a lie. He was seduced by himself, and in this respect was worse, because others are deceived by him, whereas he is the author of his own deception.” And S. Augustine, “ Not every one that lies is a father of a lie, but he only who, like the devil, received it not from, any other quarter.” And hence the devil is the father and author of heresies, and therefore heresiarchs have had a devil at their side who suggested their heresies, as well as arguments to uphold them. So Luther confessed of himself. Such a suggester had Arius, Eunomius, Calvin, &c. The Apostle (1 Tim. iv. 1) speaks of heresies as “doctrines of devils ” (see notes in loco). 45. But if I speak the truths ye believe Me not. His argument stands thus, “ Whosoever believeth a lie is a son of the devil. And ye believe a lie, and are therefore sons of the devil” But “ if” may mean “because,” as some Greek and I^atin copies read. And so it would mean, “ Because I speak the truth in truly reproving your sins, and truly asserting myself to be the Messiah, and prove this by miracles, yet ye will not believe Me because ye will not give up your sins, and will not believe what I say and teach, but rather believe the devil who persuades you that I am a false prophet, and my miracles are mere sleight of hand

Which of you, &c. This is to anticipate an objection of the Jews. For they might say, “We do not believe thee, because thou art a violater of our law, in healing the sick on the Sabbath-day.” Digitized by V^rOOQie SINLESSNESS OF CHRIST. 325 Produce any other charge against Me, and I will submit to your disbelieving Me. My healing on the Sabbath was not a violation, but a sanctification of the Sabbath. I leave any further charge to be decided by you who are my sworn enemies. So confident was Christ in His innocence that no one could lay anything to His charge which bore the slightest resemblance to sin. For He was Himself sinless, both on account of the Beatific Vision which He enjoyed, as the Blessed in heaven are incapable of sin for the same reason (for seeing God to be the Supreme Good, they necessarily love Him with all their strength, and hate whatever displeases Him) and likewise from the hypostatical union with the Word. For because His humanity existed in the Person of the Word, the Word kept His humanity free from all sin, and in perfect holiness. For if the humanity of Christ had sinned, the Person of the Word would have sinned ; which is impossible. For virtuous or vicious actions relate to persons, and are attributed to them. Hence S. Ambrose (on Ps. xl. 13) brings in God the Father thus addressing Christ, " Thou wert conversant with sinners, Thou didst take on Thee the sins of all, Thou wast made sin for all, but yet no practice of sin* could reach Thee. Thou didst dwell among men, as if among angels, Thou madest earth to be like heaven, that even there also Thou mightest take away sin.” Jf I say the truth, &c. He here shuts out another objection of the Jews. For they could have said, We believe Thee not, not for any sin which Thou hast committed, but because the things Thou sayest and teachest are not true.” Christ meets the objection by saying, “ I have proved to you My doctrine by so many arguments and miracles, that no prudent person who is not blinded by hatred could question its perfect truth. If then My life is most innocent, and My doctrine most true, why do ye not believe Me ? ” Receive then the truth not as a bare assertion, but as demonstrated by reason

Now we know, &c. “The devil suggests to Thee such proud and absurd boasting, that Thy word will drive away death from those who believe in Thee, when we see that Prophets and holy men, as Abraham, all died. But as says S. Gregory {Horn, xviil), looking only to the death of the body, they were dark to the word of truth. For as Bede saith, “ Abraham, though dead in the body, was alive in his souL” Learn from this, thou Religious, thou Preacher, thou Christian, from thy Master to receive calumnies for thy good deeds, curses and ill-will for thy kindnesses. Learn also to be good to the ungrateful. For Christ, though unweariedly teaching the Jews, healing them, delivering them from evil spirits, yet patiently endured these contumelies and reproaches, ingratitude in return for kindnesses, blasphemies for miracles, and for His teaching derision and reprehension, and yet did not cease to benefit those who were ungrateful, the very highest point of patience and charity. Abraham is dead, &c. Thou blasphemest then, in making thyself greater than Abraham and the Prophets, yea, even greater than God Himself, since the word of God could not deliver Abraham and the Prophets from death. But yet the word of God, promulged by the lips of Christ, was more powerful than the word of God which was uttered to Abraham and the Proplfbts. And, moreover, Abraham and the Prophets were not dead in their souls, and Digitized by V^rOOQie 330 m. though dead in the body were to be raised up by Christ to eternal life