Fragments on the Gospel of John

Fragments on the Gospel of John

continued

Fragment 57

When the woman said she wanted to receive water from Jesus so that her thirst would stop, since she would have the water as a spring within herself, she showed that this is what she wanted. By these words she admitted that drawing the earlier water was very wearisome, and in this she spoke truly. For keeping the Law according to the letter is very wearisome. The Savior then fittingly says to her: since you still cling to the one to whom you have devoted yourself, living with him as with a husband (the Law), go and call him, so that what is written in him may be compared with what I say and do. In this way you will be able to find that the one who drinks from the earlier water will look for another, because he will thirst again. When she denied that she had a husband, the Savior, gently exposing her Samaritan way of thinking, says: “You are right to say, ‘I have no husband.’” For you did not agree with the whole of the Old Testament, which is the Law, about which it is written, “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness.” Not having this husband, you had five, because you agreed only with what is perceptible in the Scripture. For if you had lived with the whole of the Old Testament, you would have been able to recognize God the Word, whom it expected after the Law and the Prophets. The words “For you have had five husbands” must be referred to the five books of Moses, for these alone the Samaritans accept. But who is the sixth, whom she has besides the five husbands, and who is not even her husband? We must say it is the teaching that there is a prophet. For she had already agreed to this, under compulsion from what was said, but not with true agreement. So it was fittingly said: “And the one you now have is not your husband,” for you have not come to him sincerely. And since her five husbands were also said to be the senses, after she had agreed, without precise understanding by any spiritual reasoning, to what she learned from Jesus’ teaching, it was said most exactly to the mark: “And the one you now think you have, a spiritual word, is not your husband.”

Fragment 58

When you hear that salvation is from the Jews, listen to what is said about the one who says this. For he himself was the expectation of the nations, the one born of the seed of David according to the flesh.

Fragment 59

The question “Surely no one has brought him anything to eat?” shows that he accepted the services of those who offered them, although he was able to feed others and not be fed himself. Yet feeding Christ is a work of the greatest effect, and he did not begrudge it to those who wished to do it. That is why he assigned the same to the disciples. Being men trained in the Law and fond of learning, they considered that it was now time for a meal. They guessed that perhaps, as a meal had been brought to Daniel in Babylon by Habakkuk at God’s command, and as food was given to Elijah on his journey by an angel and by ravens, so food had been brought to Jesus. Yet even if the disciples supposed this about physical food, he himself makes clear what kind of food he had told them about. They said it was the time for his meal for this reason: it was the sixth hour of the day, and Jesus had sat down at the well and talked with the Samaritan woman, while the disciples had gone off to buy food, so that one could reasonably guess it was now evening of the day. But this time for food belongs especially to those who do not chiefly pursue food, but the benefit of those who come to them.

Fragment 60

He calls Judea his homeland, and for this reason he had left it. For the evangelist, giving the reason for his coming to Galilee, writes that “a prophet has no honor in his own homeland.” This testimony is also found in the other Gospels. For the Savior says: “A prophet is not without honor except in his own homeland, and among his relatives, and in his own house.” Indeed, all those before his coming were dishonored in Jerusalem and Judea, for this was their land and homeland, so that the Savior said in general: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her.”

Fragment 61

“Now there is,” he says, “in Jerusalem...” and so on. He did not think it necessary to go around healing every sick person, whoever they were, so that he would not gain a reputation for self-love. Instead he healed one person and made himself known to everyone through him. For this reason he goes to the sheep pool, which had five porches. Besides the four around it, it had another in the middle. It was called the sheep pool because the sheep brought for the feasts were gathered there. It was also called that because, when the sheep were sacrificed, their entrails were washed in that water. So a great crowd of people with all kinds of illnesses had gathered in the place, hoping to be healed. They supposed the water itself could do something, since the entrails of animals offered and sacrificed to God were thrown into it. God worked along with this belief of theirs. At certain unknown times he caused the water to be stirred. They believed this happened by some divine working, and so they went down into it and received healing. Many went down at the same moment without being healed, but the first to go down enjoyed the grace, so that the ease of the cure would not lessen the wonder. Because they were more sober, and waited for the stirring of the water with great earnestness, they were taught from this to keep a fitting attitude even after being healed. Although there were many sick people, he did not heal them all. To show his own power he chose one, who was held by a very heavy affliction and, because of the length of time, had no hope of recovery. For there was a paralytic among them who had been held by his illness for thirty-eight years. When he came to him, he did not say at once, “Take up your bed and walk.” He began instead with words that followed on from the man’s own situation. This is also what he did with the Samaritan woman.

Fragment 62

“What Spirit was not yet?” ... [the Spirit] was not seen in any of the prophets; they were working wonders.

Fragment 63

63a I think this was said to show that the spittle of Christ had the quality of a healing power. The blind man himself did not ask to see. Even so, he will be found praiseworthy, both for offering himself to Jesus as he smeared mud on his eyes, and for doing what he was told without hesitation, though Jesus had not even said that he would see. Perhaps the Lord’s spittle was a symbol of a [summit], the furthest point in words, beyond which human nature cannot take in anything greater. But such a word does not come to people stripped of matter and bodily illustrations. This is why Jesus spits on the ground and makes mud. So see whether you can explain the whole Scripture, and the manner in which it speaks, and say this. On account of its divine thoughts, it is made up of the spittle of Christ. On account of its account of events and human affairs, it is made up of earth from the ground. So the whole letter of the law, the prophets and the other Scriptures comes from such mud. With this the eyes of those who do not see must be smeared. After that they must go away to Siloam, “of the one sent” by God. By this is shown a kind of swimming in inquiries and in the perplexities of seeking the truth. For Job also says somewhere, “But a mortal swims otherwise in words.” So let us wash the mud smeared on our eyes in the water of the pool “of the one sent,” so that after this we may be able to see.

63b Take the clay to be the beginning of the elements of God’s oracles. By these we are fed with milk, as infants. But when the ways of the infant are done away and we take solid food, we throw off the clay, so that we may come back to Jesus with our sight. All of this turns on the Son of God, for under different aspects he is also “the one who was sent.” Take the human matters as belonging to the time before Siloam. But apply the water that was sent, and Siloam, to his more divine aspects. In Isaiah, too, you will understand the divine and steady word to be signified by these waters. The words of [Mnon?] and of those who hold other doctrines are signified by Raasson and the son of Romelias. For how is it that the people wanted kings in place of the water of Siloam? And how is the water of the river strong and abundant, namely the king of the Assyrians and all his power, unless he too is some opposing power? Such a power floods with the multitude of its persuasive arguments the Judea that does not want the water of Siloam, and [it prevails over it]. Jesus did not heal the man while he was present. He told him to go and wash, and gave the healing once he had washed. This was part of his careful ordering, so that the miracle would not go unnoticed by anyone. In the same way he told the paralytic to take up his bed on a day when it was not permitted to do so. Each person who accused him of breaking the law would then learn how great the miracle was. So also here, the man was far from the pool, and Jesus told him to go there and wash.

Fragment 64

A beggar begs because he lacks the necessities and cannot provide for himself in a more respectable way. You could find such people among the Greeks and barbarians who profess the truth. They are, as it were, asking for help because they lack a fitting supply [. . .], though the rational side of truth has an abundance of riches without any anxiety. But the word forbids this kind of search when it says somewhere, “Child, do not live the life of begging, for it is better to die than to beg.” The steward of unrighteousness in the Gospels is ashamed to beg. For that reason he said to the man who owed a hundred measures of wheat, “Take your bill and write sixty,” and to the one who owed a hundred measures of oil, “Take your bill and make it eighty.” He preferred to receive from his master’s debtors rather than to beg in shame, and for this he was praised. So Jesus freed the man born blind not only from blindness but also from begging. Along with sight he gave him the insight to see how he would provide for himself what is necessary for the salvation of the soul. Here, then, blindness is the cause of begging. In the Acts it is lameness, and the person set free from it will no longer beg.

Fragment 65

The Pharisees supposed that a man who does not keep what they thought was the Sabbath is not from God. But the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and they were from God. So it was not clear at all that a man who does not keep their Sabbath is not from God. It follows that the statement was not made by all the Pharisees of that time. As the evangelist says, it was some of the Pharisees who said this. Pay attention also to the words “such signs,” which are not put there for nothing. There are different kinds of signs. According to the apostle, the man in the law does them, and so does the lawless one whom the Lord will destroy with the breath of his mouth, with all power, signs and wonders of falsehood. God also does them through the prophets. By “such” it is said that the signs done through Christ surpass the others, because they are true and great on earth. Someone may say that the words “How can a sinful man do such signs?” are not soundly spoken [. . .]. Reading the deeds of Samson, he will say that what Samson did, for example with women, was not even sin, but that what is shown there is a matter of God’s ordering. For it is not added that he “did evil in the sight of the Lord.”

Fragment 66

Note the person of the evangelist: he says both that the blind man’s eyes were opened and that he had received sight. They were opened, in the words, “Now it was a Sabbath on the day when he made the clay and opened his eyes.” He had received sight, in the words, “And he washed and came seeing.” We can bring in a parallel for the difference between these expressions from Tobit. Since white films had formed on his eyes, the book does not record that his eyes were opened, but that he looked up and saw. Throughout the whole passage about the blind man you will notice both expressions, some people saying one thing and some another, and a division arising among them. You will notice also that Isaiah, prophesying about the coming of Christ, says that he comes to open the eyes of the blind. Next you can see how the man who was answering replies, and how differently he answers the first group and the second. To the first he answers more exactly, since they were neighbors and had formerly seen that he was a beggar. To the Pharisees he told nothing about Siloam, nor that the Savior made the clay, nor that he had commanded him anything. Perhaps the man who had been healed saw that the first group’s questioning was honest and the second group’s malicious, and so answered each as he did.

Fragment 67

Besides lying, they committed another sin, by exposing their own son to an obvious evil. I think this too has a reason: when Christ opened the eyes of the blind man, he did not open those of a child but of one of full age, so that he might see as a man. The other blind people who regained their sight were of this kind too. It is true also that, being of age, he could speak for himself, and above all when Jesus is the one who makes him see. For this man needs no other to plead on his behalf.

Fragment 68

Now “You did not listen” is equal to “You did not accept it, you did not want it.” And “Why then do you want to hear again?” has the force of: “Why, you people, would you now hear? You want to hear in vain, if you do not believe me when I tell the truth. I summoned everyone who would learn what had happened to me, to become his disciple, since he taught things more divine than any human teaching.”

Fragment 69

“In this is a marvel” carries a significant implication. It is indeed marvelous if people of no account know where Jesus is from, for they do not see his root and his source, the Father.

Fragment 70

If this had been true, so weighty a doctrine, that God does not hear a sinner, would not have been passed over in silence. It would have been stated by someone worthy of belief, say by the servant or by one of the prophets. And if God did not hear a sinner, how were sinners taught to say, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we also forgive our debtors”? Whom then does God hear? Those who incline toward repentance, even if they have not yet stopped being sinners. If God did not hear sinners, our Savior would not have eaten and drunk with tax collectors and sinners. And if the physicians whom the sick need were not heard, they would not have healed them. This is why the saying, “If you keep watch on lawless deeds, Lord, Lord, who will stand?” is spoken as of a prayer that is not heard, coming from those who have sinned but not wholly still in unbelief. But perhaps he is speaking not of whatever the sinner happens to ask in prayer, but of works as great as the works of Jesus were. For when sinners ask God for works of that kind, he does not hear.

Fragment 71

71a Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him he said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of man?” The Jews threw him out, away from themselves, because he spoke so boldly about the Savior. For that reason Jesus found him. The Savior came to seek and to save the lost. The goal of anyone who seeks is to find what he seeks. So the words “when he found him” clearly should not be taken in a simple way. This man most of all needed to be found at the moment when he was thrown out by those who would not accept the testimony about Jesus. Once he was outside them, he had become fit to be found. The words “Jesus heard that they had thrown him out” also call for a more thoughtful reading. Having heard such a thing, Jesus finds the one he had heard about to be worthy of his hearing. When he found him, he asked the man who was found, “Do you believe in the Son of man who has found you?” Perhaps the one who is only beginning believes in the Son of man, but the one who crosses over goes up further, to believe in the Son of God. Such a man could then say, “Even if we once knew Christ according to the flesh, now we no longer know him only according to the flesh, but also as the Son of God.”

71b But how can he ask a question, when he knows everything? And consider whether you would answer this by setting beside it the words “The Lord knew those who are his” and “I do not know you.” For a person is not worthy to be known at the very moment he is found. The saying is, “But now that you have known God, or rather have been known by him.” After the introduction, progress is needed, so that a person may be seen and known by God. This is why the Savior asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of man?” But the man could not yet say “I believe.” He answered like someone who did not know: “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?” So he stood on the border, so to speak, between unbelief and faith. For this reason the Savior says to him, “You have both seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.”

Fragment 72

For such a tradition and opinion prevailed among the Jews. That is why the disciples asked Jesus, “Did this man sin, or his parents?” But the Lord declared, “Neither this man nor his parents.” This was discussed earlier.

Fragment 73

We must not hear this carelessly. “You have seen” refers to past time, but “the one speaking with you” refers to the present. The one who was seen is the same as the one now speaking with him. Set beside this the words, “Have I been with you so long, and you have not known me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father.” For many who saw him did not know him. So the one who has truly seen him is the one whose eyes of the soul are enlightened by God himself. The man who was once blind was helped by both, by the seeing and by the word. He not only said, “I believe, Lord,” but also worshiped him. Not least, he looks at the drama of the stoning, since he (that is, Origen) tries to interpret this too as an allegory, and so he falsifies the gospel text. He says, “We did not find at all, though we searched in the passages before this, that the Jews picked up stones to stone him.” Then a little later he says, “For if they picked them up again, they had picked them up before.”

Fragment 74

74a “If ‘again’ they picked up stones, then they had picked them up before.” So if we do not miss that this is written, we must ask why the word “again” was added. I think that a person who speaks evil of someone is throwing a kind of stone at the one he slanders. They had spoken evil of him earlier, when a division arose among the Jews because of his words. So now they had again taken up the weight of abusive words, like stones to be hurled at him, and rushed to [strike] him with their slander. This is why Wisdom says, “He who throws a stone high throws it on his own head.” A man is said to throw a stone high when he speaks injustice against what is on high. In divine Scripture you will find a mixture of what is, so to speak, historical with what is meant for training the mind, and especially in John. Notice in the conversation with the Samaritan woman how “Jesus sat down at the spring” is a report about a physical spring and a physical body. But it is no longer possible to understand a physical drink when “Jesus answered and said to her: If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

74b And there are similar sayings: “I have shown you many works; for which of them do you stone me?” Suppose someone went back to the beginning of the Gospel and collected the works of Jesus, and then carried them up to their spiritual workings. He would see best what many works Jesus showed to those who picked up stones to stone him. One of the good works, for example, was the sign at Cana, when the former wine ran short. This was because of the saying, “The law and the prophets were until John.” The good thing is that we have been supplied with wine, we with whom Jesus sits at table. This was the beginning of his signs, in the calling of the people from the [nations]. For it is also written, “Jesus did this as the beginning of the signs.” The next work after this was his restoring of his own house, which had become a house of merchandise, so that it would again be the house of his Father. And why must I tell all the good works he has done from his Father?

Fragment 75

He did this so as not to make his divinity too plainly visible. If he stayed on longer with those who were eager to seize him and yet was not seized, he would also falsify the rhythm of the human order. Consider also whether there is some reason why it is not written simply, “He went away to the [Jordan],” but “beyond” it, “on the other side.” In the same way, those who received the land as an inheritance through Moses were lesser than those who receive it through Jesus, and they were allotted their portion on the far side of the Jordan. There they built an altar, a symbol of the altar in the holy land, but they offered no sacrifice or whole burnt offerings on it. But now we hear the words more figuratively: “He went away across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first.” Moreover, Joshua son of Nun brings the people across from the far side of the Jordan with marvelous powers. And Elijah, when he was about to be taken up, as it were to heaven, in a chariot of fire with horses of fire, divided the stream of the river with his mantle and crossed over from the far side of the Jordan.

Fragment 76

76a “They sought again to seize him; and he went out of their hand.” In the higher sense, there are some who want to hunt down the word of Christianity, to overturn and destroy it. These could now be said to be seeking to seize Jesus. But “Wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul,” and “Power that is tested in the word convicts the foolish.” Therefore he goes out. When the word of truth seems to those who hold it to be in their hand, it is in fact outside their hand, since they cannot keep hold of it. So even when they think they are overturning it, they are not overturning the truth, for they themselves do not understand. Having gone out of their hand, he comes to the river Jordan, whose name is interpreted [the meaning is missing in the text]. There the heavens are opened and bear witness to the Word: “This is the Son of God, in whom the Father was well pleased.” Even if someone is on the far side of the river, if he draws near he will find Jesus baptizing better than John. For John baptized first with the perceptible baptism, but Jesus with the intelligible one, since he baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire. This is rather like the fire seen at the bush, which did not burn it up.

76b Look carefully at the words “where John was at first baptizing.” They are ambiguous. Once you see both meanings the wording allows, judge which one should be accepted. John baptized first beyond the Jordan, and second at Aenon, near Salim. So either Jesus went away beyond the Jordan, where John had earlier baptized, with the baptism that John gave at Aenon. Or it runs like this: John gave the first baptism beyond the Jordan, and Jesus the Christ gave the second where John had given the first. The second reading seems to me more reasonable than the first. Someone might also say the following about the first reading. John gives the first baptism beyond the Jordan, which is interpreted [“descent”]. He gives the second at Aenon, near Salim. Aenon is interpreted “Eye,” and Salim, “He himself the [...].” So those who receive the second [washing] (the Greek reads “ransom”) already see more clearly. They have won the eye of the soul through much testing and toil. And it was fitting that the first baptism should belong to one going down, and the second to one going up.

Fragment 77

We find the name of Lazarus twice in the Gospels. The first is in Luke, in the parable of the rich man and the man called Lazarus, when he died and went away into Abraham’s bosom. The second is in the passage before us. Is this a shared name belonging to two different Lazaruses, or is the one the same as the other? Someone who wants both evangelists to be speaking of one man will say this. In the three days between (for Lazarus rose on the fourth day), he was carried away by the angels into Abraham’s bosom and found rest. And because of what the rich man said, “I ask you, father, to send him to my father’s house, so that they too may not come to this place of torment,” Abraham did not send him, saying, “They have Moses and the prophets.” But our Savior and Lord raised him up. Perhaps, in what is left unsaid, it was so that he might report what he had seen, and the arrangements made concerning souls. But this is nonsense. The one beside the rich man was destitute and thrown down at the gate. The other had sisters, Mary and Martha, who were well off and well known among the Jews, so that they could even receive Jesus. And hear what the evangelist John himself says: “Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with ointment.” Would she, who had ointment and was loved by Jesus, have had no pity on her brother, who longed to be filled with the crumbs falling from the rich man’s table? That could not make sense. He was from Bethany, which is interpreted “House [of obedience].” Perhaps everyone from Bethany, being at home in obedience, is a friend of Jesus. But human nature is changeable. So even a friend of Jesus may sometimes fall sick. He may fall sick when Jesus is not present to him, and not only fall sick but even die.

Fragment 78

It is clear that this Mary is also the one in Luke who anointed the Lord with ointment. But Luke kept her name silent, and John supplied what he had left out. Who would not be turned aside by such a testimony of Jesus about Mary, so that he does not despair of himself because of his former sins, but comes and sits at Jesus’ feet and becomes his disciple? For she, he says, “was a woman in the city, a sinner.” She “learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, and brought an alabaster flask of ointment. Standing behind, at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears.” Someone might say that Mary is a symbol of those from [the Gentiles], and Martha of those from the circumcision. Their brother, who rises from the dead, would then stand for those who have gone down to Hades because of certain sins, in line with the words, “Let sinners be turned back into Hades.” And he could say, not implausibly, that it was because of the way of life under the law of Moses that it was said to Martha, “Martha, Martha, you are troubled and distracted about many things, but few things are needed.” For salvation does not need the many commandments of the law according to the letter. It needs the few on which the whole law and the prophets hang, the commands laid down about love.

Fragment 79

79a On John 11:4. Taken as a symbol, let it point to the death in the historical sense. Taken as a lifting of the mind to a higher meaning, let it present the death into which people sometimes fall asleep when God has not enlightened the eyes of their soul. Not everyone who is unenlightened falls asleep into death; it is only one of the possibilities. [text missing] For this reason the psalmist says, “Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep into death.” Pay careful attention to the word “lest.” So Jesus told the disciples plainly, since the first time he had spoken in figures: “Lazarus has fallen asleep,” and “I rejoice for your sake that I was not there.” If he had been there, Lazarus would not have died, for it is impossible for anyone to die when Jesus is present. But for the dead man to rise from the dead, Jesus must come to him. “For your sake,” he says, “I rejoice.” He rejoices for them because they believe once they learn that Lazarus died while he was not with him, and so that they may be strengthened in faith. He alone, then, wakes Lazarus from sleep. The work of the disciples was to loose the dead man, who was bound hand and foot with grave-bands and had his face wrapped in a cloth, bound with the bonds of the dead, and to let him go where Jesus commanded. Thomas says, “Let us go, that we may die with him.” Thomas had read the prophecies about the Saviour. It is likely too that he had heard there remained for the Son of God a dispensation concerning souls. He was going to carry it out by going down into their place, to preach to the spirits in prison, going to those who had once been disobedient. When he heard, “I am going to wake him,” he supposed that Lazarus could be woken and raised from the dead in no other way than by Jesus going down into the place of souls. The Saviour had also said, “No one takes my soul from me, but I lay it down of myself,” and similar things. So Thomas, as his true disciple, resolved to follow him wherever he might go. He wanted the other disciples also, by the grace of Jesus, to lay aside the body together with him.

79b Perhaps he also knew that it would not be possible to live together with Jesus unless one had died together with him, as Paul also seems to hold. But those who do not want to say that he spoke for this reason will say that he suspected the coming envy of the Jews because of Lazarus’s rising, and the danger that would follow, and so said this. “Jesus therefore came and found him having been four days in the tomb.” The number four is material and bodily, and it is harmful, since the general kinds of body are four. Hence those who are enslaved and ill-treated suffer for four hundred years, according to what is said: “They will ill-treat them and humble them four hundred years.” Perhaps for this reason, to cleanse away the sins that follow the nature of the body, Moses fasts forty days, and Elijah likewise, and the Saviour on behalf of our sins. And so now Jesus came and found Lazarus already four days in the tomb, which is the dwelling-place of the dead. For to sinners tombs are houses. That is why the demon-possessed flee to the tombs as to a place of their own. As long as they are inside, no one has the strength to pass by that road. But when they come out and put off their nakedness, they are clothed and in their right mind, and they sit at the feet of Jesus. Jesus, however, is laid in a new tomb and wrapped in clean linen, and he does not reach the fourth day among the dead. Therefore he was also “free among the dead,” and he is raised in the free and holy number, three. In that number he also sanctifies us by the washing of water, saying that we must be baptized into the name of the Father, the Son and the Spirit.

Fragment 79b

On John 11:14. Beginning: “The slowness of the removal of the one lying upon . . .” Ending: “. . . they took away the stone.” Catena of Nicetas (manuscripts B and C); see above, Z. XXVIII, 3, p. 391, line 13.

Fragment 80

Bethany is translated “House of obedience,” and [Jerusalem . . . the text is broken here]. So it lies near, at a distance of fifteen stades, the same as the number of the temple’s steps. The number fifteen divides into seven, for the sabbath, and eight, for circumcision. The Preacher advises giving a portion to these two alone: “Give a portion,” he says, “to seven, and also to eight.” Suppose Mary is a symbol of the contemplative life, Martha of the active life, and Lazarus of the person who has fallen into sins after coming to faith. Then it is fitting that Mary and Martha mourn Lazarus, and that in their mourning they need comfort about their brother. The Jews want to bring them this comfort, but they are only words belonging to the time before the fullness of time. They also despair of being able to stop the dead man’s sister [from grieving] over the dead man. Martha now seems more zealous than Mary, since Martha ran to Jesus while Mary stayed at home, sitting. Some people, like the centurion, are not fit to receive Jesus; others are worthy, like the synagogue ruler. So Martha, as the lesser of the two, ran to Jesus, while Mary waits at home to receive him, as one able to take in his coming. She would not have gone out of her own house unless she had heard her sister say, “The Teacher is here and is calling you.” And when she got up, she did not simply get up but did so quickly. She fell at Jesus’ feet and said what she said, though her sister had not fallen down.

Fragment 81

The Saviour was not ignorant whether Martha believed what was being said. He asks, “Do you believe this?” so that we, or those who were present then, might learn her state of mind from her answer. Someone else will say that he is not asking at all but declaring, “You believe this.” Then Martha completes the Saviour’s declaration and says, “Yes, Lord.” It is as if she said: “I do not believe only what you are saying. As for your being the Christ, I do not believe it only now, but I have believed it already. And I believe that you are the Son of God who comes into the world,” pointing this out for all who believe in you.

Fragment 82

Someone examining the matter at the higher, allegorical level might ask why she says, “If you had been here.” Is there some place where Jesus is not? Where two or three are gathered in his name, he is there in the midst of them. But he also stands in the midst of others who do not know him. So he was present to Mary and Martha. They had not yet advanced far enough to know him as present.

Fragment 83

Do not be surprised that “Where have you laid him?” is said as if by someone who does not know. Scripture says that not only the Saviour but the Father too is ignorant, in a certain sense, as in the words: “If anyone among you is spiritual, let him recognize what I write to you, that it is from God; but if anyone is ignorant, he is ignored.” He asks, “Where have you laid him?” in the same way that he commands the disciples to leave the dead. And Jesus weeps if any of his friends ends up in a tomb.

Fragment 84

While he was still far from the tomb, he was deeply moved in spirit. But when he comes near the dead man, he no longer shows his indignation in spirit but holds it in within himself. That is why it says, “Being indignant within himself, he comes to the tomb.” Then again he rebukes the emotion, so that we may learn that he became man, without changing, as we are. “Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.” He was not laid in a built tomb but in one cut out of rock. Perhaps that is why there is a woe on those who build graves or tombs. What should be built are houses, a temple, and whatever is useful to the living. Then he says, “Take away the stone.” Since the cave was a tomb, he did not touch the stone himself but entrusted its removal to others suited to the task. But in Genesis there was a stone lying on the mouth of the well and keeping the sheep from drinking, the sheep from which the marked animals and Jacob’s portion were to come. There Jacob himself had to take hold of it, go up to the stone and roll it away. So at the well it was necessary for Jacob himself to come forward, but at the cave Jesus was to stand outside.

Fragment 85

On John 11:51. It is not true that whoever prophesies is a prophet. Rather, whoever is a prophet prophesies. Balaam, for example, was a diviner, and yet he prophesies. Someone who does one medical thing is not thereby a physician, and someone who does one piece of building is not thereby a builder. Some want to say that Caiaphas did not speak by the Holy Spirit. They point to David, who after sinning says, “Do not take your Holy Spirit from me.” The Spirit, they say, does not dwell in a body burdened with sin, so Caiaphas spoke by the working of evil spirits. For they say demons can sometimes foretell things. An example is the spirit of Python in the case of Paul, and in the case of the Savior the words, “Ha, what have we to do with you, Son of God?” We learn, then, that people do not say everything from themselves. Some things they say while moved by a power, either a better one or a worse one. Still, just as some of the heterodox [distort] the sense of Scripture, so the Pharisees take what Caiaphas said according to their own way of thinking.

Fragment 86

On John 11:54. The Word wishes to turn us back from throwing ourselves at dangers too thoughtlessly and hotly, even when the danger is for the truth’s sake. If we are overtaken, we should stand firm; if we are only about to be caught, we should withdraw, because the outcome is uncertain. As for the higher meaning, we must say this. Long ago Jesus walked openly among the Jews through the prophets, but now he no longer does. The word of God is not in them, and he has gone away from them into the wilderness. Of that wilderness it is said, “Many are the children of the desolate, more than of her who has the husband.” He went near Ephraim, a name that is interpreted [as follows: being the brother of Manasseh, the elder, whose name means “from forgetfulness”]. For after the people “from forgetfulness” comes the “fruitfulness” of the nations. There he stayed with his disciples, and so he is present with “fruitfulness.” At the birth of Ephraim, the Lord himself, [our] dispenser of grain, who humbled himself and became obedient to death, could say: “God has made me grow in the land of my humbling.”

Fragment 87

On John 12:26. The one who follows him serves him by that very following. The one who serves him is his servant. For this reason, where the Word is, there the servant is too. But this announcement must not be understood in a bodily or local sense. Still, suppose there is, as among bodily places, a region of the upper air among the purest places, brighter with the fineness of light. Then someone would not be wrong to say that those who are in the body and who receive at the resurrection, each according to his worth, a body of surpassing and distinct glory, will be in those regions. Those regions are the most suitable for leisure spent in contemplating the things of God the Word. In thought, “where God the Word is, there his servant will be” is one thing. In fact it is the same as being honored by the Father. For through the honor that comes from the Father, the one honored comes to be where God the Word is.

Fragment 88

On John 12:27. At the time of the saving passion, all the powers of Satan together with their leader [alone] marched out against the Savior. When the Savior’s soul saw them, it was troubled in a human way. It did not shrink from death, though even that would be human. What it feared was being defeated. For Christ allowed his soul at times to suffer what was its own. And since he was going to become the cause of eternal salvation for those who obey him, his soul was grieved and troubled on their account. Nor was it overpowered by the trouble, as someone might suppose. It was troubled only for an instant, and that is what the word “now” means. As soon as the trouble began it also ceased, and, so to speak, it was a mere point of time. Notice also that he himself prays that the contest against the evil powers arrayed against him might take place not over a stretch of time but in the “now.” That was enough for the soul of Jesus to conquer the whole power of the evil one.

Fragment 89

His suffering on the cross was the judgment of this whole world. He “made peace through the blood of his cross, whether things on earth or things in the heavens.” With a triumph on the wood he stripped off the rulers and authorities, and he sat down in the heavenly places, restoring all things to the end that suits and fits each one. The plan worked out on the cross held together the judgment of every single being. So when the time of his suffering drew near, he said, “Now is the judgment of this world.”

Fragment 90

The suffering of our Savior took place for the cleansing of [those foreknown], among whom the world was about to be judged. That is why it was said, “Now is the judgment of this world.” It is as if he were saying: “This is the time when those who judge the world will be shown.” Or, since the tyrant was about to be cast down at the time of the saving passion, the words were spoken, “Now the ruler of this world will be cast out,” or perhaps this refers to the outer darkness. They convict him [that is, the crowd] of ignorance about the prophets, and they show that their knowledge of the Scriptures is not exact. They have taken from such words the idea that the Christ remains forever. But the mystery of death that comes in between, and the brief separation of the soul from the body, they neither understood nor examined closely. They ought to have known the reason. Two comings of Christ were prophesied. The crowd of the Jews hoped for the more glorious one, which will happen at the end of the age. The one that comes before it they did not understand at all. This is why their house is left to them.

Fragment 91

To everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance. So also from the one who does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken away. Suppose someone receives the mina and wraps it up in a napkin. He will hear, “The light is among you for a little while longer.” For the words “Take the mina from him” are just about to be spoken, since “the one who is unrighteous in little is unrighteous also in much.” One might also explain the passage in this way. As the kingdom of God was among the Jews, so the light was also among them. They did not render the fruits that belong to the kingdom of God, and so they heard, “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation that produces its fruits.” In the same way, the light was among them, but they did not walk in it so as to avoid being overtaken by darkness. So after a short time the light that was in them was taken away from them. It was given to the nation that produces the fruits of the light, which has become like the stars of heaven and is called the light of the world. That nation has received this from the one who said, “I am the light of the world.”

Fragment 92

92a On John 12:39–40. Holy Scripture knows that we have free will. It blames sinners as people who are at fault through their own doing, and it praises those who keep the divine commandment as people who deserve praise through their own doing. Listen to what it says in Deuteronomy: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, except to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and his ordinances, all that I command you today, so that it may be well with you?” And in Micah: “Has it been told you, O man, what is good? Or what does the Lord seek from you, except to do justice and love mercy, and to be ready to walk with the Lord your God?” As far as these texts go, then, each of us can become righteous or unrighteous. So you will understand “He blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts” as referring to the evil one, as was said before: he blinded the eyes of some and crippled their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes, and would not understand with their heart, and would not turn, and the Lord would not heal them. For the text does not say “that they might not turn and he might heal them” in the same way it says “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart.” So the one who blinds the eyes and hardens the heart is one person, and the one who heals those who turn, and those who are broken in heart, and the blind, is another.

92b The apostle says the same thing in the second letter to the Corinthians: “And if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled among those among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that the light of the glory of the gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine through.” It is no surprise that people who have given themselves over to the evil one through their sins are blinded in their eyes by him, and have their own hearts hardened at his will, since he does everything so that they will not see with their eyes, understand with their heart, and turn. As for the words “For this reason they could not believe,” we must say the following. Take the man blind from birth, whom our Savior later healed. If someone said of him, “He cannot see, because he is blind,” he would not mean that it was impossible for him ever to see. It was possible, since Jesus, who opens the eyes of the blind, grants sight to the blind, so that those who until then could not see would see later. In the same way, those who at one time could not believe because their eyes had been blinded by the evil one were not unable to believe if they came to Jesus, said “Son of David, have mercy on us,” and asked to receive their sight. As for the fact that the passage in the Gospel is not worded exactly as it stands in the prophet, that is no surprise. The writers who served the words of the New Covenant did this in many places, as we have observed elsewhere. In any case, the words of Isaiah carry the same force as those set down in the Gospel.

Fragment 93

93a On John 12:44. In the passage before us we should notice that two things are said about the Savior. The first is what comes first: believing in him comes first. The second is what comes second, and it follows along the way: this goes beyond believing. It is to behold the Word, and in beholding the Word to behold the Father. Believing reaches the whole multitude of those who come to him in godliness. But beholding the Word, and perceiving the Father in him, no longer reaches all who believe, but only the pure in heart. This is how I understand the saying, “The one who has seen me has seen the Father.” The person who turns the power of sight in his bodily eyes on the body of Jesus has not thereby seen the Father, who is Jesus’ God. I think a person also needed time and training together with him in order to see Jesus in this way, and in seeing the Son to behold the Father as well. That is why, when Philip said, “Show us the Father, and that is enough for us,” Jesus said, “I have been with you so long a time, and you have not known me? The one who has seen me has seen the Father.” Now consider, if you can, the difference between believing and beholding, and look closely enough to grasp why the saying “The one who believes in me does not believe in me but in the one who sent me” is not worded like the saying “And the one who beholds me beholds the one who sent me,” and why the second is not put in a way similar to the first, “The one who believes in me does not believe in me but in the one who sent me.”

93b For the one who believes in the Son believes not in the Son only but in the Father of all, who is God. But the one who beholds the Word, the Wisdom and the Truth does not behold this alone but the Father also. I think that the mystery being made known is great. It involves first believing in the Son and second beholding him. To show this, the words “Jesus cried out and said” were set before “The one who believes in me and beholds me,” for the voice that spoke of these things was a great and mysterious one. That it is possible to believe the truth and yet not to behold it, the evangelist will make clear when he says, “Jesus was saying to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you remain in my word, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” Notice carefully that he says to those who had believed, “If you remain in my word, you will know the truth,” as to people who had not yet come to know the truth but had only believed it.

Fragment 94

On John 12:46. The true light shone, for the Savior of the world had come. But they were unwilling to look steadily at it or to walk in the radiance that shines from his teachings. So the darkness, as one would expect, overtook them, exacting a penalty for the wickedness that already held them. This may fittingly be called being blinded and hardened. And just as the one who is willing to walk in the light also comes to know where he is going, so the one who is unwilling to walk in the light finds himself going on in the dark, and wretchedly finishes the road of the blind and hardened. It was said earlier that the lightning flash of the Lord’s saving teaching branded the Jews as blind and hardened. It made the damage and the blindness that were already in the eyes of their souls more evident and plain. For just as the visible sun, sending out its bright rays, exposes those whose eyes are diseased, so too the sun of the mind, having marked out for the world the light that never sets and knows no evening, and having flashed the brightness of his own deity through miracles worthy of God and beyond words, exposed even more fully the darkness that had already seized the eyes of the souls of the senseless Jews, and their blindness.

Fragment 95

After this you will ask, because the words were spoken together, “What shall I say and what shall I speak?”, whether saying and speaking differ, or whether they are the same thing, stated in parallel. So set out the passages where “He said” is recorded, and examine them alongside those where “He spoke” is used. It may also help the inquiry that throughout the whole account of creation God is never recorded as having “spoken,” while “He said” is written of him. Consider too what is said again and again in Leviticus: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying.” See whether you can claim that “said” signifies a command given from authority, and “spoke” signifies teaching. “And I know that his commandment is eternal life.” One might ask here why it is not said that God’s commandment secures eternal life, but that it is, in its very substance, eternal life itself. It is like knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent. So each of these is eternal life. But if God’s commandment is eternal life, and God’s commandment is in the righteous person, who lives blessedly because of it, then that life is worth choosing.

Fragment 96

The first one, the one before the consummation, is indeed best … he himself will wash them.

Fragment 97

But he did not begin with Peter … to remain in what was wrongly judged.

Fragment 98

The words of the prophecy have been paraphrased … because this is what a person does who lashes out at someone with his heel.

Fragment 99

For he says that this is what is going to happen … and through this the knowledge about me.

Fragment 100

Note in what way, among the matters under examination … is blameworthy when done with deceit.

Fragment 101

The morsel given by Jesus … Satan entered into him.

Fragment 102

Not only in the simpler sense did he go out … But let us, being people of the day, be sober.

Fragment 103

It is written: No one knew the Son … beholding as in a mirror, they are transformed into the same image.

Fragment 104

From this one can see also the similar sayings … the wisdom of God from such a teacher.

Fragment 105

This seems to contradict what was said earlier. Above he says that there is no need to prepare, but here he says, “If I go, I will prepare a place for you.” What he means is this: as far as the abundance of good things is concerned, which the Father prepared by his foreknowledge so that those who live well and with complete care may dwell continually in the good things prepared, there is no need for them to be made ready by me. What is needed is that you show the fitting disposition. Nevertheless, I become the one who prepares these things for you and secures them for you. For what is “I am coming again and will take you to myself”? He says, in effect: when I have given you the way up into the heavens and the opportunity to enjoy the same good things, so that the one who established the cause of these things is revealed to you, I myself will come again. (He means his second coming from heaven.) Then I will take you and go up into the heavens, where I myself am, so that you may be with me and enjoy the same things as I do. For as Paul says, “If we endure, we shall also reign with him.”

Fragment 106

Thomas seems to have had something exact and carefully tested about him. This is shown by what he says. I think he said it not because he distrusted those who claimed to have seen the Lord, but because he was on guard in case it was a phantom. He was remembering the words, “Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he.’” I think the other apostles felt the same, but Thomas most of all. That the other apostles also had a similar thought when they saw Jesus is clear from what is written: “They thought it was a phantom.” He answered and said to them, “Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have bones and flesh, as you see that I have.” As for how it is said to him, “Do not be unbelieving, but believing,” and as for the name Thomas, this could be said. Of those who would be counted worthy of a greater vision from the Savior, at his transfiguration on the mountain and of those seen in glory, Moses and Elijah, he changed the names. The names of the rest he did not change, because their own names were enough in themselves to show each one’s character. It is not our purpose now to speak of the other apostles. We speak of Thomas, whose name is translated “Didymus” (Twin). The reason is that he was a kind of twin in the word, setting down divine things in two ways. He was an imitator of Christ, who spoke to those outside in parables, but privately explained everything to his own disciples. It is not out of place to say that the true disciples of Christ succeed in this twofold preparation in speaking, and perhaps Thomas already had it then in an outstanding degree. One might also say that the translation of this name alone is recorded because the evangelist wanted Greeks who read the Gospel to notice the particular meaning of the name. It is the only name interpreted in this special way, so that they might find the reason why his name is also given in Greek.

Fragment 110

It would have been more proper to say “is” of God the Word. But since he wanted to show the existence of the Word as distinct from the incarnation, which happened at a certain time, he put “was” in place of “is.” We must understand that the strict time-meanings of verbs should not be applied to eternal things. That is, “was,” “is,” and “will be” are not to be taken that way. For God the Word is the Son of the Father and is eternal God. The verbs used of him must not be taken as indicating time, since he himself is not under time. A verb, as Aristotle says, is that which indicates time besides its meaning.

Fragment 111

He used fitting verbs: “became” for the flesh, and “was” for the deity. The phrase “through him” is used not to suggest service, but to show his working together with the Father. It also shows that nothing that exists is excluded from being made through him.

Fragment 112

For the life-giving power in him is not only able to give life. It is also able to fill human souls with knowledge and to drive out ignorance. Paul was ignorant of Christ when he was persecuting him, but when he was lit up by the light of life he knew the one he was persecuting. And the robber, suffering on the cross, was enlightened and knew the life. For the Savior says, “No one can come to me unless the Father draws him.”

Fragment 113

The purpose of the one who sent him was that all should believe. If not all believed, and did not receive the illumination, [still no one could say that the light did not rise for this purpose]. For the prophets before John became witnesses of the light so that the Hebrews would believe through them. But John, who came after them, bears witness to the Savior’s coming so that not only the Hebrews would believe but also all those from the nations. As the prophet says, “I will pour out from my Spirit on all flesh.” And David says, “All the nations will serve him.”

Fragment 114

“Of bloods” means that they have their birth from material things. To Peter, for example, the Savior says, “Flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father who is in the heavens.” (And in another way:) Those are called sons of God who do not offer the sacrifices of the law “from bloods”. That is, they do not please God through slaughter and the pouring out of blood. “From the will of the flesh” refers to those who do everything in order to appear righteous to men. These people are set forth as pleasing God “by the will of flesh”. They circumcise the flesh and openly want to live as Jews, but they do not care for the heart or for the hidden Judaism. “From the will of a man” refers to those who, under the pretext of human philosophy, keep away from evil and take up virtue.

Fragment 115

When he says “He has cried out,” he means that he proclaimed the coming with boldness and freedom, and without any holding back. The “cry” is not a matter of how loudly he spoke, but of the intensity of his understanding. For the one who announces great teachings, as he should, in keeping with his understanding, speaks them out in a loud voice.

Fragment 116

“Has come to be” must be taken to mean “will come to be.” For this is the habit of Scripture, as we have said. And “did not lay hold of [or: overcome]” must be taken to mean “will not lay hold of [or: overcome].”

Fragment 117

John is a prophet and a lamp of the light, training beforehand and accustoming the eye of the soul of the one who wants to be enlightened. In the same way he is also “the voice of one crying.” The text calls the Word the one who cries, and John the voice. It is necessary for a voice to come before the word. The work of a voice is to make clear what is signified. He calls “wilderness” the soul that has been deprived of divine teaching. What, then, does the voice of the one who cries command to the deserted souls? “Make straight the way of the Lord,” so that it may be ready to receive him.

Fragment 118

When John bore witness about the light, he knew that the light was also God the Word. And this Word is present to every rational being. The thinking [part] of us, which is also called the ruling faculty, is the most central part of us. For there is the inner word, by which we are rational. Christ oversees it as God and Word, he who was about to come to be baptized. “This one, whom you do not know, stands in the midst of you,” entering into the hearts and the kidneys of all.

Fragment 119

All who were present saw, but not all believed. Some say that not everyone beheld the Spirit, but only John and those who were more reasonably disposed. For even if they saw with their physical eyes, it was not for that reason altogether plain to everyone. The prophets and Moses beheld many other things. At the transfiguration on the mountain, not all the disciples had the benefit of the sight. Nor did all share in the appearance after the resurrection. Much more, then, the Jews at the baptism did not all see.

Fragment 120

It is not possible to see this with the senses, but only with a mind that looks at the angels approaching in order to serve Jesus, ascending and descending. The word “Amen” can be found sometimes single and sometimes doubled. The word is Hebrew, signifying [text missing]. For “Amen” is the same as “truly” and [text missing]. Many Psalms that have at the end “Let it be, let it be” have “Amen, Amen” in the Hebrew. So it is likely that the Savior says, as a prayer, “Let it be, let it be,” that you be found faithful enough to see “the heaven opened,” and the rest of the promise. “Amen” is also equal to [text missing]. In Matthew, for example, Jesus says, “Amen I say to you, there are some of those standing here.” In Luke it reads, “Truly I say to you, there are some of those standing there who will not taste death.” That is, “Amen” is equal to [text missing] and to [text missing], as in “Truly I say to you” that this will happen.

Fragment 121

The whip made of rope by Jesus stood for the sins of the lawbreakers. By these sins they were driven out, beaten by Jesus. Scripture names sins “rope” in many places: “Ropes of sinners have wound around me, and their hands weave injustice together.” And in Proverbs: “Each one is bound tight by the cords of his own sins,” that is, he is punished. So they were whipped by Jesus and driven out of the temple with the rope they had plaited themselves. The just judge could not weave the punishment against the ungodly from anywhere else. He could only bring it from the very things by which they themselves had sinned and acted lawlessly.

Fragment 121a

It must be said that water differs from the Spirit only in concept, not in substance. The Savior says, “He who believes in me, rivers of living water will flow from his belly.” He said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive. If this was said of the Spirit as water flowing out like rivers, then the water will differ from the Spirit only in concept. So, just as someone is begotten from the Savior (wise from wisdom, true from truth, and life from life, since the source and begetting of all is one), so also from the Holy Spirit one is begotten holy and spiritual. He is cleansed by the water, and watered so that he bears fruit. In this way he is born of water and Spirit.

Fragment 122

Matthew spoke of the place which is ruled, in which these people receive their inheritance. John and Luke named it from God who rules. Even in our ordinary usage a kingdom is sometimes indicated by the one who rules, and sometimes by the place. So we say, “the kingdom of the Romans,” and “the king of Egypt.”

Fragment 123

The Spirit visits only those who are earnest and have faith and virtue. From the worthless, who have made themselves strangers to him, he stays far away. “Far” and “near” should not be understood in terms of place. They refer to the vessels [that have been cleansed] to receive his illuminations, or have not been. The words “Where it wills it blows” show that the Spirit is a substance. Some suppose that he is an activity of God, without a subsistence of his own. That is why the apostle, after listing the gifts of the Spirit, added, “But the one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one as he wills.” There is also the saying in Acts, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.” And again: “As they were fasting,” it says, “and ministering to the Lord, the Holy Spirit said: Set apart for me Paul and Barnabas for the work to which I have called them.” And the prophet Agabus says, “The Holy Spirit says this: They will bind the man whose belt this is,” and so on.

Fragment 124

This seems to be true of people who are neither exceedingly wicked nor perfect in virtue. Because they are deceived in both directions, one can see from their doing the works of darkness that they love the darkness. Human beings have free will, and ought to welcome the light; but they do the opposite and welcome the darkness, while fleeing the light. The statement that they loved the darkness more than the light should not be taken as a comparison. They did not love the light at all, since they hated it, because their understanding of it is correct. Those who do wicked things hate the light, and if they hate the light, they do not love the darkness merely in comparison. The apostle’s saying about wicked people is similar: that they are “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” And in the Psalms: “The worthless man has loved evil more than goodness, and injustice more than speaking righteousness.”

Fragment 125

The bride is the human soul. Of itself it is not able to bring forth any good thing. But since it is by nature receptive from another, in the manner of a woman, it brings forth the virtues, both practical and intellectual. The bridegroom, the one who sows these good things in her, is none other than Christ Jesus, to whom I bear witness and whom I baptize. The friend is the one who stands beside him with firm agreement and steady faith in him. For none of those who are with Jesus himself is shaken. So also Moses, living in virtue, heard God say, “But you yourself stand with me.” For God does not stand with us; rather we stand with him, as he offers us from himself an immovable standing.

Fragment 126

Whoever does not have a heavenly mind but is earthly is called “made of dust,” and is said to bear the image of the one made of dust. So even if he ever claims to have wisdom, it is earthly, soulish, and demonic, as the apostle James says.

Fragment 127

On John 3:35. Again we hear “loves” in a rather human sense. But there is a natural law: one kind of love goes toward what is begotten, and another goes toward what is loved in a different way. If God loves righteousness, he loves it as God, as in the words, “I am God, who loves righteousness and hates robbery that comes from injustice.” He does not love it as a man does, in order to have it in himself and to do something in keeping with it. The Father also loves the Son as truth, wisdom and holiness, as David says, “For behold, you have loved truth.” He loves the Son as Father, not as God. But he loves the world as God and as its Creator, not as Father.

Fragment 128

On John 4:10. It is also possible to speak allegorically. Jacob’s well is the teaching of Moses given through the law. His sons and his flocks drank from it: the twelve patriarchs and the peoples born from them. Those who drink from this spring thirst again. That is, as time goes on they thirst, and they come to the teaching of the gospel, which saves and which has no successor. “For heaven and earth will pass away,” as the Savior says, “but my words will never pass away.”

Fragment 129

On John 5:13. For even the mere sight of the one who is envied knows how to throw no small spark among those who begrudge him.

Fragment 130

On John 6:51. For this reason he would have mixed with us . . . . and with those [who are] becoming [companions] of the demons.

Fragment 131

On John 9:8. He was a beggar because he lacked the necessities of life and was weak. Such people you could also find among Greeks and barbarians, begging for the benefit and provision of Christ’s truth and for knowledge of his rich insights. Jesus freed this man not only from blindness but also from begging. For along with sight he gave him whatever was necessary for the salvation of his soul. Here blindness is the cause of begging; in the Acts it is lameness.

Fragment 132

On John 9:16. If the one who does not keep the sabbath is not from God, then neither are your priests, who profane the sabbath by circumcision, from God.

Fragment 133

On John 9:21. By making him a credible witness, they [thus set him forward, so that they themselves might be shown to have been mistaken]. When Christ opened the eyes of the blind man, he did not open those of a small child but of one of full age, so that he could both see and, as a man, speak in his own defense. The other blind people who received their sight were of the same kind.

Fragment 134

On John 9:27. “You did not hear” stands for “You were unwilling to accept what was said.” And “Why do you want to hear again?” amounts to this: “If you do not accept what has been said, why do you want it reported to you again, to no purpose?”

Fragment 135

On John 9:31. If God does not hear sinners, how did Christ teach sinners to pray, saying, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we also forgive our debtors”? God hears those who are inclining toward repentance, even if they have not yet stopped sinning. And if God did not hear sinners, he would not have eaten and drunk with tax collectors and prostitutes. Or else it is the case that God does not hear the person who prays that God would accomplish works like the works of Jesus [if that person is a sinner].

Fragment 136

On John 10:31. If they had picked up stones before, they picked them up again. And I think that whoever speaks evil of someone is throwing stones at him. They spoke evil of him, and a division arose among the Jews because of him. So once again these people, having carried the weight of their slanderous words, threw stones at him, real stones. That is why Wisdom says, “The one who throws a stone up high throws it on his own head.” And the psalmist says, “His injustice will come down on his own head.” The unjust man who speaks against the heights is throwing at the heights.

Fragment 137

On John 11:9. Just as the day is divided into twelve hours, so the twelve patriarchs and the company of the apostles match the hours of the day in number. They have Christ, our God, as their sun. He is also the day that the mind perceives, and from him come the words and the illumination of the knowledge of them.

Fragment 138

And again they were seeking to kill him, as has often been said. Now they had confirmed their decision and [were treating it as a deed already done]. Again he saves himself in a human way, and he does this continually. The reason he gave was that his hour had not yet come. So now he stays in the wilderness, in a city called Ephraim. He remained there with his disciples, waiting for the right moment and sparing them from destruction.

Fragment 139

The one who follows him serves him, and in this way is his servant. For this reason, wherever the Word is, there too is that person. The promise must not be understood in a bodily or local sense. Yet if someone does take it to mean a place, he would not be wrong. For in the resurrection, those who excel in brightness receive, each according to his worth, places in the purest regions of the upper air, clearer than the fineness of light itself. These are the places best suited for leisure to contemplate the truths of God the Word.

Fragment 140

“That…” The word “one” is used in many ways: by likeness and in many other ways. It is used of agreement, when Scripture says, “the multitude of those who believed had one heart and one soul.” It is used of likeness, as when it says, “For we were all baptized in one Spirit into one body.” This is by likeness of nature. We have Adam as our beginning and head by the natural origin of our birth, and so we are all said to have one body. In the same way we also give Christ the title of head, through the divine new birth. That new birth became for us a pattern of his death and resurrection, since he rose as firstborn from the dead. We give him the title of head as a foreshadowing of his resurrection. “Of him we are members in part, and body,” being born again through the Spirit into incorruption.