Homilies on John, Homily 30

“He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly, and speaks of the earth.” [1.] The love of glory is a terrible thing, terrible and full of many evils; it is a thorn that is hard to pull out, an untamable beast with many heads, arming itself against those who feed it. For just as a worm eats through the wood from which it is born, rust eats away the iron from which it comes, and moths eat away wool, so the craving for empty glory destroys the soul that nourishes it. That is why we must work hard to remove this passion. Notice here how long John tries to charm the disciples afflicted with it, and can barely calm them. For he softens them with other words besides those already mentioned. And what are these others? “He who comes from above,” he says, “is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly, and speaks of the earth.” Since you make so much of my testimony, and in this way say that I deserve more belief than He does, you must understand this: it is impossible for One who comes from heaven to have His credibility strengthened by someone who lives on earth. And what does “above all” mean? What is the expression meant to show us? That Christ needs nothing, but is entirely sufficient in Himself and incomparably greater than all. John speaks of himself as being “of the earth, and speaking of the earth.” Not that he spoke from his own mind, but just as Christ said, “If I have told you of earthly things and you do not believe,” calling Baptism this, not because it was an “earthly thing,” but because, when He spoke, He compared it with His own Ineffable Generation, so here John said that he spoke “of earth,” comparing his own teaching with Christ’s. For “speaking of earth” means nothing other than this: “What I teach is little and low and poor compared with His teaching, and is what an earthly nature could be expected to receive. In Him ‘are hidden all the treasures of wisdom.’” ( Col. ii. 5.) That he is not speaking of human reasoning is clear from this: “He who is of the earth,” he says, “is earthly.” Yet not everything in him was earthly; his higher parts were heavenly, for he had a soul and shared in a Spirit who was not of earth. How, then, does he say that he is “earthly”? Don’t you see that he means only, “I am small and of no account, walking on the ground and born on earth; but Christ came to us from above”? After quenching their passion by all these means, he speaks more openly about Christ. Before this, it was useless to say things that could never have found a place in his hearers’ understanding; but once he has pulled up the thorns, he boldly sows the seed, saying, Ver. 31, 32. “He who comes from above is above all. And what He has heard He speaks, and what He has seen He testifies to; and no one receives His testimony.” After saying something great and sublime about Him, he again brings his discourse down to a humbler level. For the expression “what He has heard and seen” is more appropriate to a mere man. What He knew, He did not know by learning it through sight or hearing; rather, He held it all within His Nature, having come forth perfect from the Bosom of His Father and needing no one to teach Him. For He says, “As the Father knows Me, so I know the Father.” ( c. x. 15.) What, then, does this mean: “He speaks what He has heard, and testifies to what He has seen”? Since we gain accurate knowledge of everything through these senses, and are considered credible when we teach about matters our eyes have seen and our ears have heard, because in such cases we are not inventing things or telling lies, John, wishing to establish this point here, said, “What He has heard and seen.” That is, “Nothing that comes from Him is false; everything is true.” So when we are looking closely into something, we often ask, “Did you hear it?” “Did you see it?” And if this is established, the testimony is beyond doubt. So too, when Christ Himself says, “As I hear, I judge” ( c. v. 30 ); and, “What I have heard from My Father, that I speak” ( c. xv. 15 ); and, “We speak what We have seen” ( c. iii. 11 ); and whatever other sayings of this kind He speaks, He says them so that the shameless Jews may have no grounds for suspecting anything He says, not so that we might imagine He speaks as He does because someone has taught Him (it would be utter foolishness to think this). For because they did not yet have a right understanding of Him, He continually appeals to His Father, and in this way makes His words credible. [2.] And why are you surprised that He appeals to the Father, when He often turns to the Prophets and the Scriptures? For example, He says, “They are the ones that testify about Me.” ( c. v. 39.) Shall we then say that He is inferior to the Prophets because He draws testimony from them? Reject that thought. It is because of His hearers’ weakness that He arranges His discourse this way and says that He spoke what He spoke after hearing it from the Father. He does this not because He needed a teacher, but so that they might believe that nothing He said was false. John’s meaning is something like this: “I want to hear what He says, for He comes from above, bringing news from there that no one but He knows accurately; for ‘what He has seen and heard’ is the expression of someone declaring this.” “And no one receives His testimony.” Yet He had disciples, and many others paid attention to His words. How, then, does John say, “No one”? He says “no one” in place of “few people,” for if he had meant “no one at all,” how could he have added, Ver. 33. “He who has received His testimony has set his seal to the fact that God is true.” Here he challenges his own disciples, since they were unlikely to be firm believers for some time. And that they did not believe in Him even after this is clear from what is said later. For even while John was living in prison, he sent them from there to Christ so that he might bind them more closely to Him. Yet even then they barely believed, which Christ alluded to when He said, “And blessed is anyone who does not stumble because of Me.” ( Matt. xi. 6 .) That is why he now said, “And no one receives His testimony,” to make his own disciples firm, as much as saying, “Do not think His words are false because few will believe in Him for a time; for ‘He speaks what He has seen.’” He also says this to challenge the Jews’ insensitivity. It is a charge the Evangelist brought against them at the beginning, saying, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” For this is no reproach against Him, but an accusation against those who did not receive Him. ( c. i. 11.) “He who has received His testimony has set his seal to the fact that God is true.” Here he also frightens them by showing that anyone who does not believe in Him disbelieves not only Him but the Father as well. That is why he adds: Ver. 34. “He whom God has sent speaks the words of God.” Since He speaks God’s words, anyone who believes or does not believe is believing or disbelieving God. “Has set his seal” means “has declared.” Then, to increase their fear, he says, “that God is true,” showing that no one could disbelieve Christ without making God, who sent Him, guilty of a lie. For since He says nothing except what comes from the Father, and everything He says is the Father’s, anyone who does not listen to Him does not listen to the One who sent Him. See how he again strikes them with fear through these words. As yet, they thought it was no great matter to refuse to listen to Christ. That is why he held so great a danger over the heads of unbelievers: so that they might learn that those who do not listen to Christ do not listen to God Himself. Then he continues his discourse, bringing it down to the level of their weakness and saying, “For God does not give the Spirit by measure.” Again, as I said, he brings his discourse down to a lower level, varying it and making it suitable for his hearers at that time to accept; otherwise, he could not have lifted them up and increased their fear. For if he had said anything great and sublime about Jesus Himself, they would not have believed, and might even have despised Him. That is why he traces everything back to the Father, speaking for a time about Christ as a man. But what does he mean when he says, “God does not give the Spirit by measure”? He wants to show that we have all received the operation of the Spirit by measure (for here by “Spirit” he means the operation of the Spirit, since this is what is divided), but that Christ has all Its operation, unmeasured and complete. Now if His operations are unmeasured, how much more His Essence. Do you see too that the Spirit is Infinite? How, then, can He who has received all the operation of the Spirit, who knows the things of God, who says, “We speak what We have heard, and testify to what We have seen” ( c. iii. 11 ), rightly be suspected? He says nothing that is not “of God” or “of the Spirit.” And for a time John says nothing about God the Word, but makes all his teaching credible by (reference to) the Father and the Spirit. For they knew that there is a God, and they knew that there is a Spirit (even though they did not have a right understanding of Him), but they did not know that there is a Son. This is why he always turns to the Father and the Spirit, confirming his words through Them. For if someone ignored this reason and examined his language by itself, it would fall far short of Christ’s Dignity. The operation of the Spirit was not what made Christ worthy of their faith (for He needs no help from that source); He is Himself Self-sufficient. But for a time the Baptist speaks at the level of the simpler people’s understanding, wishing to lift them gradually out of their low conceptions. I say this so that we may not carelessly pass over what the Scriptures contain, but may fully consider the speaker’s purpose, the hearers’ weakness, and many other points in them. For teachers do not say everything as they themselves would wish, but generally as the condition of their weak (hearers) requires. That is why Paul says, “I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh; I have fed you with milk, and not with solid food.” ( 1 Cor. iii. 1, 2.) He means, “I did want to speak to you as spiritual people, but could not,” not because he lacked the ability, but because they were unable to listen at that level. So too John wanted to teach the disciples some great things, but they could not yet bear to receive them, and that is why he dwells mostly on what is humbler. We must therefore examine everything carefully. For the words of Scripture are our spiritual weapons; but if we do not know how to fit those weapons and arm our students properly, the weapons still retain their own power, but cannot help those who receive them. Suppose there is a strong breastplate, a helmet, a shield, and a spear, and someone takes this armor and puts the breastplate on his feet, the helmet over his eyes instead of on his head, and, instead of putting the shield in front of his chest, perversely ties it to his legs. Will he be able to gain any benefit from the armor? Won’t he be harmed instead? It is clear to everyone that he will. Yet this is not because the weapons are weak, but because the man lacks the skill to use them well. So it is with the Scriptures if we confuse their order: they will still retain their own force, yet do us no good. Although I am always telling you this, both in private and in public, I accomplish nothing. Instead, I see you nailed to the things of this life all the time, without so much as dreaming of spiritual matters. That is why our lives are careless, and we who struggle for the truth have little power and have become a laughingstock to Greeks and Jews and Heretics. If you had been careless in other matters and shown the same indifference here as elsewhere, even then your conduct could not have been defended. But as it is, in the affairs of this life every one of you, artisan and politician alike, is sharper than a sword, while in necessary and spiritual things we are duller than anyone. We make side concerns our main business, while we do not even treat as a side concern what we should have considered more urgent than any business. Don’t you know that the Scriptures were written not only for the earliest generations of humanity, but for our sake as well? Don’t you hear Paul say that “they are written to instruct us, on whom the ends of the world have come; so that through patience and the comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope”? ( 1 Cor. x. 11; Rom. xv. 4 .) I know that I speak in vain, yet I will not stop speaking, for in this way I will clear myself before God, even if no one listens to me. Someone who speaks to attentive listeners has at least this encouragement as he speaks: that his hearers are persuaded. But someone who speaks continually and is not listened to, yet does not stop speaking, may deserve greater honor than the other, because he fulfills God’s will to the best of his ability, even though no one pays attention to him. Still, although our reward will be greater because of your disobedience, we would rather have it reduced and your salvation advanced, considering your winning approval a great reward. And we say this now to show you the grief we feel because of your indifference, not to make our discourse painful and burdensome to you. May God grant that all of us may be freed from this, so that we may hold fast to spiritual zeal and obtain the blessings of heaven, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom may glory be given to the Father and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.