Augustinus, In Joannis Evangelium tractatus I-VI, cum admonitione et praefatione incerti auctoris

a little one, to whom I look, that I may speak. Let each grasp it as he can, as far as he can; and let him who cannot nourish his heart, so that he may be able. With what is he to nourish it? Let him nourish it with milk, so that he may come to solid food. Let him not withdraw from Christ born through the flesh until he comes to Christ born of the one Father, the Word, God with God, through which all things were made; for that is the life which in Him is the light of men.

18. For this follows: And the life was the light of men; and by that very life men are enlightened. Cattle are not enlightened, because cattle do not have rational minds which might be able to see wisdom. But man, made after the image of God, has a rational mind through which he may be able to perceive wisdom. Therefore that life through which all things were made, that very life is light: and not of any animals whatever, but the light of men. Hence a little later he says: It was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this world. By that light John the Baptist was enlightened; by the same also John the Evangelist himself. With that light he was filled who said: I am not the Christ; but He Who comes after me, the strap of Whose shoe I am not worthy to loose (John 1:9, 20, 27). By that light he had been enlightened who said: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Therefore that life is the light of men.

19. But perhaps foolish hearts cannot yet grasp this light, because they are weighed down by their sins, so that they cannot see it. Let them not therefore think that the light is as it were absent because they cannot see it: for they themselves, because of their sins, are darkness. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. So, brethren, just as with a blind man placed in the sun: the sun is present to him, but he is absent from the sun; so every fool, every unjust man, every impious man, is blind in heart. Wisdom is present, but while it is present with a blind man, it is absent from his eyes: not because it is absent from him, but because he is absent from it. What then is such a man to do? Let him cleanse that by which God can be seen. Just as, if he could not see because he had dirty and sore eyes, from dust or rheum or smoke rushing in, the physician would say to him: Clean out of your eye whatever is bad in it, so that you may be able to see the light of your eyes. Dust, rheum, smoke are sins and iniquities; take away all these things from there, and you will see the wisdom which is present: for God is Wisdom itself; and it has been said, Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God (Matt. 5:8).

Tractate II.

On what is written, There was a man sent from God, whose name was John, etc., as far as, full of grace and truth. Chapter 1, verses 6-14.

1. It is good, brethren, that we should treat thoroughly, as we are able, the text of the divine Scriptures, and especially of the holy Gospel, passing over no place; and that we should be fed according to our capacity, and minister to you that by which we too are fed. The first chapter, on the past

Lord's day, we remember, was treated, that is, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God; and the Word was God: this was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was made nothing. What was made, in Him is life; and the life was the light of men; and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." Up to this point I believe it was treated: remember, all you who were present; and you who were not present, believe us, and those who chose to be present. Now therefore, since we cannot always repeat everything, for the sake of those who wish to hear what follows, and to whom it is a burden if the earlier things are repeated at the cost of cheating them of the later; let those also who were not present be pleased not to demand things past, but together with those who were present to hear now the things at hand.

2. There follows, There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. For the things that were said above, dearest brethren, were said of the divinity of Christ, which is ineffable, and almost ineffably. For who will grasp, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God? And lest the name of Word should grow cheap to you through the habit of everyday words, And the Word was God. This Word is the selfsame, about which we spoke much yesterday: and may the Lord have granted that, at least by speaking so much, we have brought something through to your hearts. In the beginning was the Word. It is the selfsame, it is in the same way; as it is, so it always is; it cannot be changed: this is "is". Which name of His He told to His servant Moses: I am Who am; and, He Who is has sent me (Exod. 3:14). Who then will grasp this, when you see that all mortal things are changeable; when you see not only bodies varying through their qualities, by being born, growing, failing, dying, but even souls themselves being stretched apart and torn asunder through the affection of differing wills: when you see that men can both receive wisdom, if they bring themselves near to its light and warmth, and can lose wisdom, if they withdraw from it through evil affection? Since then you see that all these things are changeable, what is that which is, unless that which transcends all things that so are that they are not? Who then may grasp this? Or who, however much he may strain the powers of his mind so as to touch, as far as he can, that which is, could arrive at that which he has in some way touched with the mind? For it is as if someone should see his homeland from afar, and the sea lies between; he sees where he is to go, but has not the way by which to go. So we wish to arrive at that stability of ours where what is, is, because this alone is always so as it is; between lies the sea of this world, by which we go, even if we already see where we are going: for many do not even see where they are going. So then, that there might also be a way by which we should go, He came from there to Whom we wished to go. And what did He do? He set up a wood by which we may cross the sea. For no one can cross the sea of this world unless carried by the cross of Christ. This cross even one weak of eyes sometimes embraces: and let him who does not see far where he is going not withdraw from it, and it will bring him through.

3. Therefore, my brethren, I would have instilled this into your hearts

if you wish to live piously and in a Christian way, cleave to Christ according to that which He became for us, so that you may reach Him according to that which He is, and according to that which He was. It came about in addition that this should be done for us; for He became for us this on which the weak might be carried, and might cross the sea of the world, and arrive at the homeland; where there will no longer be need of a ship, because no sea is crossed. It is better, therefore, not to see with the mind that which is, and yet not to withdraw from the cross of Christ, than to see it with the mind and to despise the cross of Christ. Good beyond this, and best of all, if it can be, is both that one see whither one must go and that one hold fast to that by which he who travels is carried. This the great minds of the mountains were able to do, who have been called mountains, whom the light of justice illumines most of all: they were able, and they saw that which is. For John, seeing it, said, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. They saw this, and in order to reach that which they saw from afar, they did not withdraw from the cross of Christ, and did not despise the humility of Christ. But the little ones, who cannot understand this, not withdrawing from the cross and passion and resurrection of Christ, are brought in that very ship to that which they do not see, in which ship those also who see arrive.

4. But there have indeed been certain philosophers of this world, and they sought the Creator through the creature: for He can be found through the creature, as the Apostle plainly says, For His invisible things, from the foundation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood through the things that have been made; His everlasting power also and divinity, so that they are without excuse. And there follows, Because when they had known God: he did not say, Because they did not know; but, Because when they had known God, they did not glorify Him as God, or give thanks; but they became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. Whence darkened? It follows, and he says more openly: For saying that they were wise, they became fools (Rom. 1:20–22). They saw whither one must come: but, ungrateful to Him Who granted them what they saw, they wished to attribute to themselves what they saw; and having become proud they lost what they were seeing, and turned from there to idols and images and to the worship of demons, to adore the creature and to despise the Creator. But these men did those things when already dashed down: and in order to be dashed down, they grew proud; and when they grew proud, they said that they were wise. These, then, of whom he said, Who when they had known God, saw this which John says, that all things were made through the Word of God. For these things too are found in the books of the philosophers: and also that God has an only-begotten Son, through Whom are all things. They were able to see that which is, but they saw it from afar: they would not hold to the humility of Christ, in which ship they would have arrived safely at that which they were able to see far off; and the cross of Christ seemed vile to them. The sea must be crossed, and do you despise the wood? O proud wisdom! you mock the crucified Christ; He is the One Whom you saw far off: In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God. But why was He crucified? Because the wood of His humility was necessary for you. For you had swollen with pride, and had been cast far away from that homeland; and the way has been broken off by the waves of this world, and there is no means of crossing to the homeland unless you are carried by wood. Ungrateful one, you mock Him who came to you so that you might return! He Himself became the way, and that through the sea: hence He walked on the sea (Matt. 14:25), to show that there is a way on the sea. But you, who cannot walk on the sea as He did, be carried by a ship, be carried by wood: believe in the Crucified, and you will be able to arrive. For your sake He was crucified, to teach humility; and because, if He came thus as God, He would not be recognized. For if He came thus as God, He would not come to those who could not see God. For according to that which God is, He neither comes nor departs, since He is present everywhere and is contained in no place. But according to what did He come? In that He appeared as man.

5. Because, therefore, He was man in such a way that God lay hidden in Him, a great man was sent before Him, through whose testimony He might be found to be more than man. And who is this? There was a man. And how could he speak the truth about God? Sent from God. What was he called? Whose name was John. Why did he come? This man came for testimony, to bear testimony concerning the light, that all might believe through him. What sort of man is this, who would bear testimony concerning the light? Something great is this John, vast merit, great grace, great loftiness! Admire him, admire him fully; but as a mountain. Yet a mountain is in darkness unless it is clothed with light. Therefore admire John only so far that you may hear what follows, He was not the light: lest, while you think the mountain to be light, you suffer shipwreck on the mountain and do not find comfort. But what ought you to admire? The mountain as a mountain. But raise yourself up to Him who illuminates the mountain, which has been raised up for this purpose, that it may receive the rays first and announce them to your eyes. Therefore, he was not the light.

6. Why then did he come? But that he might bear testimony concerning the light. To what end is this? That all might believe through him. And concerning what light would he bear testimony? It was the true light. Why was "true" added? Because a man who has been illuminated is also called light; but that light is true which illuminates. For our eyes too are called lights; and yet unless either a lamp is lit at night or the sun comes out by day, these lights are open to no purpose. So, therefore, John too was light, but not the true light: because, when not illuminated, [he was] darkness; but by illumination he became light. But unless he had been illuminated, he was darkness, like all the ungodly, to whom, now that they believed, the Apostle said, You were once darkness. But now, because they had believed, what? But now light, he says, in the Lord (Eph. 5:8). Had he not added "in the Lord", we would not understand. Light, he says, in the Lord: darkness you were, not in the Lord. For you were once darkness: there he did not add "in the Lord". Therefore darkness in yourselves, light in the Lord. So too he was not the light, but [came] that he might bear testimony concerning the light.

7. But where is the light itself? It was the true light, which illuminates every man coming into this world. If

every man that comes, and John himself. He Himself, then, was enlightening the one by whom He willed to be pointed out. Let your Charity understand: for He was coming to weak minds, to wounded hearts, to the gaze of a bleary-eyed soul. For this He had come. And from where could the soul see that which perfectly is? Just as it often happens that from some body on which rays fall it is recognized that the sun has risen, which we cannot see with our eyes. For even those who have wounded eyes are able to see a wall lit up and brightened by the sun, or a mountain or a tree, or something of the kind they are able to see; and in another thing that has been brightened that rising is shown to them, for the seeing of which they still have a gaze too little able. So then, all those to whom Christ had come were too little able to see Him: He shed His rays on John; and through him, confessing that he had been shone upon and enlightened, not that he was one who might shine and enlighten, He was made known Who enlightens, He was made known Who brightens, He was made known Who fills. And Who is He? He Who enlightens, he says, every man that comes into the world. For if man had not withdrawn from there, he would not need to be enlightened; but he needs to be enlightened here for this reason, that he withdrew from there, where man could always have been enlightened.

8. What then? If He came hither, where was He? He was in this world. Both He was here, and He came hither: He was here through His divinity; He came hither through the flesh: because, when He was here through His divinity, He could not be seen by the foolish and the blind and the wicked. These wicked are themselves the darkness of which it was said, The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (John 1:5). Behold, He is here even now, and He was here, and He is always here; and He never withdraws, nowhere withdraws. You need to have that by which you may see what never withdraws from you; you need not to withdraw from Him Who nowhere withdraws; you need not to desert, and you are not deserted. Do not fall, and He will not set for you. If you make a fall, He makes a setting for you: but if you stand, He is present to you. But you did not stand: remember whence you fell, whence he cast you down who fell before you. For he cast you down, not by force, not by a push, but by your own will. For if you had not consented to evil, you would stand, you would remain enlightened. But now, because you have already fallen and have become wounded in heart, by which that light can be seen, He came to you such as you could see; and He showed Himself such a man that He sought testimony from a man. God seeks testimony from a man, and God has a man as witness; God has a man as witness, but for the sake of man: so weak are we! By a lamp we seek the day: for John himself was called a lamp, the Lord saying: He was a burning and shining lamp, and you willed to exult for an hour in his light; but I have a testimony greater than John (ibid. 5:35–36).

9. So He showed that for the sake of men He willed to be pointed out by a lamp for the faith of believers, so that by that very lamp His enemies might be confounded. For those enemies who were testing Him, and were saying, Tell us, By what authority do you do these things? I also, He says, will ask you one word: tell me, the baptism of John, whence is it? From heaven, or from men? And they were troubled, and they said

among themselves, If we say, From heaven; He will say to us, Why then did you not believe him? (for he had borne witness to Christ, and had said, I am not the Christ, but He (John 1:20–27)). But if we say that it is from men, we fear the people, lest they stone us; for they held John to be a prophet. Fearing stoning, but fearing still more the confession of the truth, they answered the Truth with a lie; and iniquity lied to itself (Ps. 26:12). For they said: We do not know. And the Lord, since they had shut [the door] against themselves by denying that they knew what they did know, did not Himself open to them either, because they did not knock. For it has been said: Knock, and it will be opened to you (Matt. 7:7). And not only did they not knock, that it might be opened; but by denying they blocked up the very door against themselves. And the Lord said to them: Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things (Matt. 21:23–27; Mark 11:28–33; and Luke 20:2–8). And they were confounded through John; and in them was fulfilled, I have prepared a lamp for My Christ; His enemies I will clothe with confusion (Ps. 131:17–18).

10. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him. Do not think that He was in the world in the way that the earth is in the world, the heaven is in the world, the sun, moon and stars are in the world, and trees, cattle and men are in the world. Not so was He in the world. But how was He? As a craftsman, ruling what He made. For He did not make in the way that a carpenter makes. The chest that he makes is outside him, and it is placed in another spot while it is being made; and though it be close by, he who makes it sits in another spot, and is external to that which he makes: but God makes while poured into the world, makes while present everywhere, and does not withdraw anywhere; He does not, as though from outside, turn about the mass which He makes. By the presence of His majesty He makes what He makes; by His presence He governs what He has made. So then He was in the world as the One through Whom the world was made. For through Him the world was made, and the world did not know Him.

11. What is it, the world was made through Him? Heaven, earth, sea and all things that are in them are called the world. Again, in another sense, the lovers of the world are called the world. The world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. For did the heavens not know their Creator, or did the angels not know their Creator, or did the stars not know their Creator, Whom the demons confess? All things on every side have borne witness. But who did not know Him? Those who, by loving the world, have been called the world. For by loving we dwell with the heart: and by loving, they have deserved to be called by the name of that place where they dwelt. Just as we say, That is a bad house; or, That is a good house: in the one we call bad we are not finding fault with the walls; nor in the one we call good are we praising the walls: but by a bad house [we mean] bad inhabitants; and by a good house, good inhabitants. So too [we call] the world those who inhabit the world by loving it. Who are they? Those who love the world: for they dwell in the world with the heart. For those who do not love the world move about in the world in the flesh; but with the heart they inhabit heaven, as the Apostle says: But our way of life is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). Therefore

the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.

12. He came into His own: because all these things were made through Him. And His own did not receive Him. Who are His own? The men whom He made. The Jews, whom He made from the first to be above all nations. For the other nations worshipped idols and served demons; but that people had been born of the seed of Abraham: and they were His own most of all, because they were also kinsmen through the flesh which He deigned to take up. He came into His own, and His own did not receive Him. Did they not receive Him at all, did no one receive Him? Was no one, then, saved? For no one will be saved except he who has received Christ when He comes.

13. But he added: But as many as received Him. What did He bestow on them? Great benevolence! Great mercy! He was born the only one, and He did not wish to remain one. Many men, when they have not had sons, adopt them for themselves once their age is past; and by will they do what they could not do by nature: this men do. But if someone has an only son, he rejoices over him the more, because he alone is to possess everything, and he will not have anyone to divide the inheritance with him so that he would remain poorer. Not so God: that same only One whom He had begotten, and through whom He had created all things, He sent into this world, so that He might not be one but might have adopted brothers. For we are not born of God in the way that the Only-begotten is, but adopted through His grace. For the Only-begotten came to loose the sins, in which sins we were entangled, lest [He should fail to] adopt us because of their hindrance: those whom He wished to make His brothers He Himself set free, and made co-heirs. For thus says the Apostle: But if a son, also an heir through God (Gal. 4:7); and again, Heirs indeed of God, but co-heirs of Christ (Rom. 8:17). He was not afraid to have co-heirs, because His inheritance does not become narrow if many possess it. Those very ones, indeed, with Him as possessor, become His inheritance, and He in turn becomes their inheritance. Hear how they become His inheritance: The Lord said to me, Thou art My Son; today I have begotten Thee. Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the nations as Thy inheritance (Ps. 2:7–8). How does He become their inheritance? He says in the Psalm: The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup (Ps. 15:5). Let us both possess Him, and let Him possess us: let Him possess us as Lord; let us possess Him as salvation, let us possess [Him] as light. What, then, did He give to those who received Him? He gave them power to become sons of God, to those who believe in His name: that they may hold on to the wood, and cross the sea.

14. And how are they born? These, because they become sons of God and brothers of Christ, are certainly born. For if they are not born, how can they be sons? But the sons of men are born of flesh and blood, and of the will of a man, and of the embrace of marriage. But how are those born to Him? Who not of bloods: as of male and female. Sanguina is not Latin: but because it was put in the plural in Greek, he who was translating preferred to put it so, and, as it were, to speak less Latinly according to

the grammarians, and yet to explain the truth according to the hearing of the weak. For if he said "blood" in the singular number, he would not explain what he meant: for men are born from the bloods of male and female. Let us speak, then; let us not fear the rods of the grammarians, provided only that we arrive at solid and more certain truth. He who understands finds fault, ungrateful because he has understood. Not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. He put "flesh" for woman: because, when she had been made from the rib, Adam said, This now is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh (Gen. 2:23); and the Apostle says, He who loves his wife loves himself; for no one ever holds his own flesh in hatred (Eph. 5:28–29). So flesh is put for wife, just as spirit is also sometimes put for husband. Why? Because the one rules, the other is ruled: the one ought to command, the other to serve. For where the flesh commands and the spirit serves, the house is perverse. What is worse than a house where the woman has authority over the man? But that house is right where the man commands and the woman obeys. So man himself is right when the spirit commands and the flesh serves.

15. Those, then, are born not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. But in order that men might be born of God, God was first born of them. For Christ is God, and Christ was born of men. He sought indeed only a mother on earth, because He already had a Father in heaven: born of God, through Whom we were to be made; and born of a woman, through Whom we were to be remade. Do not wonder, then, O man, that you are made a son through grace, that you are born of God according to His Word. The Word Himself first willed to be born of man, so that you might be born of God without anxiety, and might say to yourself: Not without cause did God will to be born of man, unless it is because He considered me of some importance, so as to make me immortal and to be born mortally for me. Therefore, when he had said, were born of God, as if so that we should not wonder and shrink from so great a grace, so that it should seem incredible to us that men are born of God, as though making you secure, he says: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Why, then, do you wonder that men are born of God? Consider God Himself born of men: And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

16. But because the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, by His very birth He made an eye-salve, by which the eyes of our heart might be cleansed, and we might be able to see His majesty through His humility. Therefore the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us; He healed our eyes: and what follows? And we saw His glory. No one could see His glory unless he were healed by the humility of the flesh. Why were we unable to see? Let Your Charity attend, then, and see what I say. Something like dust had fallen into man's eye, earth had fallen in, it had wounded the eye, it could not see the light: that wounded eye is anointed; it had been wounded by earth, and earth is put there that it may be healed. For all eye-salves and medicines are nothing but of earth. By dust you were blinded, by dust you are healed: so flesh had blinded you, flesh