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

Tractate IV.

On that which is written, And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests from Jerusalem, etc., up to that, He it is Who baptizes in the Holy Spirit, etc. Chap. 1, vv. 19-33 (John 1:19–33).

1. Your Holiness has very often heard, and you know very well, that John the Baptist, the more outstanding he was among those born of women, and the more humble in acknowledging the Lord, the more he merited to be the friend of the bridegroom; zealous for the bridegroom, not for himself; seeking not his own honour, but that of his judge, before Whom he went as a herald. And so to the Prophets who went before it was granted to foretell things to come concerning Christ; but to this man, to point Him out with the finger. For just as Christ was unknown to those who did not believe the Prophets before He came, so He was unknown to them also when present. For He had come at first humbly and hidden; the more hidden, the more humble: but the peoples, despising through their pride the humility of God, crucified their Saviour, and made Him their condemner.

2. But He Who first came hidden, because He came humble, is He not hereafter to come manifest, because exalted? You have just heard the Psalm: God shall come manifestly, our God, and He shall not keep silence. He kept silence that He might be judged; He shall not keep silence when He begins to judge. It would not be said, He shall come manifestly, unless He had first come hidden; nor would it be said, He shall not keep silence, except that He first kept silence. How did He keep silence? Ask Isaiah: As a sheep He was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before him who would shear it He was without voice, so He did not open His mouth (Isa. 53:7). But He shall come manifestly, and shall not keep silence. How manifestly? Fire shall go before Him, and round about Him a mighty tempest (Ps. 49:3). That tempest is to carry away all the chaff from the threshing-floor, which is now being threshed; and the fire is to burn up what the tempest has carried away. Now, however, He is silent: He is silent in judgement, but He is not silent in precept. For if Christ is silent, what do these Gospels mean? What do the apostolic voices mean, what the songs of the Psalms, what the utterances of the Prophets? For in all these Christ is not silent. But He is silent now, so as not to take vengeance: He is not silent, so as not to fail to warn. But He shall come glorious unto vengeance, and shall appear to all, even to those who do not believe in Him. But now, because even when present He was hidden, it was fitting that He should be despised. For unless He were despised, He would not be crucified: if He were not crucified, He would not shed His blood, the price by which He redeemed us. Now that He might pay the price for us, He was crucified; that He might be crucified, He was despised; that He might be despised, He appeared humble.

3. Yet because He appeared as it were in the night in a mortal body, He lit for Himself a lamp by which He might be seen. That lamp was John (John 5:35), concerning whom you have already heard much: and the present reading of the Gospel contains the words of John, first, what is chief, of him confessing that he himself was not the Christ. But so great was the excellence in John that he could have been believed to be the Christ: and in this his humility was proved, that he said he was not,

since he could have been believed to be. Therefore, This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to him, to ask him, Who are you? But they would not have sent unless they were moved by the excellence of his authority, because he had dared to baptize. And he confessed, and did not deny. What did he confess? And he confessed, I am not the Christ.

4. And they asked him, What then? Are you Elijah? For they knew that Elijah was to go before Christ. For the name of Christ was unknown to no one among the Jews. This man they did not think to be the Christ; not that they thought the Christ was not to come at all. While they hoped that He would come, they so stumbled against Him when present, they stumbled as against a lowly stone. For that stone was still small, already indeed cut out from the mountain without hands: as Daniel the prophet says, that he saw a stone cut out from the mountain without hands. But what follows? And that stone, he says, grew, and became a great mountain, and filled the whole face of the earth (Dan. 2:34–35). Let Your Charity therefore see what I am saying: Christ had already been cut out from the mountain in the presence of the Jews. By the mountain he wishes the kingdom of the Jews to be understood. But the kingdom of the Jews had not filled the whole face of the earth. From there that stone was cut out, because from there the Lord was born in [His] presence [among men]. And why without hands? Because without the work of a man the Virgin bore Christ. So that stone was already cut out without hands, before the eyes of the Jews: but it was lowly. And not without reason; because that stone had not yet grown and filled the world: which He showed in His kingdom, which is the Church, with which He filled the whole face of the earth. Because therefore it had not yet grown, they stumbled against Him as against a stone: and there was fulfilled in them what is written, Whoever falls upon this stone will be shattered; and upon whomever that stone falls, it will crush them (Luke 20:18). First they fell upon Him lowly; exalted He will come upon them: but in order that, coming exalted, He may crush them, first, lowly, He shattered them. They stumbled against Him and were shattered; not crushed, but shattered: He will come exalted, and will crush them. But the Jews are to be pardoned, because they stumbled against a stone that had not yet grown. What sort are those who have stumbled against the mountain itself? You already know of whom I speak. Those who deny the Church spread throughout the whole world stumble not against a lowly stone, but against the mountain itself: which that stone became as it grew. The blind Jews did not see the lowly stone: how great a blindness is it not to see the mountain?

5. So they saw Him lowly, and did not recognize Him. He was being pointed out to them by means of the lamp. For first that man, than whom none greater had arisen among those born of women, said, I am not the Christ. And it was said to him, Are you Elijah? He answered, I am not. For Christ sends Elijah before Himself: and he said, I am not, and raised a question for us. For it is to be feared lest the less understanding should think that John said things contrary to what Christ said. For in a certain place, when the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel was saying certain things about Himself, the disciples answered Him:

How then do the scribes say, that is, those learned in the Law, that Elijah must come first? And the Lord says: Elijah has already come, and they did to him what they wished; and if you wish to know, he is John the Baptist (Matt. 17:10–13, and 11:11–14). The Lord Jesus Christ said, Elijah has already come, and he is John the Baptist: but John, when questioned, confessed in this way that he was not Elijah, just as he was not the Christ. And certainly, just as he confessed truly that he was not the Christ, so he confessed truly that he was not Elijah either. How then shall we reconcile the words of the herald with the words of the judge? Far be it that the herald should lie: for he speaks what he hears from the judge. Why then does he say, I am not Elijah, and the Lord, He is Elijah? Because in him the Lord Jesus Christ wished to prefigure His own future coming, and to say this, that John was in the spirit of Elijah. And what John was to the first coming, that Elijah will be to the second coming. As there are two comings of the judge, so there are two heralds. The judge indeed is one, but the heralds are two: not two judges. For it was necessary that the judge should first come to be judged. He sent before Him the first herald, He called him Elijah; because Elijah will be in the second coming that which John was in the first.

6. For let your Charity attend to how truly I speak. When John was conceived, or rather when he was born, the Holy Spirit prophesied this, to be fulfilled concerning that man: And he shall be, it says, the forerunner of the Most High, in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17). Not Elijah, then, but in the spirit and power of Elijah. What is, in the spirit and power of Elijah? In the same Holy Spirit, in the place of Elijah. Why in the place of Elijah? Because what Elijah [will be] to the second coming, that John was to the first. Rightly, then, did John now answer in the proper sense. For the Lord [spoke] figuratively, Elijah is John himself: but he, as I have said, in the proper sense, I am not Elijah. If you consider the figure of forerunning, John is Elijah himself: for what the one was to the first coming, that the other will be to the second. If you ask about the proper identity of the person, John is John, Elijah is Elijah; the Lord, therefore, rightly with respect to prefiguration, He is Elijah: but John rightly with respect to proper identity, I am not Elijah. Neither John [said] what was false, nor the Lord what was false: neither the herald what was false, nor the Judge what was false; but if you understand. But who will understand? He who has imitated the humility of the herald, and has recognized the loftiness of the judge. For nothing was more humble than the herald himself. My brethren, John had no merit so great as that of this humility, that, although he could have deceived men, and been thought the Christ, and been held for the Christ (for he was of such great grace and such great excellence), yet he confessed openly, and said, I am not the Christ. Are you Elijah? If he were now to say, I am Elijah, then Christ, coming now in the second coming, would be judging, and not still being judged in the first. As if saying, Elijah too is to come; I am not, he says, Elijah. But observe the humble One, before Whom John came, lest you should feel [the presence of] the exalted One, before Whom Elijah is to come. For the Lord too thus completed it: He is John the Baptist who is to come. This man came in prefiguration, as Elijah is to come in proper identity. Then Elijah will be Elijah in proper identity, now by likeness

he was John. Now John by property is John, by likeness he is Elijah. Both heralds gave each other their likenesses, and kept their own properties: but there is one Lord, the judge, whether that herald goes before, or that one.

7. And they asked him: What then? Are you Elijah? And he said: No. And they said to him: Are you a prophet? And he answered? No. They said therefore to him: Who are you? that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say of yourself? He says: I am the voice of one crying in the desert. Isaiah said that (Isa. 40:3). In John that prophecy was fulfilled, I am the voice of one crying in the desert. Crying what? Make straight the way of the Lord, make the paths of our God right. Does it not seem to you to be a herald's part to say, Go out, make way? Except that the herald says Go out: John says, Come. The herald drives people away from the judge, John calls them to the judge. Rather, John calls them to a humble One, lest the judge be felt to be lofty. I am the voice of one crying in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord, as Isaiah the prophet said. He did not say, I am John, I am Elijah, I am a prophet. But what did he say? This is what I am called, The voice of one crying in the desert, Make straight the way for the Lord: I am the prophecy itself.

8. And those who had been sent were of the Pharisees: that is, of the chief men of the Jews. And they asked, and said to him: Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor a prophet? As if it seemed a piece of boldness to baptize, as if [to say], In what character? We ask whether you are the Christ; you say that you are not: we ask whether perhaps you are His forerunner, because we know that before the coming of Christ Elijah is to come; you deny that you are: we ask whether perhaps you are some herald going far ahead, that is, a prophet, and have received this power; nor do you say that you are a prophet. And John was not a prophet: he was greater than a prophet. The Lord gave such testimony about him: What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed shaken by the wind. Surely, Not shaken by the wind, you understand; for John was not this, as one who would be moved by the wind: for whoever is moved by the wind is blown about by every seducing spirit. But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft things? For John was clothed in rough things, that is, a tunic made of camel's hair. Behold, those who are clothed in soft things are in the houses of kings. You did not therefore go out to see a man clothed in soft things. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, this man is greater than a prophet (Matt. 11:7–9): for the prophets foretold Him long before, John was pointing Him out present.

9. Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor a prophet? John answered them, and said: I baptize in water; but in the midst of you has stood One Whom you do not know. For the Humble One was not seen, and therefore the lamp was lit. See how he gives place, he who could have been thought something else. He it is Who comes after me, Who was made before me. As we have already said, that is, He has been placed before me. The strap of Whose shoe I am not worthy to loosen. How greatly did he cast himself down? And therefore

he was greatly raised up; because whoever humbles himself shall be exalted (Luke 14:11). Hence Your Holiness ought to see that, if John so humbled himself as to say, I am not worthy to loose the strap, how ought they to be humbled who say: We baptize; what we give is ours, and what is ours is holy. He says, Not I, but He; they say, We. John is not worthy to loose the strap of His sandal: and if he had called himself worthy, how humble would he still have been? And if he had called himself worthy, and had spoken thus, He comes after me Who was made before me, the strap of Whose sandal alone I am worthy to loose, he would have humbled himself greatly. But when he declares himself not worthy even of this, truly he was full of the Holy Spirit, who as a servant thus acknowledged his Lord, and deserved to be made from a servant a friend.

10. These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. On the next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said: Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him Who takes away the sin of the world. Let no one claim it for himself and say that he himself takes away the sin of the world. Now pay attention to the proud men against whom John was pointing his finger. The heretics were not yet born, and already they were being pointed out: against them he cried out then from the river, against whom he now cries out from the Gospel. Jesus comes; and what does he say? Behold the Lamb of God. If a lamb is innocent, John too is a lamb. Or is he not also innocent? But who is innocent? How far innocent? All come from that shoot and from that stock of which David sings groaning: I was conceived in iniquity, and in sins my mother nourished me in the womb (Ps. 50:7). That Lamb alone, then, did not come thus. For He was not conceived in iniquity, because He was not conceived of mortality; nor did His mother nourish Him in sins in the womb, Whom a virgin conceived, a virgin bore; because she conceived by faith, and by faith received. Therefore, behold the Lamb of God. He has no shoot from Adam: He took only flesh from Adam, He did not take on sin. He Who did not take on sin from our lump is He Who takes away our sin. Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him Who takes away the sin of the world.

11. You know that certain men sometimes say: We take away sins from men, we who are holy; for if he who baptizes is not holy, how does he take away the sin of another, when the man himself is full of sin? Against these arguments let us not speak our own words; let us read this: Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him Who takes away the sin of the world. Let there be no presumption of men in men: let not the sparrow migrate to the mountains, let it trust in the Lord (Ps. 10:2); and if it lifts its eyes to the mountains, whence help will come to it, let it understand that its help is from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth (Ps. 120:1–2). John, a man of such great excellence, is asked, Are you the Christ? He says, No. Are you Elijah? He says, No. Are you a prophet? He says, No. Why then do you baptize? Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him Who takes away the sin of the world: this is He of Whom I said, After me comes a man Who was made before me, because He was before me. He comes after me, because He was born later:

He was made before me, because He was preferred to me: He was before me, because in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

12. "And I did not know Him," he said, "but that He might be made manifest to Israel, for this reason I came baptizing in water. And John bore witness, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven as a dove, and He remained upon Him: and I did not know Him, but He Who sent me to baptize in water, He said to me, Upon Whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is He Who baptizes in the Holy Spirit: and I saw, and I bore witness that this is the Son of God." Let your Charity attend a little: when did John learn of Christ? For he was sent to baptize in water. It was asked why? That He might be made manifest to Israel, he said. What did the baptism of John profit? My brothers, if it profited anything, it would remain even now, and men would be baptized with the baptism of John, and so would come to the baptism of Christ. But what does he say? That He might be made manifest to Israel: that is, to Israel itself, to the people of Israel, that Christ might be made manifest, he came to baptize in water. John received the ministry of baptism, to prepare the way for the Lord in the water of repentance, not being himself the Lord: but once the Lord was known, a way was prepared for Him superfluously, since to those who know Him He Himself became the way: and so the baptism of John did not last long. But how was the Lord shown forth? As humble; so that for this reason John received a baptism in which the Lord Himself should be baptized.

13. And was there need for the Lord to be baptized? And I, asking in turn, answer at once: was there need for the Lord to be born? was there need for the Lord to be crucified? was there need for the Lord to die? was there need for the Lord to be buried? If, then, He took up so great a humility for us, was He not to take up baptism? And what did it profit that He took up the baptism of a servant? That you might not disdain to take up the baptism of the Lord. Let your Charity attend. There were going to be in the Church some catechumens of loftier grace. For it happens at times that you see a catechumen abstaining from all intercourse, bidding farewell to the world, renouncing all that he possessed, distributing it to the poor; and he is a catechumen, instructed perhaps even in saving doctrine beyond many of the faithful. It is to be feared for such a one that he may say within himself concerning holy Baptism, by which sins are forgiven: What more am I going to receive? Look, I am better than this believer and that believer: thinking of believers who are either married, or perhaps unlearned, or who hold and possess their own goods, which he himself has already distributed to the poor; and, judging himself better than that man who has already been baptized, he may disdain to come to Baptism, saying, I am going to receive what this man and that man has; and he may set before himself those whom he despises, and it may seem as it were mean to him to receive what inferiors have received, because he already appears to himself better: and yet all his sins are upon him, and unless he comes to saving Baptism, where sins are loosed, with all his excellence he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. But that the Lord might invite that excellence to His baptism, so that its sins might be forgiven it, He Himself came to the baptism of His servant: and although He Himself had nothing that

might be forgiven, nor that anything in Him should be washed, He received baptism from a servant; and it is as though He addressed a son who is proud and exalts himself, and who perhaps disdains to receive, together with the unlearned, that from which salvation could come to him, and as though saying: How far do you stretch yourself? How far do you exalt yourself? How great is your excellence? How great your grace? Can it be greater than Mine? If I came to the servant, do you disdain to come to the Lord? If I received the baptism of the servant, do you disdain to be baptized by the Lord?

14. For, that you may know, my brethren, that it was not from the necessity of any bond of sin that the Lord came to John himself: as the other evangelists say, when the Lord came to him to be baptized, John himself said: Do You come to me? I ought to be baptized by You. And what did He Himself answer him? Let it be now; let all righteousness be fulfilled (Matt. 3:14–15). What is "let all righteousness be fulfilled"? I came to die for men; am I not to be baptized for men? What is "let all righteousness be fulfilled"? Let all humility be fulfilled. What then? Was He not to receive baptism from a good servant, Who received His passion from wicked servants? Attend, then. If John baptized for this reason, that in his baptism the Lord might show humility, then once the Lord was baptized, should no one else have been baptized with the baptism of John? Yet many were baptized with the baptism of John; the Lord was baptized with the baptism of John, and the baptism of John ceased: thereupon John was now sent into prison; from then on no one is found baptized with that baptism. If, then, John too came baptizing for this reason, that the humility of the Lord might be shown to us, so that, because He received from a servant, we might not disdain to receive from the Lord, should John have baptized the Lord alone? But if John had baptized the Lord alone, there would not have been lacking those who would think that the baptism of John was holier than that of Christ: as if Christ alone had been worthy to be baptized with the baptism of John, but the human race with the baptism of Christ. Let your Charity attend. We have been baptized with the baptism of Christ, not only we, but also the whole world, and it is being baptized until the end. Which of us can in any respect be compared to Christ, the latchet of Whose shoe John said he was unworthy to loose? If, then, that Christ, a God-man of such great excellence, had alone been baptized with the baptism of John, what were men going to say? What kind of baptism did John have? He had a great baptism, an ineffable sacrament: see, Christ alone was worthy to be baptized with the baptism of John. And so the baptism of the servant would seem greater than the baptism of the Lord. Others too were baptized with the baptism of John, lest the baptism of John should seem better than that of Christ; but the Lord too was baptized, so that, since the Lord received the baptism of the servant, the other servants might not disdain to receive the baptism of the Lord: for this, then, John had been sent.

15. But did he know Christ, or did he not know Him? If he did not know Him, why did he say, when Christ came to the river: I ought to be baptized by You? That is: I know Who You are. If, then, he already knew Him, certainly he came to know Him then, when he saw the dove descending. It is manifest that the dove did not descend upon the Lord except after

He ascended from the water of baptism. The Lord, having been baptized, ascended from the water, the heavens were opened, and he saw the dove upon Him. If, then, the dove descended after the baptism, and before the Lord was baptized John said to Him, You come to me? I ought to be baptized by You? — beforehand, he knew Him to whom he said, You come to me? I ought to be baptized by You? How then did he say, "And I did not know Him; but He who sent me to baptize in water, He said to me, Upon whom you see the Spirit descending as a dove, and remaining upon Him, He it is who baptizes in the Holy Spirit"? It is no small question, my brothers. If you have seen the question, you have seen no little thing: it remains that the Lord give its solution. Yet this I say: if you have seen the question, it is not a little thing. Behold, John is placed before your eyes, John the Baptist standing at the river; behold, the Lord comes still to be baptized, not yet baptized: hear the voice of John, You come to me? I ought to be baptized by You; behold, he already recognizes the Lord, by whom he wishes to be baptized. The Lord, having been baptized, ascends from the water, the heavens are opened, the Spirit descends; now John recognizes Him: if he recognizes Him only now, why did he say before, I ought to be baptized by You? But if he does not recognize Him only now, because he already knew Him, what is it that he said, "I did not know Him; but He who sent me to baptize in water, He said to me, Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining upon Him as a dove, He it is who baptizes in the Holy Spirit"?

16. Brothers, if this question were solved today, it would weigh you down, I do not doubt, because many things have already been said. But know that this question is of such a kind that it alone destroys the party of Donatus. I have said this to your Charity in order to make you attentive, as I usually do; and at the same time that you may pray for us and for yourselves, that the Lord may grant both to us to speak worthy things, and that you may deserve to grasp worthy things. Meanwhile, be pleased to put it off today. But this I say briefly in the meantime, until it is solved: ask peaceably, without quarrel, without contention, without altercations, without enmities; both inquire among yourselves and ask others, and say, Our bishop put this question to us today, intending some time, if the Lord grants it, to solve it. But whether it is solved or not solved, consider that I have put forward what moves me: for I am greatly moved. John says, I ought to be baptized by You; as though Christ were known. For if he did not know Him by whom he wished to be baptized, he was speaking rashly when he said, I ought to be baptized by You. Therefore he knew Him. If he knew Him, what is it then that he says, I did not know Him; but He who sent me to baptize in water, He said to me, Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, as a dove, He it is who baptizes in the Holy Spirit? What are we going to say? That we do not know when the dove came? Lest perhaps they hide there, let the other evangelists be read, who have said it more plainly: and we find most openly that the dove descended at the time when the Lord ascended from the water. For over Him once baptized the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit descending (Matt. 3:16, Mark 1:10, and Luke 3: