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Augustinus, In Joannis Evangelium tractatus LI-LXIV

Tractate LIII

(Joan. XII, 25, 23). Hoc itaque isti animo retinentes, et quod nunc ait, Cum exaltatus fuero a terra, mortem crucis intelligentes, quaesierunt ab illo, et dixerunt: Nos audivimus ex Lege quia Christus manet in aeternum; et quomodo tu dicis, Oportet exaltari Filium hominis? Quis est enim iste Filius hominis? Si enim Christus est, inquiunt, manet in aeternum: si manet in aeternum, quomodo exaltabitur a terra: id est, quomodo crucis passione morietur? Hoc enim eum dixisse intelligebant, quod facere cogitabant. Non ergo eis verborum istorum obscuritatem aperuit infusa sapientia, sed stimulata conscientia.

(John 12:25, 23). Holding this, therefore, in mind, and understanding the death of the cross in what He now says, When I have been lifted up from the earth, they asked Him and said: We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains for ever; and how sayest Thou, The Son of Man must be lifted up? For who is this Son of Man? For if He is the Christ, they say, He remains for ever: if He remains for ever, how will He be lifted up from the earth: that is, how will He die by the suffering of the cross? For they understood Him to have said what they themselves were planning to do. So it was not infused wisdom that opened to them the obscurity of these words, but a goaded conscience.

13. Dixit ergo eis Jesus: Adhuc modicum lumen in vobis est. Hinc est quod intelligitis quia Christus manet in aeternum. Ergo ambulate dum lucem habetis, ut non tenebrae vos comprehendant. Ambulate, accedite, totum intelligite, et moriturum Christum, et victurum in aeternum, et sanguinem fusurum quo redimat, et ascensurum in sublimia quo perducat. Tenebrae autem vos comprehendent, si eo modo credideritis Christi aeternitatem, ut negetis in eo mortis humilitatem. Et qui ambulat in tenebris, nescit quo vadat. Sic potest offendere in lapidem offensionis, et petram scandali, quod fuit Dominus caecis Judaeis: sicut credenti⟨b⟩us lapis quem reprobaverunt aedificantes, factus est in caput anguli (I Petr. II, 6-8). Hinc dedignati sunt credere in Christum, quia eorum impietas contempsit mortuum, risit occisum: et ipsa erat mors grani multiplicandi, et exaltatio trahentis post se omnia. Dum lucem, inquit, habetis, credite in lucem, ut filii lucis sitis. Cum aliquid veri auditum habetis, credite in veritatem, ut renascamini in veritate.

13. Jesus therefore said to them: Yet a little light is in you. Hence it is that you understand that the Christ remains for ever. Therefore walk while you have the light, that the darkness may not overtake you. Walk, draw near, understand the whole: both that the Christ is to die and that He is to live for ever, both that He is to shed the blood by which He may redeem, and that He is to ascend into the heights whither He may lead. But the darkness will overtake you if you so believe in the eternity of Christ as to deny in Him the humility of death. And he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. So he can stumble on the stone of stumbling and the rock of offence, which the Lord was to the blind Jews: just as to believers the stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner (1 Pet. 2:6–8). Hence they disdained to believe in Christ, because their impiety despised Him dead and laughed at Him slain: and yet that very death was the death of the grain that was to be multiplied, and the exaltation of Him Who draws all things after Him. While you have the light, He says, believe in the light, that you may be sons of light. When you have heard something of what is true, believe in the truth, that you may be reborn in the truth.

14. Haec locutus est Jesus, et abiit, et abscondit se ab eis. Non ab eis qui credere et diligere coeperant, non ab eis qui cum ramis palmarum et laudibus obviam venerant: sed ab eis qui videbant et invidebant; quia nec videbant, sed in lapidem illum caecitate offendebant. Cum autem abscondit se Jesus ab eis qui eum occidere cupiebant (quod saepe propter oblivionem commonendi estis), nostrae infirmitati consuluit, non suae potestati derogavit.

14. These things Jesus spoke, and went away, and hid Himself from them. Not from those who had begun to believe and to love, not from those who had come to meet Him with branches of palms and with praises: but from those who saw and envied; because they did not even see, but stumbled in their blindness upon that stone. But when Jesus hid Himself from those who desired to kill Him (of which you often need to be reminded because of forgetfulness), He took thought for our weakness, He did not detract from His own power.

TRACTATUS LIII.

Tractate 53.

Ab eo quod scriptum est, Cum autem tanta signa fecisset coram eis, non credebant in eum; usque ad id, Dilexernnt gloriam hominum magis quam gloriam Dei. Cap. XII, ℣. 37-43.

From that which is written, But though He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him; as far as this, They loved the glory of men more than the glory of God. Chap. 12, vv. 37-43.

1. Praenuntiata Dominus Christus passione sua, et morte fructuosa in exaltatione crucis, ubi dixit se omnia tracturum esse post se, cum intellexissent Judaei quod de sua morte dixisset, et proposuissent ei quaestionem, quomodo diceret se esse moriturum, cum ex Lege audierint quod Christus manet in aeternum; hortatus est eos, ut dum adhuc modicum lumen in eis esset, quo Christum aeternum esse didicissent, ambularent, ut totum discerent, ne comprehenderentur a tenebris. Et cum haec esset locutus, abscondit se ab eis. Haec in superioribus dominicis lectionibus verbisque didicistis.

1. When the Lord Christ had foretold His passion and His fruitful death in the exaltation of the cross, where He said that He would draw all things after Him, and when the Jews had understood that He had spoken of His death and had put to Him the question how He could say that He was to die, since they had heard from the Law that the Christ remains for ever, He exhorted them that, while there was yet a little light in them, by which they had learned that the Christ is eternal, they should walk, so as to learn the whole, lest they be overtaken by the darkness. And when He had spoken these things, He hid Himself from them. These things you learned in the earlier readings and words of the Lord.

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2. Deinde intulit Evangelista unde hodiernum capitulum recitatum est, et ait: Cum autem tanta signa fecisset coram eis, non credebant in eum: ut sermo Isaiae prophetae impleretur quem dixit, Domine, quis credidit auditui nostro? et brachium Domini cui revelatum est? Ubi satis ostendit brachium Domini ipsum Filium Dei nuncupatum; non quod Deus Pater figura determinetur carnis humanae, eique Filius tanquam membrum corporis haereat: sed quia omnia per ipsum facta sunt, ideo brachium Domini dictum est. Sicut enim tuum brachium, per quod operaris; sic Dei brachium dictum est ejus Verbum, quia per Verbum operatus est mundum. Cur enim homo ut aliquid operetur, brachium extendit, nisi quia non continuo fit quod dixerit? Si autem tanta potestate praevaleret, ut sine ullo motu corporis sui quod diceret fieret, brachium ejus verbum ejus esset. Sed Dominus Jesus unigenitus Dei Patris Filius, sicut non est paterni corporis membrum, ita non est cogitabile vel sonabile ac transitorium verbum; quia cum omnia per ipsum facta sunt, Dei Verbum erat.

2. Then the Evangelist added the passage from which today's chapter was read, and says: But though He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him: that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, Lord, who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Here he shows clearly enough that the Son of God Himself is called the arm of the Lord; not that God the Father is bounded by the shape of human flesh, and the Son clings to Him as a member of the body, but because all things were made through Him, therefore He is called the arm of the Lord. For just as your arm is that through which you work, so the Word of God is called His arm, because through the Word He worked the world. For why does a man stretch out his arm in order to do something, except because what he has said is not done at once? But if he excelled with such great power that what he said would be done without any movement of his body, his word would be his arm. But the Lord Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God the Father, just as He is not a member of the Father's body, so is He not a word that can be thought or sounded and passes away; for since all things were made through Him, He was the Word of God.

3. Cum ergo audimus brachium Dei Patris esse Dei Filium, non nobis obstrepat consuetudo carnalis: sed quantum illo donante possumus, Virtutem Dei et Sapientiam cogitemus, per quam facta sunt omnia. Tale quippe brachium nec porrectum extenditur, nec collectum contrahitur. Non est enim ipse qui Pater, sed unum sunt ipse et Pater; et aequalis Patri ubique totus est sicut Pater: ne aliqua pateat occasio detestabili errori eorum, qui dicunt solum esse Patrem, sed pro diversitate causarum ipsum dici Filium, ipsum dici Spiritum sanctum; et in his verbis audeant dicere, Ecce videtis quia solus est Pater, si brachium ejus est Filius; non enim duae, sed una persona est homo et brachium ejus. Non intelligentes neque advertentes, quomodo verba de rebus aliis ad res alias transferantur, propter aliquam similitudinem etiam in locutionibus quotidianis de visibilibus et notissimis rebus; quanto magis ut nobis ineffabilia qualitercumque dicantur, quae dici sicuti sunt, omnino non possunt? Nam et homo alterum hominem per quem solet agere quidquid agit, brachium suum appellat: et si ei auferatur, dolens dicit, Brachium perdidi; et ei qui abstulerit, dicit Brachium meum mihi abstulisti. Intelligant ergo quomodo dictus sit Filius Patris brachium, per quod Pater operatus est omnia; ne hoc non intelligendo, et in sui erroris tenebris permanendo, similes sint Judaeis ipsis, de quibus dictum est, Et brachium Domini cui revelatum est?

3. When, therefore, we hear that the arm of God the Father is the Son of God, let not carnal habit clamour against us; but, as far as we are able by His gift, let us think of the Power and Wisdom of God, through which all things were made. For such an arm is neither stretched out by being extended, nor drawn in by being gathered back. For He is not the same as the Father, but He and the Father are one; and, equal to the Father, He is everywhere whole, just as the Father is: lest any opening should lie open to the detestable error of those who say that only the Father exists, but that according to the diversity of causes the same one is called the Son, the same one is called the Holy Spirit; and who might dare to say in these words, See, you perceive that the Father alone exists, if the Son is His arm; for a man and his arm are not two persons, but one. They neither understand nor notice how words are carried over from some things to other things on account of some likeness, even in everyday speech about visible and very well-known things; how much more so, that things ineffable may be spoken of to us in some manner or other, which cannot at all be spoken of as they are? For a man too calls another man, through whom he is accustomed to do whatever he does, his arm; and if he is taken from him, he says in grief, I have lost my arm; and to the one who has taken him away he says, You have taken my arm from me. Let them therefore understand in what way the Son is called the arm of the Father, through which the Father has worked all things; lest, by not understanding this and by remaining in the darkness of their own error, they be like the Jews themselves, of whom it was said, And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

4. Hic occurrit altera quaestio, de qua quidem ut competenter aliquid disputetur, et omnes ejus latebrosissimi sinus perscrutentur et excutiantur ut dignum est, nec mearum virium esse arbitror, nec angustiarum temporis, nec vestrae capacitatis. Tamen quia transire ad alia vestra expectatione non sinimur,

4. Here another question presents itself, on which, indeed, that something should be fittingly discussed and all its most hidden recesses searched out and shaken out as is worthy is, I judge, neither within my powers, nor within the narrow limits of the time, nor within your capacity. Yet since we are not allowed by your expectation to pass on to other things,

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Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 1775

Hic Er. et Lov. addunt, quia verbum est cogitabile vel sonabile: quod totum abest a Mss., praeter paucos, qui cum Am. et Bad. habent, quia verbum non est cogitabile vel sonabile.

Here Erasmus and the Louvain edition add quia verbum est cogitabile vel sonabile ("because a word is something thinkable or soundable"). All of it is missing from the manuscripts, except a few that, with Amerbach and Badius, read quia verbum non est cogitabile vel sonabile ("because the Word is not thinkable or soundable").

(printed under page 236)

(2) ‹anchor: verbis audeant› · call in col 1775

Sic in Mss. At in editis, audent.

So in the manuscripts. But in the editions: audent ("they dare", indicative).

(printed under page 236)

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nisi aliquid inde dicamus, accipite quod potuerimus: et ubi vestrae exspectationi non suffecerimus, ab illo incrementum poscite qui nos plantare posuit et rigare; quia, sicut dicit Apostolus, Neque qui plantat est aliquid, neque qui rigat; sed qui incrementum dat Deus (I Cor. III, 7). Quidam ergo inter se mussitant, et ubi possunt aliquando proclamant, et turbulenta disceptatione contendunt, dicentes: Quid fecerunt Judaei, vel quae culpa eorum fuit, si necesse erat ut sermo Isaiae prophetae impleretur quem dixit, Domine, quis credidit auditui nostro? et brachium Domini cui revelatum est? Quibus respondemus, Dominum praescium futurorum, per Prophetam praedixisse infidelitatem Judaeorum; praedixisse tamen, non fecisse. Non enim propterea quemquam Deus ad peccandum cogit, quia futura hominum peccata jam novit. Ipsorum enim praescivit peccata, non sua; non cujusquam alterius, sed ipsorum. Quapropter si ea quae ille praescivit ipsorum, non sunt ipsorum; non vere ille praescivit: sed quia illius praescientia falli non potest; sine dubio non alius, sed ipsi peccant, quos Deus peccaturos esse praescivit. Fecerunt ergo peccatum Judaei, quod eos non compulit facere, cui peccatum non placet; sed facturos esse praedixit, quem nihil latet. Et ideo si non malum, sed bonum facere voluissent, non prohiberentur; et hoc facturi praeviderentur ab eo qui novit quid sit quisque facturus, et quid ei sit pro ejus opere redditurus.

unless we say something about it, receive what we shall have been able [to give]; and where we fall short of your expectation, ask for the increase from Him Who appointed us to plant and to water; because, as the Apostle says, Neither is he who plants anything, nor he who waters; but God Who gives the increase (1 Cor. 3:7). Some, then, mutter among themselves, and where they can they sometimes cry out, and contend in turbulent disputation, saying: What did the Jews do, or what fault was theirs, if it was necessary that the word of Isaiah the prophet should be fulfilled which he spoke, Lord, who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? To whom we answer that the Lord, foreknowing things to come, foretold through the Prophet the unbelief of the Jews; foretold it, however, not caused it. For God does not compel anyone to sin on this account, that He already knows the future sins of men. For it was their sins that He foreknew, not His own; not those of anyone else, but theirs. Wherefore, if the things which He foreknew as theirs are not theirs, He did not truly foreknow; but since His foreknowledge cannot be deceived, without doubt it is not another, but they themselves who sin, whom God foreknew would sin. The Jews, therefore, committed the sin which He to Whom sin is not pleasing did not compel them to commit; but He from Whom nothing is hidden foretold that they would commit it. And therefore, if they had wished to do not evil but good, they would not have been prevented; and they would have been foreseen as going to do this by Him Who knows what each one is going to do, and what He is going to render to him for his work.

5. Sed et quae sequuntur Evangelii verba plus urgent, et profundiorem faciunt quaestionem: adjungit enim, et dicit, Propterea non poterant credere, quia iterum dixit Isaias: Excaecavit oculos eorum, et induravit cor eorum, ut non videant oculis, et intelligant corde, et convertantur, et sanem illos. Dicitur enim nobis: Si non potuerunt credere, quod peccatum est hominis non facientis quod non potest facere? si autem non credendo peccaverunt, potuerunt ergo credere, et non fecerunt. Si ergo potuerunt, quomodo dicit Evangelium, Propterea non poterant credere, quia iterum dixit Isaias, Excaecavit oculos eorum, et induravit cor eorum; ut, quod est gravius, ad Deum referatur causa qua non crediderunt, quandoquidem ipse excaecavit oculos eorum, et induravit cor eorum? Non enim saltem hoc de diabolo dicitur, sed de Deo, quod ipsa prophetica Scriptura testatur. Nam si arbitremur hoc dictum de diabolo, quod excaecavit oculos eorum, et cor induravit; laborandum est quomodo illorum culpam, quia non crediderunt, possimus ostendere, de quibus dicitur, non poterant credere. Deinde quid respondebimus de alio prophetae ipsius testimonio, quod posuit Paulus apostolus dicens: Quod quaerebat Israel, hoc non est consecutus; electio autem consecuta est: caeteri vero excaecati sunt, sicut scriptum est, Dedit illis Deus spiritum compunctionis; oculos, ut non videant, et aures, ut non audiant, usque in hodiernum diem (Rom. XI, 7, Isai. VI, 10).

5. But the words of the Gospel that follow press harder still, and make the question deeper: for it adds and says, Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, so that they may not see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I heal them. For it is said to us: If they could not believe, what sin is it of a man not to do what he cannot do? But if they sinned by not believing, then they could believe, and did not. If, then, they could, how does the Gospel say, Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again, He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; so that, what is graver, the cause of their not believing is referred to God, since He Himself has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart? For this is not said at least of the devil, but of God, as the prophetic Scripture itself testifies. For if we were to think that this, that he has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, was said of the devil, we must labour [to see] how we may show the fault of those of whom it is said, they could not believe, in that they did not believe. Then what shall we answer concerning another testimony of the same prophet, which the apostle Paul set down, saying: What Israel was seeking, this it has not obtained; but the election has obtained it: and the rest have been blinded, as it is written, God gave them a spirit of compunction; eyes, that they may not see, and ears, that they may not hear, unto this present day (Rom. 11:7; Isa. 6:10).

6. Audistis, fratres, propositam quaestionem, nempe quam profunda sit cernitis: sed respondemus ut possumus. Non poterant credere, quia hoc Isaias propheta praedixit: hoc autem Propheta praedixit, quia Deus hoc futurum esse praescivit. Quare autem non poterant,

6. You have heard, brethren, the question put forward, and surely you perceive how deep it is: but we answer as we can. They could not believe, because Isaiah the prophet foretold this: but the Prophet foretold this because God foreknew that this would be. But why they could not,

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si a me quaeratur, cito respondeo, quia nolebant: malam quippe eorum voluntatem praevidit Deus, et per Prophetam praenuntiavit ille cui abscondi futura non possunt. Sed aliam causam, inquis, dicit Propheta non voluntatis eorum. Quam causam dicit Propheta? Quia dedit illis Deus spiritum compunctionis; oculos, ut non videant, et aures, ut non audiant, et excaecavit oculos eorum, et induravit cor eorum. Etiam hoc eorum voluntatem meruisse respondeo. Sic enim excaecat, sic obdurat Deus, deserendo et non adjuvando: quod occulto judicio facere postest, iniquo non potest. Hoc omnino pietas religiosorum inconcussum debet inviolatumque servare; sicut Apostolus, cum eamdem ipsam tractaret difficillimam quaestionem, Quid ergo dicemus, inquit? numquid iniquitas apud Deum? Absit (Rom. IX, 14). Si ergo absit ut sit iniquitas apud Deum; sive quando adjuvat, misericorditer facit; sive quando non adjuvat, juste facit: quia omnia non temeritate, sed judicio facit. Porro si judicia sanctorum justa sunt, quanto magis sanctificantis et justificantis Dei? Justa ergo sunt, sed occulta. Ideo cum quaestiones hujusmodi in medium venerint, quare alius sic, alius autem sic; quare ille Deo deserente excaecetur, ille Deo adjuvante illuminetur: non nobis judicium de judicio tanti judicis usurpemus, sed contremiscentes exclamemus cum Apostolo, O altitudo divitiarum sapientiae et scientiae Dei! quam inscrutabilia sunt judicia ejus, et investigabiles viae ejus (Id. XI, 33)! Unde dictum est in Psalmo, Judicia tua, sicut multa abyssus (Psal. XXXV, 7).

if I am asked, I answer at once: because they did not will to. For God foresaw their evil will, and He from Whom things to come cannot be hidden foretold it through the Prophet. "But," you say, "the Prophet gives another cause, not that of their will." What cause does the Prophet give? That God gave them a spirit of compunction; eyes, that they may not see, and ears, that they may not hear; and He blinded their eyes and hardened their heart. This too, I answer, their will deserved. For God blinds in this way, hardens in this way: by forsaking and not helping; and this He can do by a hidden judgement, by an unjust one He cannot. This the piety of the devout ought to keep altogether unshaken and inviolate; just as the Apostle, when he was treating this very same most difficult question, says, What then shall we say? Is there injustice with God? Far from it (Rom. 9:14). If then it is far from it that there should be injustice with God, then whether He helps, He acts mercifully, or whether He does not help, He acts justly; for He does all things not by rashness but by judgement. Moreover, if the judgements of the saints are just, how much more those of God, Who sanctifies and justifies? They are just, therefore, but hidden. So when questions of this kind come into the open, why one man is so and another so, why one is blinded when God forsakes him and another is enlightened when God helps him, let us not usurp for ourselves judgement upon the judgement of so great a Judge, but trembling let us cry out with the Apostle, O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are His judgements, and His ways past tracing out (ibid. 11:33)! Whence it is said in the Psalm, Thy judgements are like a great deep (Ps. 35:7).

7. Non ergo me, fratres, ad hanc penetrandam altitudinem, ad hanc abyssum discutiendam, ad inscrutabilia perscrutanda, expectatio vestrae Charitatis impingat. Agnosco modulum meum, sentire mihi videor etiam modulum vestrum. Altius est hoc incrementis meis, et fortius viribus meis; puto quia et vestris. Simul ergo audiamus admonentem Scripturam atque dicentem, Altiora te ne quaesieris, et fortiora te ne scrutatus fue⟨r⟩is (Eccli. III, 22). Non quia ista negata sunt nobis, cum Deus magister dicat, Nihil est occultum quod non revelabitur (Matth. X, 26): sed si in quod pervenimus, in eo ambulemus, sicut dicit Apostolus, non solum quod nescimus et scire debemus, sed etiam si quid aliter sapimus, id quoque nobis Deus revelabit (Philipp. III, 15 et 16). Pervenimus autem in viam fidei, hanc perseverantissime teneamus: ipsa perducet ad cubiculum regis, in quo sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae absconditi (Coloss. II, 3). Non enim ipse Dominus Jesus Christus suis illis magnis et praecipue electis discipulis invidebat, quando dicebat, Multa habeo vobis dicere, sed non potestis illa portare modo (Joan. XVI, 12). Ambulandum est, proficiendum est, crescendum est, ut sint corda nostra capacia earum rerum quas capere modo non possumus. Quod si nos ultimus dies proficientes invenerit, ibi discemus quod hic non potuimus.

7. So, brothers, let not the expectation of your Charity drive me to penetrating this height, to sifting this abyss, to searching out things inscrutable. I acknowledge my small measure, and I think I perceive your small measure too. This is higher than my growth and stronger than my strength; and, I think, than yours as well. Let us therefore listen together to Scripture admonishing us and saying, Seek not things higher than you, and search not into things stronger than you (Sir. 3:22). Not that these things are denied to us, since God our Teacher says, There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed (Matt. 10:26); but if we walk in that to which we have attained, then, as the Apostle says, not only what we do not know and ought to know, but even if we think otherwise in anything, this too God will reveal to us (Phil. 3:15–16). Now we have attained to the way of faith; let us hold to it most perseveringly: it will lead us to the chamber of the King, in which are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3). For the Lord Jesus Christ Himself did not begrudge those great and especially chosen disciples of His when He said, I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now (John 16:12). We must walk, we must advance, we must grow, so that our hearts may be capable of those things which we cannot grasp now. And if the last day finds us advancing, there we shall learn what we could not here.

8. Si quis autem istam quaestionem liquidius et melius novit se posse et confidit exponere, absit ut non sim paratior discere quam docere. Tantum ne audeat

8. But if anyone knows that he can expound this question more clearly and better, and is confident of doing so, far be it from me not to be more ready to learn than to teach. Only let him not dare

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quisquam liberum arbitrium sic defendere, ut nobis orationem qua dicimus, Ne nos inferas in tentationem, conetur auferre: rursus, ne quisquam neget voluntatis arbitrium, et audeat excusare peccatum. Sed audiamus Dominum, et praecipientem, et opitulantem; et jubentem quid facere debeamus, et adjuvantem ut implere possimus. Nam et quosdam nimia suae voluntatis fiducia extulit in superbiam; et quosdam nimia suae voluntatis diffidentia dejecit in negligentiam. Illi dicunt: Utquid rogamus Deum ne vincamur tentatione, quod in nostra est potestate? Isti dicunt: Utquid conamur bene vivere, quod in Dei est potestate? O Domine, o Pater qui es in coelis, ne nos inferas in quamlibet istarum tentationum, sed libera nos a malo (Matth. VI, 13)! Audiamus Dominum dicentem, Rogavi pro te, Petre, ne deficiat fides tua (Luc. XXII, 32); ne sic existimemus fidem nostram esse in libero arbitrio, ut divino non egeat adjutorio. Audiamus et Evangelistam dicentem, Dedit eis potestatem filios Dei fieri (Joan. I, 12); ne omnino existimemus in nostra potestate non esse quod credimus: verumtamen in utroque illius beneficia cognoscamus. Nam et agendae sunt gratiae, quia data est potestas; et orandum, ne succumbat infirmitas (Galat. V, 6). Ipsa est fides quae per dilectionem operatur, sicut ejus mensuram Dominus cuique partitus est (Rom. XII, 3); ut qui gloriatur, non in seipso, sed in Domino glorietur (I Cor. I, 31).

anyone so defend free choice as to try to take away from us the prayer in which we say, Lead us not into temptation; nor again, on the other hand, let anyone deny the choice of the will and dare to excuse sin. But let us hear the Lord, both commanding and helping; both ordering what we ought to do, and assisting us so that we may be able to fulfil it. For excessive confidence in their own will has lifted some up into pride; and excessive distrust of their own will has cast others down into negligence. The former say: Why do we ask God that we may not be overcome by temptation, when that is in our power? The latter say: Why do we strive to live well, when that is in God's power? O Lord, O Father Who art in heaven, lead us not into any one of these temptations, but deliver us from evil (Matt. 6:13)! Let us hear the Lord saying, I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith may not fail (Luke 22:32); so that we may not think our faith to be so in our free choice that it has no need of divine help. Let us hear also the Evangelist saying, He gave them power to become sons of God (John 1:12); so that we may not think that it is not at all in our power that we believe: yet in both let us recognize His benefits. For thanks must be given, because the power has been given; and prayer must be made, that weakness may not give way (Gal. 5:6). This is the faith which works through love, according as the Lord has apportioned its measure to each (Rom. 12:3); that he who glories may glory not in himself, but in the Lord (1 Cor. 1:31).

9. Non itaque mirum est quia non poterant credere, quorum voluntas sic superba erat, ut ignorantes Dei justitiam, suam vellent constituere: sicut dicit de illis Apostolus, Justitiae Dei non sunt subjecti (Rom. X, 3). Quia enim non ex fide, sed tanquam ex operibus tumuerunt; ipso suo tumore caecati, offenderunt in lapidem offensionis. Sic autem dictum est non poterant, ubi intelligendum est quod nolebant; quemadmodum dictum est de Domino Deo nostro, Si non credimus, ille fidelis permanet, negare seipsum non potest (II Tim. II, 13). De omnipotente dictum est, non potest. Sicut ergo quod Dominus negare seipsum non potest, laus est voluntatis divinae; ita quod illi non poterant credere, culpa est voluntatis humanae.

9. It is therefore no wonder that they could not believe, whose will was so proud that, being ignorant of God's righteousness, they wished to establish their own: as the Apostle says of them, They have not submitted to the righteousness of God (Rom. 10:3). For because they were puffed up not from faith, but as it were from works, blinded by their very swelling they stumbled on the stone of stumbling. Now it was said they could not in such a way that it is to be understood that they would not; just as it has been said of the Lord our God, If we do not believe, He remains faithful, He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim. 2:13). Of the Almighty it has been said, He cannot. As therefore the fact that the Lord cannot deny Himself is the praise of the divine will, so the fact that they could not believe is the fault of the human will.

10. Ecce dico et ego, quod qui tam superbe sapiunt, ut suae voluntatis viribus tantum existiment esse tribuendum, ut negent sibi esse necessarium divinum adjutorium ad bene vivendum, non possunt credere in Christum. Non enim aliquid prosunt syllabae nominis Christi, et Sacramenta Christi, ubi resistitur fidei Christi. Fides autem Christi est, credere in eum qui justificat impium (Rom. IV, 5); credere in Mediatorem, sine quo interposito non reconciliamur Deo; credere in Salvatorem, qui venit quod perierat quaerere atque salvare (Luc. XIX, 10); credere in eum qui dixit, Sine me nihil potestis facere (Joan. XV, 5). Quia ergo ignorans Dei justitiam qua justificatur impius, suam vult constituere qua convincatur superbus, in hunc non potest credere. Hinc et illi non poterant credere: non quia mutari in melius homines non possunt; sed quamdiu talia sapiunt, non possunt credere. Hinc excaecantur, et indurantur; quia negando divinum

10. Behold, I too say that those who are so proudly minded as to think that so much is to be attributed to the strength of their own will that they deny that divine help is necessary to them for living well, cannot believe in Christ. For the syllables of the name of Christ, and the Sacraments of Christ, profit nothing where the faith of Christ is resisted. Now the faith of Christ is to believe in Him Who justifies the ungodly (Rom. 4:5); to believe in the Mediator, without Whose intervention we are not reconciled to God; to believe in the Saviour, Who came to seek and to save what had perished (Luke 19:10); to believe in Him Who said, Without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5). Since therefore he who is ignorant of the righteousness of God by which the ungodly is justified wishes to establish his own, by which the proud man is convicted, he cannot believe in Him. Hence those men too could not believe: not because men cannot be changed for the better; but as long as they are so minded, they cannot believe. Hence they are blinded and hardened; because by denying divine

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adjutorium, non adjuvantur. Hoc de Judaeis qui excaecati et indurati sunt, Deus praescivit, atque in ejus Spiritu Propheta praedixit.

help, they are not helped. This God foreknew concerning the Jews who have been blinded and hardened, and the Prophet foretold it in His Spirit.

11. Quod vero addidit, Et convertantur et sanem eos: utrum subaudiendum sit, non, id est, non convertantur, connexa desuper sententia, ubi dictum est, ut non videant oculis et intelligant corde; quia et hic utique dictum est, ut non intelligant? et ipsa enim conversio de illius gratia est, cui dicitur, Deus virtutum, converte nos (Psal. LXXIX, 8). An forte et hoc de supernae medicinae misericordia factum intelligendum est, ut quoniam superbae et perversae voluntatis erant, et suam justitiam constituere volebant, ad hoc desererentur, ut excaecarentur; ad hoc excaecarentur, ut offenderent in lapidem offensionis, et impleretur facies eorum ignominia; atque ita humiliati quaererent nomen Domini, et non suam qua inflatur superbus, sed justitiam Dei qua justificatur impius? Hoc enim multis eorum profecit in bonum, qui de suo scelere compuncti, in Christum postea crediderunt: pro quibus et ipse oraverat dicens, Pater, ignosce illis, quia nesciunt quid faciunt (Luc. XXIII, 34). De qua eorum ignorantia et Apostolus dicit, Testimonium illis perhibeo quia zelum Dei habent, sed non secundum scientiam: tunc enim et hoc subjunxit, atque ait, Ignorantes enim Dei justitiam, et suam volentes constituere, justitiae Dei non sunt subjecti (Rom. X, 2, 3).

11. But as to what he added, And they should be converted and I should heal them: is "not" to be understood, that is, "they should not be converted", the sentence being joined to the one above, where it was said, that they may not see with the eyes and understand with the heart, since here too it was surely said, that they may not understand? For conversion itself is also of His grace, to Whom it is said, O God of powers, convert us (Ps. 79:8). Or perhaps this too is to be understood as done by the mercy of the heavenly medicine, that, since they were of a proud and perverse will and wished to establish their own righteousness, they were abandoned to this end, that they might be blinded; blinded to this end, that they might stumble on the stone of stumbling, and their face be filled with shame; and so, humbled, might seek the name of the Lord, and not their own righteousness, by which the proud man is puffed up, but the righteousness of God, by which the ungodly man is justified? For this profited many of them for good, who, pricked to the heart over their own crime, afterwards believed in Christ: for whom He Himself also had prayed, saying, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34). Of this ignorance of theirs the Apostle also says, I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge: for then he also added this, and says, For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God and wishing to establish their own, they have not been subject to the righteousness of God (Rom. 10:2–3).

12. Haec dixit Isaias, quando vidit gloriam ejus, et locutus est de eo. Quid viderit Isaias, et hoc quomodo ad Dominum Christum pertineat, in libro ejus legendum et intelligendum est. Vidit enim non sicuti est, sed modo quodam significativo, sicut Prophetae visio fuerat informanda. Nam vidit et Moyses, et tamen ei quem videbat dicebat, Si inveni gratiam ante te, ostende mihi temetipsum, manifeste ut videam te (Exod. XXXIII, 13); quia non videbat sicuti est. Quando autem nobis hoc futurum sit, idem iste sanctus Joannes evangelista in Epistola sua dicit: Dilectissimi, Filii Dei sumus, et nondum apparuit quid erimus: scimus quia cum apparuerit, similes ei erimus, quoniam videbimus eum sicuti est (I Joan. III, 2). Poterat dicere, quoniam videbimus eum, et non addere, sicuti est: sed quia sciebat a quibusdam patribus et prophetis visum, sed non sicuti est; ideo cum dixisset, videbimus eum, addidit, sicuti est. Nemo enim vos fallat, fratres, eorum qui dicunt invisibilem Patrem, et visibilem Filium. Hi enim hoc asserunt qui putant eum esse creaturam; nec intelligunt secundum quid dictum sit, Ego et Pater unum sumus (Joan. X, 30). Prorsus in forma Dei in qua aequalis est Patri, etiam Filius invisibilis est: ut autem ab hominibus videretur, formam servi accepit, et in similitudine hominum factus (Philipp. II, 7), visibilis factus est. Ostendit ergo se etiam, antequam

12. These things Isaiah said, when he saw His glory, and spoke of Him. What Isaiah saw, and how this pertains to the Lord Christ, is to be read and understood in his book. For he saw not as He is, but in a certain signifying manner, as the vision of a Prophet was to be shaped. For Moses too saw, and yet to Him Whom he was seeing he said, If I have found favour before Thee, show me Thyself, openly, that I may see Thee (Exod. 33:13); because he was not seeing as He is. But when this is to be for us, this same holy John the evangelist says in his Epistle: Most beloved, we are sons of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be: we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). He could have said, because we shall see Him, and not have added, as He is: but because he knew that He had been seen by certain fathers and prophets, yet not as He is, therefore, when he had said, we shall see Him, he added, as He is. For let none of those deceive you, brethren, who say that the Father is invisible and the Son visible. For those assert this who think Him to be a creature; nor do they understand in respect of what it was said, I and the Father are one (John 10:30). Altogether, in the form of God, in which He is equal to the Father, the Son also is invisible: but that He might be seen by men, He took the form of a servant, and, being made in the likeness of men (Phil. 2:7), He was made visible. He showed Himself, therefore, even before

Editors' notes and page, col. 1779

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: in similitudine› · call in col 1779

Editi, in similitudinem. At Mss., in similitudine; juxta graec., en omoiômati.

The editions: in similitudinem (accusative). But the manuscripts: in similitudine (ablative), in keeping with the Greek en homoiōmati.

(printed under page 238)

(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 1779

Forte legendum, dictum non est: nisi sensus sit negationem praefixam verbo videant, mente adjungi ad verbum intelligant. Et quidem Vulgata Evangelii versio in excusis habet, et non intelligant corde; sed in antiquis Corbeiensibus Bibliis, graeco consentiens negationem hoc loco minime repetit.

Perhaps read dictum non est ("it is not said"), unless the sense is that the negative placed before the verb videant is to be understood as joined also to the verb intelligant. And indeed the Vulgate version of the Gospel in the printed copies has et non intelligant corde ("and not understand with the heart"); but in the ancient Corbie Bibles, agreeing with the Greek, it does not repeat the negative at this place.

(printed under page 238)