Migne Reading Room

PL 35 · cols. 1820–1823

Augustinus, In Joannis Evangelium tractatus LXVI-LXXXIV

Tractates LXXI–LXXII

PL 35:1820
enim dicis, inquit, Ostende nobis Patrem? Si me vidisti qui omnimodo similis sum, vidisti illum cui similis sum. Quod si videre non potes, non saltem credis quia ego in Patre, et Pater in me est? Poterat hic dicere Philippus: Video quidem te, et credo simillimum esse Patri; sed numquid arguendus et objurgandus est qui cum similem videt, etiam illum cui similis est vult videre? Similem quidem novi, sed adhuc alterum sine altero novi; non mihi sufficit, nisi et illum cujus est iste similis noverim. Ostende itaque nobis Patrem, et sufficit nobis. Sed ideo magister discipulum arguebat, quoniam cor postulantis videbat. Tanquam enim melior esset Pater quam Filius, ita Philippus Patrem nosse cupiebat: et ideo nec Filium sciebat, quo melius esse aliquid credebat. Ad hunc sensum corrigendum dictum est, Qui videt me, videt et Patrem. Quomodo tu dicis, Ostende nobis Putrem? Video quomodo tu dicas: non alterum quaeris videre similem, sed illum putas esse meliorem. Non credis quia ego in Patre, et Pater in me est? Cur in similibus distantiam cupis cernere? cur inseparabiles separatim desideras nosse? Deinde non ad solum Philippum, sed ad eos pluraliter loquitur, quae non sunt in angustias coarctanda, ut adjuvante ipso diligentius exponantur.
do you say, He says, Show us the Father? If you have seen Me, Who am in every way like [Him], you have seen Him to Whom I am like. But if you cannot see [Him], do you not at least believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? Philip could have said here: I do indeed see You, and I believe You to be most like the Father; but is he to be reproved and rebuked who, when he sees one who is like, wishes also to see Him to Whom he is like? The one who is like I do indeed know, but as yet I know the one without the other; it is not enough for me unless I also know Him Whose likeness this one is. Show us therefore the Father, and it is enough for us. But the Master reproved the disciple for this reason, that He saw the heart of the one asking. For Philip desired to know the Father as though the Father were better than the Son; and for that reason he did not know the Son either, since he believed something to be better than He. It was to correct this way of thinking that it was said, He who sees Me sees the Father also. How do you say, Show us the Father? I see how you say it: you are not seeking to see another who is like, but you think Him to be better. Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? Why do you wish to discern distance between those who are alike? Why do you desire to know separately those who are inseparable? Then He speaks not to Philip alone but to them in the plural, words which are not to be squeezed into narrow straits, so that with His help they may be expounded more carefully.
TRACTATUS LXXI.
Tractate 71.
In id quod Dominus dicit, Verba quae ego loquor vobis, a meipso non loquor; usque ad id, Si quid petieritis Patrem in nomine meo, hoc faciam. Cap. XIV, ℣ 10-14.
On that which the Lord says, The words that I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself; as far as this, If you ask the Father anything in My name, this I will do. (John 14:10–14)
1. Audite auribus, accipite mentibus, dilectissimi, loquentibus quidem nobis, sed ipso docente qui non recedit a nobis. Dominus dicit, quod modo cum legeretur audistis, Verba quae ego loquor vobis, a meipso non loquor: Pater autem in me manens ipse facit opera. Ergo et verba opera sunt? Plane ita est. Nam profecto qui proximum loquendo aedificat, bonum opus operatur. Sed quid est, a meipso non loquor, nisi, a meipso non sum qui loquor? Ei quippe tribuit quod facit, de quo est ipse qui facit. Pater enim Deus non est de aliquo, Filius autem Deus est quidem Patri aequalis, sed de Patre Deo. Ideo ille Deus, sed non de Deo; et lumen, sed non de lumine: iste vero Deus de Deo, lumen de lumine.
1. Hear with your ears, receive with your minds, most beloved, while we indeed are speaking, but He is teaching Who does not withdraw from us. The Lord says, as you heard just now when it was read, The words that I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself: but the Father abiding in Me, He does the works. Are words, then, also works? Plainly it is so. For surely he who builds up his neighbour by speaking performs a good work. But what is, I do not speak from Myself, except, I who speak am not from Myself? For He attributes what He does to Him from Whom He Himself Who does it is. For God the Father is not from anyone, but God the Son is indeed equal to the Father, yet from God the Father. Therefore the former is God, but not from God; and light, but not from light: the latter, however, is God from God, light from light.
2. Nam in his duabus sententiis, una qua dictum est, Non a meipso loquor: alia qua dictum est, Pater autem in me manens, ipse facit opera: singulas tenentes, diversi nobis adversantur haeretici, qui non ex una parte, sed in contraria conantes, a via veritatis exorbitant. Ariani quippe dicunt: Ecce inaequalis est Patri Filius, a seipso non loquitur. Dicunt Sabelliani contra, id est Patripassiani: Ecce qui Pater est ipse et Filius; quid enim est, Pater in me manens, ipse facit opera, nisi, in me maneo ego qui facio? Contraria dicitis: sed non eo modo sicut est falsum contrarium vero, sed sicut sunt inter se duo falsa contraria. Errando in diversa istis, in medio est via quam reliquistis. Inter vos ipsos longiore intervallo separati
2. For with regard to these two sayings, the one in which it is said, I do not speak from Myself, the other in which it is said, But the Father abiding in Me, He does the works, different heretics oppose us, each holding to one of them, who, striving not from one side but in contrary directions, swerve from the way of truth. For the Arians say: See, the Son is unequal to the Father; He does not speak from Himself. The Sabellians, that is, the Patripassians, say on the contrary: See, He Who is the Father is Himself also the Son; for what is, The Father abiding in Me, He does the works, except, I Who do them abide in Myself? You say contrary things: but not in the way in which the false is contrary to the true, but as two falsehoods are contrary to each other. Straying, you have gone off in opposite directions; in the middle is the way which you have left. Separated from one another by a longer interval
Editors' notes and page, col. 1820

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: via quam reliquistis› · call in col 1820

Er. Lugd. et Ven. sic habent hunc locum : In diversa itis, in medio est via quam relinquitis. M.

The Erasmus, Lyons and Venice editions have this passage thus: "You go in opposite directions; in the middle is the way that you are leaving." M.

(printed under page 258)

Page

  • running head: VANGELIUM, S. AUGUSTINI 1820
  • marginal letters: (none)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 35:1821
e⟨s⟩tis, quam ab ipsa via cujus desertores estis. Vos hinc, vos autem illinc, huc venite: alteri ad alteros transire nolite, sed hinc atque illinc ad nos veniendo, invicem vos invenite. Sabelliani, agnoscite quem praetermittitis; Ariani, aequate quem subditis, et in via vera nobisc⟨u⟩m ambulabitis. Est enim quod invicem ex vobis alteri ex alteris admoneri utrique debeatis. Audi, sabelliane: usque adeo non ipse Pater, sed alter est Filius, ut eum arianus inaequalem asserat Patri. Audi, ariane: usque adeo Filius aequalis est Patri, ut sabellianus eumdem esse dicat et Patrem. Tu adde quem tollis, tu adimple quem minuis, et nobiscum ambo consistitis: quia nec tu tollis, nec tu minuis eum qui et alter est a Patre, ut convincas sabellianum, et aequalis Patri, ut convincas arianum. Utrisque enim clamat, Ego et Pater unum sumus (Joan. X, 30). Quod ait, unum, audiant Ariani; quod ait, sumus, audiant Sabelliani: et nec illi aequalem, nec illi alterum negando sint vani. Si ergo quoniam dixit, Verba quae ego loquor vobis, a meipso non loquor, propterea putatur usque adeo imparis potestatis, ut non quod ipse vult faciat; audiatur quod dixit, Sicut Pater suscitat mortuos et vivificat, sic et Filius quos vult vivificat Item si quoniam dixit, Pater in me manens, ipse fac⟨it⟩ opera, propterea putatur non alius esse Pater, alius ipse; audiatur quod dixit, Quaecumque Pater facit, haec et Filius similiter facit (Id. V, 21, 19); et intelligatur non bis unus, sed duo unum. Verum quia sic aequalis alter alteri, ut tamen alter ex altero, ideo non loquitur a semetipso, quia non est a seipso: et ideo Pater in illo manens facit opera ipse, quia per quem et cum quo facit, non est nisi ab ipso. Denique adjungit, et dicit: Non creditis quia ego in Patre, et Pater in me est? Alioquin propter opera ipsa credite. Antea solus Philippus arguebatur, nunc autem non ibi eum solum fuisse qui esset arguendus ostenditur. Propter opera, inquit, ipsa credite quia ego in Patre, et Pater in me est: neque enim si separati essemus, inseparabiliter operari ulla ratione possemus.
you are, than from the very way of which you are deserters. You from this side, and you from that side, come here: do not cross over, the one to the other, but by coming to us from this side and from that, find one another. Sabellians, acknowledge Him whom you pass over; Arians, make equal Him whom you subordinate, and you will walk with us on the true way. For there is something of which each of you ought to be reminded by the other, each party by the other. Hear, Sabellian: so truly is the Son not the Father Himself but another, that the Arian asserts Him to be unequal to the Father. Hear, Arian: so truly is the Son equal to the Father, that the Sabellian says He is the very same as the Father. You, add Him whom you take away; you, fill out Him whom you diminish; and you both stand with us: because neither do you take away, nor do you diminish, Him who is both other than the Father, so that you may refute the Sabellian, and equal to the Father, so that you may refute the Arian. For to both He cries, I and the Father are one (John 10:30). That He says one, let the Arians hear; that He says are, let the Sabellians hear: and let them not be empty, the former by denying the equal, the latter by denying the other. If therefore, because He said, The words that I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself, it is thought on that account that He is of so unequal a power that He does not do what He Himself wills; let what He said be heard, As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wills. Again, if, because He said, The Father abiding in Me, He Himself does the works, it is thought on that account that the Father is not one and He Himself another; let what He said be heard, Whatever the Father does, the Son also does likewise (John 5:21, 19); and let it be understood not as one twice, but as two one. But because the one is equal to the other in such a way that yet the one is from the other, therefore He does not speak from Himself, because He is not from Himself: and therefore the Father abiding in Him does the works Himself, because He through whom and with whom He does them is not except from Him. Then He adds, and says: Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? Otherwise believe on account of the works themselves. Before, Philip alone was being reproved; but now it is shown that he was not the only one there who needed to be reproved. On account of the works themselves, He says, believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me: for if We were separated, We could by no means work inseparably.
3. Sed quid est quod sequitur, « Amen, amen dico vobis, qui credit in me, opera quae ego facio, et ipse faciet, et majora horum faciet; quia ego ad Patrem vado: et quaecumque petieritis in nomine meo, haec faciam. Ut glorificetur Pater in Filio, si quid petieritis in nomine meo, hoc faciam. » Ergo et illa majora opera seipsum facturum esse promisit. Non se extollat servus supra Dominum, et discipulus supra magistrum (Id. XIII, 16): majora quam ipse facit, dicit eos esse facturos; sed in eis vel per eos se faciente, non ipsis tanquam ex seipsis. Ei quippe cantatur, Diligam te, Domine, virtus mea (Psal. XVII, 2). Sed quae sunt tandem ista majora? An forte quod aegros ipsis transeuntibus, etiam eorum umbra sanabat (Act. V, 15)? Majus est enim ut sanet umbra quam fimbria (Matth. XIV, 36). Illud per se, hoc per ipsos; sed tamen utrumque ipse. Verumtamen quando ista dicebat, verborum suorum opera commendabat: sic enim dixerat, Verba quae ego loquor vobis, a meipso non loquor; Pater autem in me manens, ipse facit opera. Quae operà
3. But what is it that follows, "Amen, amen I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he also will do, and greater than these he will do; because I go to the Father: and whatever you ask in My name, this I will do. That the Father may be glorified in the Son, if you ask anything in My name, this I will do"? Therefore He promised that He Himself would do those greater works also. Let not the servant exalt himself above the Lord, nor the disciple above the master (John 13:16): He says that they will do greater things than He Himself does; but with Himself doing them in them or through them, not with them doing them as from themselves. For to Him it is sung, I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength (Ps. 17:2). But what, after all, are these greater things? Is it perhaps that, as they themselves passed by, even their shadow healed the sick (Acts 5:15)? For it is greater that a shadow should heal than the hem of a garment (Matt. 14:36). The latter through Himself, the former through them; but nevertheless He Himself [did] both. Yet when He was saying these things, He was commending the works of His words: for thus He had said, The words that I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself; but the Father abiding in Me, He Himself does the works. What works
Editors' notes and page, col. 1821

Page

  • running head: 1821 TRACTATUS LXXII. CAP[UT ...] (cut off at the image edge)
  • marginal letters: (none)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: first word "e⟨ ⟩tis" is damaged/unclear and may be the end of a word broken from the previous column; UNSURE, English leaves it as printed. "nobisc⟨u⟩m" has a gap in the type. "fac⟨it⟩" damaged type, read from context. No full stop printed after "vivificat" before "Item"; kept as printed. Last word printed "operà" with an accent mark, set as seen, UNSURE whether grave or acute; sentence continues in the next column. Text is the end of Tractate 71 although the running head names Tractate 72 (the head belongs to the right-hand column).
PL 35:1822
tunc dicebat, nisi verba quae loquebatur? Audiebant et credebant illi, et eorumdem verborum fructus erat fides illorum: verumtamen evangelizantibus di⟨s⟩cipulis, non tam pauci quam illi erant, sed gentes etiam c⟨r⟩ediderunt; haec sunt sine dubitatione majora. Nec tamen ait, Majora horum facietis, ut solos Apostolos ea putaremus esse facturos; sed, Qui credit in me, inquit, opera quae ego facio, et ipse faciet, et majora horum faciet. Itane quicumque credit in Christum, facit quae Christus, vel majora quam Christus? Non praetereunter ista tractanda sunt, nec debent festinatione praecipitari; sed ea cogit concludendus jam sermo iste differri.
was He then speaking, if not the words which He was uttering? Those men heard and believed, and the fruit of those same words was their faith: yet when the disciples preached the Gospel, not so few as those men were, but even the nations believed; these are without doubt greater. Yet He does not say, You shall do greater than these, so that we should suppose that the Apostles alone were going to do them; but, He who believes in Me, He says, the works that I do, he too shall do, and greater than these shall he do. Does then whoever believes in Christ do what Christ does, or even greater things than Christ? These matters are not to be handled in passing, nor ought they to be rushed through in haste; but the sermon, which must now be brought to a close, compels them to be deferred.
TRACTATUS LXXII.
Tractate 72.
In eamdem lectionem.
On the same reading.
1. Quid sibi velit, et quomodo accipiendum sit quod Dominus ait, Qui credit in me, opera quae ego facio, et ipse faciet, non est facile comprehendere: et cum hoc ad intelligendum difficillimum sit, adjecit aliud difficilius, Et majora horum faciet. Quid est hoc? Qui faceret opera quae Christus fecit, non inveniebamus; qui etiam majora faciet, inventuri sumus? Sed dixeramus sermone pristino quia majus fuit umbrae suae transitu, quod discipuli fecerunt (Act. V, 15), quam fimbriae suae tactu, quod ipse Dominus fecit (Matth. XIV, 36), sanare languentes; et quia plures Apostolis, quam ipso per os proprium praedicante Domino crediderunt: ut haec viderentur opera intelligenda esse majora: non quo major esset Magistro discipulus, vel Domino servus, vel adoptatus Unigenito, vel homo Deo; sed quod per illos ipse dignaretur eadem majora facere, qui dicit illis alio loco, Sine me nihil potestis facere (Joan. XV, 5). Ipse quippe, ut alia omittam, quae sunt innumerabilia, sine ipsis fecit eos, sine ipsis fecit hunc mundum; et quia homo etiam ipse fieri dignatus est, sine ipsis fecit et seipsum. Quid autem illi sine ipso, nisi peccatum? Denique et hic id quod de hac re poterat nos movere, mox abstulit: cum enim dixisset, Qui credit in me, opera quae ego facio, et ipse faciet, et majora horum faciet; continuo secutus adjunxit, Quia ego ad Patrem vado, et quaecumque petieritis, in nomine meo, haec faciam. Qui dixerat faciet, post ait faciam; tanquam diceret, Non vobis impossibile hoc videatur: non enim poterit esse major me qui credit in me, sed ego facturus sum et tunc majora quam nunc; majora per eum qui credit in me, quam praeter eum per me: ego tamen ipse praeter eum, ego ipse per eum: sed quando praeter eum, non faciet ipse; quando autem per eum, quamvis non per semetipsum, faciet et ipse. Porro autem majora facere per eum quam praeter eum, non est defectio, sed dignatio. Quid enim retribuant servi Domino, pro omnibus quae retribuit eis (Psal. CXV, 12)? Quandoquidem inter caetera bona etiam hoc eis donare dignatus est, ut majora faceret per illos quam praeter illos. Nonne ab ore illius dives ille tristis abscessit, quando vitae aeternae consilium quaesivit (Matth. XIX, 16-22)? Audivit, abjecit: et tamen postea quod ab illo auditum non fecit
1. What is meant, and how we are to take what the Lord says, He who believes in Me, the works that I do, he too shall do, is not easy to grasp: and though this is most difficult to understand, He added something else more difficult, And greater than these shall he do. What is this? We could not find anyone who would do the works that Christ did; are we to find one who will do even greater? But we had said in the previous sermon that it was a greater thing to heal the sick by the passing of one's shadow, which the disciples did (Acts 5:15), than by the touch of the hem of one's garment, which the Lord Himself did (Matt. 14:36); and that more believed the Apostles than believed the Lord Himself when He was preaching with His own mouth: so that these seemed to be the works to be understood as greater: not in that the disciple was greater than the Master, or the servant than the Lord, or the adopted than the Only-begotten, or man than God; but in that through them He Himself deigned to do these same greater things, He who says to them in another place, Without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5). For He, to pass over other things, which are innumerable, made them without them, made this world without them; and since He deigned Himself also to become man, He made even Himself without them. But what do they do without Him, save sin? Finally, here too He at once removed what could have troubled us on this matter: for when He had said, He who believes in Me, the works that I do, he too shall do, and greater than these shall he do; He straightway added, Because I go to the Father, and whatever you shall ask in My name, these things I will do. He who had said he shall do, afterwards says I will do; as though He were saying, Let this not seem impossible to you: for he who believes in Me will not be able to be greater than I, but it is I who shall do it, and then greater things than now; greater things through him who believes in Me than apart from him through Myself: yet it is I Myself apart from him, I Myself through him: but when apart from him, he himself will not do it; but when through him, although not through himself, he too will do it. Moreover, to do greater things through him than apart from him is not a failing, but a condescension. For what shall servants render to the Lord for all that He has rendered to them (Ps. 115:12)? Since among other good things He deigned to grant them this also, that He should do greater things through them than apart from them. Did not that rich man go away sorrowful from His mouth, when he sought counsel concerning eternal life (Matt. 19:16–22)? He heard, he cast it away: and yet afterwards what was heard from Him the one man did not do
Editors' notes and page, col. 1822

Page

  • running head: [cut off at left] US LXXII. CAPUT XIV. 1822
  • marginal letters: (none)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
PL 35:1823
unus, fecerunt multi, cum loqueretur per discipulos magister bonus; contemptibilis ei quem divitem per seipsum monuit, amabilis eis quos ex divitibus pauperes per pauperes fecit. Ecce majora fecit praedicatus a credentibus, quam locutus audientibus.
many did, when the good Master spoke through His disciples; contemptible to him whom He admonished in person as a rich man, lovable to those whom He made poor out of rich through the poor. Behold, He did greater things when preached by believers than when speaking to hearers.
2. Verum hoc adhuc movet, quod haec majora per Apostolos fecit: non autem ipsos tantum significans ait, Opera quae ego facio et vos facietis, et majora horum facietis: sed omnes ad suam familiam pertinentes intelligi volens, Qui credit in me, inquit, opera quae ego facio, et ipse faciet, et majora horum faciet. Si ergo qui credit faciet, non credit utique qui non faciet: sicuti est, Qui diligit me, mandata mea custodit (Joan. XIV, 21); unde profecto qui non custodit, non diligit. Item alio loco, Qui audit, inquit, verba mea haec et facit ea, similabo eum viro prudenti qui aedificat domum suam supra petram (Matth. VII, 24): qui ergo non est similis huic viro prudenti, procul dubio aut verba haec audit et non facit, aut omnino nec audit. Qui credit, inquit, in me, licet moriatur, vivet (Joan. XI, 25): qui ergo non vivet, non utique credit. Tale etiam hoc est, Qui credit in me, faciet: non utique credit qui non faciet. Quid est hoc, fratres? Numquid inter credentes in Christum non est computandus, qui non fecerit opera majora quam Christus? Durum est, absurdum est, ferri non potest: non toleratur nisi intelligatur. Apostolum igitur audiamus: Credenti, inquit, in eum qui justificat impium, deputatur fides ejus ad justitiam (Rom. IV, 5). In hoc opere faciamus opera Christi, quia et ipsum credere in Christum, opus est Christi. Hoc operatur in nobis, non utique sine nobis. Audi ergo jam, et intellige, Qui credit in me, opera quae ego facio, et ipse faciet: prius ego facio, deinde et ipse faciet; quia facio ut faciat. Quae opera, nisi ut ex impio justus fiat?
2. But this still troubles us, that He did these greater things through the Apostles; yet He did not speak signifying them alone, The works that I do you also shall do, and greater than these you shall do; but, wishing all who belong to His household to be understood, He who believes in Me, He says, the works that I do, he too shall do, and greater than these he shall do. If, then, he who believes shall do them, he certainly does not believe who shall not do them; just as it is said, He who loves Me keeps My commandments (John 14:21); whence assuredly he who does not keep them does not love. Likewise in another place, He who hears, He says, these words of Mine and does them, I will liken him to a prudent man who builds his house upon rock (Matt. 7:24); he, then, who is not like this prudent man, without doubt either hears these words and does not do them, or does not hear them at all. He who believes, He says, in Me, though he die, shall live (John 11:25); he, then, who shall not live certainly does not believe. Of the same kind is this also, He who believes in Me shall do; he certainly does not believe who shall not do. What is this, brothers? Is he not to be counted among believers in Christ who has not done greater works than Christ? It is hard, it is absurd, it cannot be borne; it is not tolerated unless it is understood. Let us therefore hear the Apostle: To him who believes, he says, in Him Who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness (Rom. 4:5). In this work let us do the works of Christ, because even believing in Christ is itself a work of Christ. This He works in us, though certainly not without us. Hear, then, now, and understand: He who believes in Me, the works that I do, he too shall do: first I do them, then he too shall do them; because I do that he may do. What works, except that from ungodly a man should become righteous?
3. Et majora horum faciet. Quorum, obsecro? Numquidnam omnium operum Christi majora facit, qui cum timore et tremore suam ipsius salutem operatur (Philipp. II, 12)? Quod utique in illo, sed non sine illo Christus operatur. Prorsus majus hoc esse dixerim, quam est coelum et terra, et quaecumque cernuntur in coelo et in terra. Et coelum enim et terra transibit (Matth. XXIV, 35); praedestinatorum autem, id est eorum quos praescit, salus et justificatio permanebit. In illis tantum opera Dei, in his autem etiam est imago Dei. Sed et in coelis, Sedes, Dominationes, Principatus, Potestates, Archangeli, Angeli opera sunt Christi; numquid etiam his operibus majora facit, qui operante in se Christo, cooperatur aeternam salutem ac justificationem suam? Non hic audeo praecipitare sententiam: intelligat qui potest, judicet qui potest, utrum majus sit justos creare quam impios justificare. ⟨C⟩erte enim si aequalis est utrumque potentiae, hoc majoris est misericordiae. Hoc est enim magnum pietatis sacramentum, quod manifestatum est in carne, justificatum est in Spiritu, apparuit Angelis, praedicatum est in gentibus, creditum est in mundo, assumptum est in gloria (I Tim. III, 16). Sed omnia opera Christi intelligere ubi ait, Majora horum faciet, nulla nos necessitas
3. And greater than these he shall do. Than which, I ask? Does he who works out his own salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12) do things greater than all the works of Christ? Which Christ certainly works in him, but not without him. I would say outright that this is greater than heaven and earth, and whatever things are seen in heaven and on earth. For both heaven and earth shall pass away (Matt. 24:35); but the salvation and justification of the predestined, that is, of those whom He foreknows, shall abide. In the former there are only the works of God, but in the latter there is also the image of God. But in the heavens, too, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, Archangels, Angels are works of Christ; does he who, with Christ working in him, cooperates in his own eternal salvation and justification do things greater even than these works? Here I do not dare to rush to a judgement: let him understand who can, let him judge who can, whether it is greater to create the righteous than to justify the ungodly. For certainly, if both are of equal power, the latter is of greater mercy. For this is the great sacrament of godliness, which was manifested in the flesh, was justified in the Spirit, appeared to Angels, was preached among the gentiles, was believed in the world, was taken up in glory (1 Tim. 3:16). But to understand all the works of Christ where He says, Greater than these he shall do, no necessity
Editors' notes and page, col. 1823

Page

  • running head: 1823 IN JOANNIS EVANGELIUM, (cut off at the image edge)
  • marginal letters: (none)
  • old-edition numerals: (none)
  • other: column begins mid-sentence with "unus"; last word "necessi-" split at the column break; "⟨C⟩erte" has a damaged initial; "majora" before "quam Christus" printed with a malformed o (damaged type)