1-47 CHAPTER 5 _After these things,_ &c. Observe, John here omits many things which Christ did in Galilee, but which Matthew records from the 4th to the 12th chapter of his Gospel. For what Matthew relates in his 12th chapter concerning the disciples plucking the ears of corn took place after the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now there is... sheep-market_ : Vulgate _, Probatica._ The pool took its name both because it was nigh the gate adjacent to the Temple, through which the flocks of sheep for the sacrifices were driven, and also because the sheep, which were offered to God every morning and evening in the Temple, we... [ Continue Reading ]
_In them... languishing people_ (Vulg.); Greek, _α̉σθενόντων_; Eng. Ver. _sick folk_; _withered_ (Vulg.) _aridorum, dry, i.e._, whose arm, or hand, or foot, or some other limb, was lifeless. _An angel of the Lord_; either _Raphael_, or some other. Raphael, who presides over bodily healing, is so ca... [ Continue Reading ]
_A man having an infirmity_ : Greek and Vulgate. S. Chrysostom and others say that this sick man was a paralytic. Tropologically, this infirm man represents one who has grown old in a course of sin: who lies without strength in habits of vice, and is without any power to do good. For as palsy dissol... [ Continue Reading ]
_When Jesus saw_, &c. Christ knew well that he had a desire to be healed, but He asked the question - 1. To afford the sick man an opportunity for conversation, and from thence of being healed. As S. Cyril says, "Herein was a great proof of the compassion of Christ, that He did not (always) wait for... [ Continue Reading ]
_The sick man answered_, &c. The sick man does not answer Christ's question directly. He takes for granted that every one knew that he desired to be healed. Therefore he makes mention of the way of obtaining healing by means of the pool. As though he had said, "I am prevented by palsy from going int... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jesus saith unto him_, &c. These words of Christ were practical and efficacious. In saying _Arise_, He caused him to arise, and healed him. As S. Augustine says, "It was not a command of work, but an operation of healing." And S. Cyril, "Such power and virtue were not of man; it is a property of Go... [ Continue Reading ]
_And immediately_ (Syriac) _in that moment_... _for on that day was the Sabbath._ Christ designedly healed upon the Sabbath, both because the Sabbath was the highest festival of the Jews, which therefore it was right to sanctify above other days by good works, such as healing a sick man like this pa... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Jews therefore_, &c. As Nonnus paraphrases, "Clamorously they uttered an accusing charge, 'It is the Sabbath, which every one ought to keep wholly in rest: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.'" Speaking generally, they say the truth; for among the Jews it was a matter of the highest obl... [ Continue Reading ]
_He answered them_, &c. Understand, This was indeed a Divine man, and by Divine power has healed me. Therefore He is a friend of God, and would not bid me do anything except what is pleasing to God. As S. Augustine says, "Should I not receive a command from Him from whom I have received healing?" Ju... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore they asked him_, &c. Being indignant, they say with threats, "Who is that bold and insolent man, who dare bid thee, contrary to the Law, carry thy bed upon the Sabbath day? Verily, that man is not of God who does not keep the Sabbath which God has ordained." Thus they spoke through a blin... [ Continue Reading ]
_But he who was healed_, &c. The man knew not the name of Jesus, nor whither He had gone, nor indeed who He was, for he had never seen Him before. _Departed._ Euthymius gives the reason. "As soon as He had healed the man, He withdrew because of the crowd, partly to avoid the praise of the just, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Afterwards Jesus_, &c. The Arabic is, _Now thou art healed, return not to sin, less a worse evil be done thee. _ In the Temple. From this it appears that this man who was healed by Christ, as soon as he had carried his bed to his house, went to the Temple to give God thanks for His great benefit o... [ Continue Reading ]
_The man went away, and told_, &c. Not out of malevolence, but from gratitude, that he might not hide the author of so great a kindness. So Augustine, Chrysostom, and others. "He went away and told," says Euthymius, "not as being wicked, that he might betray, but as being grateful to disclose who wa... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore the Jews persecuted Jesus_, &c. Some Greek MS., also the Syriac and Arabic Versions, add, _And sought to kill Him. Wherefore_, _i.e._, on this pretext, for the true cause was envy. For the Jews, especially the scribes and Pharisees, were envious at this glory of Jesus, and grieved that th... [ Continue Reading ]
_But Jesus answered_, &c. " _The Father worketh_," says S. Augustine (_lib._ 4. _de Gen., cap._ 12), "both affording suitable government to things created and having in Himself eternal tranquillity:" for, as he says elsewhere, "being still He worketh, and working He is at rest." And after an interva... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore_, &c. _His Father_, Greek, _πατέζα ίδιον_,. _i.e._, _His own Father_, because Christ alone is the peculiar, and by nature, Son of God. _Making Himself equal with God_, because He had said that not merely _like things_, but that _the self same things_ which the Father works, were wrought b... [ Continue Reading ]
_Verily, Verily,_ &c... _cannot_ : "not from defect of power," says Euthymius, "but on account of inseparability. For it is impossible that the Son should do anything which the Father does not." So S. Chrysostom and S. Augustine. _Except_, or _unless_. This word is not here exceptive, signifying the... [ Continue Reading ]
_For as the Father_ &c. Behold here is the first _greater work_ which Christ said the Father _would show_, that is, _communicate_, to the Son. As S. Cyril says, "Marvel not that one who was utterly weakened by long disease was strengthened by a word, and took up his bed, and went away, for I am abou... [ Continue Reading ]
_For neither doth the Father judge_, &c. The Arabic omits _for_, but the Greek has it, and appositely. For this is the second reason by which Christ proves that He is God, and the second _greater work_ which He said the Father would _show_ Him. As Cyril says, "He brings forward another Divine and ex... [ Continue Reading ]
_That all_, &c. For the Jews who would not then honour the Son of God, or acknowledge Him to be such, when they shall see His Divine power and majesty in the day of judgment, will be compelled to acknowledge, honour, and adore Him as God. _Like as they honour the Father_ : the words _like as_ signi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Verily, verily_, &c. See what has been said on John 3:3. _Heareth_, so as to believe and obey My word. Thus He subjoins, _and believeth in Him that sent Me_, and by consequence believeth in Me as His Son, sent by the Father into the world to save it. He saith not, _and believeth in Me_, but speaks... [ Continue Reading ]
_Verily, verify_, &c. "Lest thou shouldst think that this is to come to pass after a very long time, He subjoins, _and now is._ For if He were only announcing things future, there might not unreasonably be doubt, but He saith that these things shall come to pass whilst He is still conversant upon ea... [ Continue Reading ]
_For as the Father_, &c. _To have life in Himself_ signifies three things. 1. To have life from Himself and from His own Essence, and from no other source. For the Essence of God is life, and His life is His Essence. God therefore essentially, and by His Essence, is essential, uncreated, and infinit... [ Continue Reading ]
_And hath given_, &c. Because Christ as God hath life in Himself, from hence, in that He is man, He hath power to judge all men. The word _because_ must here be taken specifically, and means _inasmuch as._ But it may be taken even more expressively in a reduplicative and causative sense, as giving t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Marvel not_, &c.... _the hour_, _i.e._, the time of the Evangelical Law, which is the last, and in the end of which shall be the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment. _In their graves_ : those who are dead and buried, including also the unburied dead. For as S. Augustine says, "By thos... [ Continue Reading ]
_They that have done good_, &c. _... shall proceed_, Greek _ε̉κποζεύσονταί_, _i.e._, _shall go forth_, out of their tombs and their graves, towards the Valley of Jehoshaphat, where the universal judgment shall take place. Christ here sets before the unbelieving Jews His authority to judge, that thr... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I bear witness of Myself_, that I am the Son of God, and therefore as man altogether conformed to the judgment and will of God, _My witness is not true_, that is, _legitimate, judicial, worthy of credit._ The word _true_ here is not opposed to _false_, but to _untrustworthy, uncertain._ It answe... [ Continue Reading ]
_There is another who beareth,_ &c. Another, viz., God the Father, who at My baptism spoke in thunder from heaven, _This is My beloved Son._ So S. Cyril, Bede. Again, _another, i.e._, John the Baptist, testifies to Me. So S. Chrysostom and others. _Another_ then here means, there are others who test... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye sent unto John,_ &c. Ye sent messengers to him as a man in your estimation holy, and worthy of all credit, to ask him if he were the Messias. John answered that not he, but I, am the Messias. This testimony he gave not out of friendship, or favour to Me, but _to the truth._ For that he would tes... [ Continue Reading ]
_But I receive not_, &c. I do not require the witness of John, for I am God, and the Son of God, to whom John, Moses, and the Prophets ought to yield, and be taught by, and receive authority from. _But this I say that ye may be saved_ : meaning, as S. Chrysostom says, "I do not need the testimony o... [ Continue Reading ]
_He was a burning and shining lamp._ Greek, _ό λύχνος_, _the illustrious and famous lamb._ John was not the light itself, shining of itself (for this was what Christ Himself was), but he was the lamp or lantern which, receiving light from Christ, burnt in himself with the knowledge and love of God,... [ Continue Reading ]
_But I have greater witness_, &c.: _i.e._, than John's witness; _greater_ in the sense of _surer, more efficacious_, that I am Messiah, the Son of God. This greater testimony is My works, My miracles which the Father hath given Me, that by them I may show that He Hath sent Me. "For one might find fa... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 36. _But I have greater witness_, &c.: _i.e._, than John's witness; _greater_ in the sense of _surer, more efficacious_, that I am Messiah, the Son of God. This greater testimony is My works, My miracles which the Father hath given Me, that by them I may show that He Hath sent Me. "For one migh... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Father_, &c.... _hath borne witness_, as at My baptism. Again, _He hath borne witness concerning Me_, through the Scriptures by Moses and the prophets. Observe, Christ in this place, besides the testimony of John, adduces three other and greater witnesses to show that He is the Messiah: 1. By... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye have not His word abiding_ (Arabic, _made strong_) _in you_, &c. The connection and subsequent argument of these words is obscure, which different writers explain in different ways. 1. You may explain them as a sort of concession, thus. "You, 0 ye scribes, when I allege the testimony of God My F... [ Continue Reading ]
_Search_ (scrutamini) _the Scriptures,_ &c. The word for _Search_ in Greek, as well as Latin, may be taken either in the indicative, or the imperative mood. Cyril takes it in the indicative: "Ye, 0 ye scribes, assiduously turn and search the Scriptures which bear testimony concerning Me, but ye do n... [ Continue Reading ]
_And_ (yet), _ye will not_, &c. "Ye do not wish to cleave to Me, to believe in Me, to receive My doctrine and My law.... [ Continue Reading ]
. _receive not brightness_ (Vulg. _claritatem_), Greek, _δόξαν_, i.e., _glory_, _from men._ There is an anticipation, "Ye, 0 ye Scribes, suspect, and object that I preach such great things of Myself, and so carefully endeavour to prove My dignity and authority out of the desire of vain glory, that I... [ Continue Reading ]
_But I know you_, &c. "I know and penetrate the inmost recesses of your hearts (for I, being God, am the Searcher of hearts), and I see in them nothing of Divine love, but that they are full of ambition, avarice, and pride. And this is the reason why ye will not receive those clear testimonies which... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am come_, &c., _in My Father's name_, as the Son-sent by God the Father, that by His authority I may fulfil those things which He has promised to you concerning Messiah, to His alone praise and glory, so that through Him there may be showered upon you the knowledge of God, grace, salvation, and e... [ Continue Reading ]
_How_ _can ye believe_, &c. "Ye love human glory, brief and poor: wherefore ye contemn Me, who despise human glory, and teach that it ought to be contemned; and that the Divine and eternal glory ought to be aimed at, which God will begin in the saints on earth, and bring to perfection in Heaven.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Think not_, &c. Listen to Cyril, "He declares that there was no need of any other accuser, for that although all others were silent, the law of Moses by itself was sufficient for the condemnation of the Jews who did not believe in Him." He names Moses because the Jews placed all their faith and tru... [ Continue Reading ]
_For if ye had believed Moses, perchance_ (Vulg.) _ye would also have believed Me._ _Perchance_; so the Vulgate often translates the Greek, _άν_ : but it is here used in the sense of _assuredly_. It is an expression of _confirmation_, not of _doubt_. " _Assuredly_ ye would have believed Me." Hence s... [ Continue Reading ]
_But if_, &c. This is an argument _ad hominem_. For the Jews preferred Moses to Christ. Wherefore He rightly reasons against them thus: "If ye do not believe the writings of Moses (of whom ye make the highest account) which he wrote concerning Me, far less will ye believe My own words. In vain there... [ Continue Reading ]