Tractate XCII.
John XV. 26, 27.
The Lord Jesus, in the discourse which He addressed to His disciples
after the supper, when Himself in immediate proximity to His passion, and,
as it were, on the eve of departure, and of depriving them of His bodily
presence while continuing His spiritual presence to all His disciples till
the very end of the world, exhorted them to endure the persecutions of
the wicked, whom He distinguished by the name of the world: and from which
He also told them that He had chosen, the disciples themselves, that they
might know it was by the grace of God they were what they were, and by
their own vices they had been what they had been. And then His own persecutors
and theirs He clearly signified to be the Jews, that it might be perfectly
apparent that they also were included in the appellation of that damnable
world that persecuteth the saints. And when He had said of them that they
knew not Him that sent Him, and yet hated both the Son and the Father,
that is, both Him who was sent and Him who sent Him,--of all which we have
already treated in previous discourses,--He reached the place where it
is said, "This cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is
written in their law, They hated me without a cause." And then He added,
as if by way of consequence, the words whereon we have undertaken at present
to discourse: "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you
from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father,
He shall bear witness of me: and ye also shall bear witness, because ye
have been with me from the beginning." But what connection has this with
what He had just said, "But now have they both seen and hated both me and
my Father: but that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their
law, They hated me without a cause"? Was it that the Comforter, when He
came, even the Spirit of truth, convicted those, who thus saw and hated,
by a still clearer testimony? Yea, verily, some even of those who saw,
and still hated, He did convert, by this manifestation of Himself, to the
faith that worketh by love.(1) To make this view of the passage intelligible,
we recall to your mind that so it actually befell. For when on the day
of Pentecost the Holy Spirit fell upon an assembly of one hundred and twenty
men, among whom were all the apostles; and when they, filled therewith
were speaking in the language of every nation; a goodly number of those
who had hated, amazed at the magnitude of the miracle (especially when
they perceived in Peter's address so great and divine a testimony borne
in behalf of Christ, as that He, who was slain by them and accounted amongst
the dead, was proved to have risen again, and to be now alive), were pricked
in their hearts and converted; and so became aware of the beneficent character
of that precious blood which had been so impiously and cruelly shed, because
themselves redeemed by the very blood which they had shed.(2) For the blood
of Christ was shed so efficaciously for the remission of all sins, that
it could wipe out even the very sin of shedding it. With this therefore
in His eye, the Lord said, "They hated me without a cause: but when the
Comforter is come, He shall bear witness of me;" saying, as it were, They
hated me, and slew me when I stood visibly before their eyes; but such
shall be the testimony borne in my behalf by the Comforter, that He will
bring them to believe in me when I am no longer visible to their sight.
2. "And ye also," He says," shall bear witness, because ye have been
with me from the beginning." The Holy Spirit shall bear witness, and so
also shall ye. For, just because ye have been with me from the beginning,
they can preach what ye know; which ye cannot do at present, because the
fullness of that Spirit is not yet present within you. "He therefore shall
testify of me, and ye also shall bear witness:" for the love of God shed
abroad in your hearts by the Holy Spirit, who shall be given unto you,(3)
will give you the confidence needful for such witness-bearing. And that
certainly was still wanting to Peter, when, terrified by the question of
a lady's maid, he could give no true testimony; but, contrary to his own
promise, was driven by the greatness of his fear thrice to deny Him.(4)
But there is no such fear in love, for perfect love casteth out fear.(5)
In fine, before the Lord's passion, his slavish fear was questioned by
a bond-woman; but after the Lord's resurrection, his free love by the very
Lord of freedom:(6) and so on the one occasion he was troubled, on the
other tranquillized; there he denied the One he had loved, here he loved
the One he had denied. But still even then that very love was weak and
straitened, till strengthened and expanded by the Holy Spirit. And then
that Spirit, pervading him thus with the fullness of richer grace, kindled
his hitherto frigid heart to such a witness-bearing for Christ, and unlocked
those lips that in their previous tremor had suppressed the truth, that,
when all on whom the Holy Spirit had descended were speaking in the tongues
of all nations to the crowds of Jews collected around, he alone broke forth
before the others in the promptitude of his testimony in behalf of the
Christ, and con-rounded His murderers with the account of His resurrection.
And if any one would enjoy the pleasure of gazing on a sight so charming
in its holiness, let him read the Acts of the Apostles:(7) and there let
him be filled with amazement at the preaching of the blessed Peter, over
whose denial of his Master he had just been mourning; there let him behold
that tongue, itself translated from diffidence to confidence, from bondage
to liberty, converting to the confession of Christ the tongues of so many
of His enemies, riot one of which he could bear when lapsing himself into
denial. And what shall I say more? In him there shone forth such an effulgence
of grace, and such a fullness of the Holy Spirit, and such a weight of
most precious truth poured from the lips of the preacher, that he transformed
that vast multitude of Jews who were the adversaries and murderers of Christ
into men that were ready to die for His name, at whose hands he himself
was formerly afraid to die with his Master. All this did that Holy Spirit
when sent, who had previously only been promised. And it was these great
and marvellous gifts of His own that the Lord foresaw, when He said, "They
have both seen and hated both me and my Father: that the word might be
fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,
even the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify
of me: and ye also shall bear witness." For He, in bearing witness Himself,
and inspiring such witnesses with invincible courage, divested Christ's
friends of their fear, and transformed into love the hatred of His enemies.
Tractate XCIII.
John XVI. 1-4.
1. In the words preceding this chapter of the Gospel, the Lord strengthened
His disciples to endure the hatred of their enemies, and prepared them
also by His own example to become the more courageous in imitating Him:
adding the promise, that the Holy Spirit should. come to bear witness of
Him, and also that they themselves could become His witnesses, through
the effectual working of His Spirit in their hearts. For such is His meaning
when He saith, "He shall bear witness of me, and ye also shall bear witness."
That is to say, because He shall bear witness, ye also shall bear witness:
He in your hearts, you in your voices; He by inspiration, you by utterance:
that the words might be fulfilled, "Their sound hath gone forth into all
the earth."1 For it would have been to little purpose to have exhorted
them by His example, had He not also filled them with His Spirit. Just
as we see that the Apostle Peter, after having heard His words, when He
said, "The servant is not greater than his lord: if they have persecuted
me, they will also persecute you;"2 and seen that already fulfilled in
Him, wherein, had example been sufficient, he ought to have imitated the
patient endurance of his Lord, yet succumbed and fell into denial, as utterly
unable to bear what He saw his Master enduring. But when he really received
the gift of the Holy Spirit, he preached Him whom he had denied; and whom
he had been afraid to confess, he had no fear now in openly proclaiming.
Already, indeed, had he been sufficiently taught by example to know what
was proper to be done; but not yet was he inspired with the power to do
what he knew: he had got instruction to stand, but not the strength to
keep him from falling. But after this was supplied by the Holy Spirit,
he preached Christ even to the death, whom, in his fear of death, he had
previously denied. And so the Lord in this succeeding chapter, on which
we have now to address you, saith, "These things have I spoken unto you,
that ye should not be offended." As it is sung in the psalm, "Great peace
have they who love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them."3 Properly enough,
therefore, with the promise of the Holy Spirit, by whose operation in their
hearts they should be made His witnesses, He added, "These things have
I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended." For when the love of
God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit given unto us,4 they
have great peace who love God's law, so that nothing may offend them.
2. And then He expressly declares what they were to suffer: "They shall
put you out of the synagogues." But what harm was it for the apostles to
be expelled from the Jewish synagogues, as if they were not to separate
themselves therefrom, although no one expelled them? Doubtless He meant
to announce with reprobation, that the Jews would refuse to receive Christ,
from whom they as certainly would refuse to withdraw; and so it would come
to pass that the latter, who could not exist without Him, would also be
cast out along with Him by those who would not have Him as their place
of abode. For certainly, as there was no other people of God than that
seed of Abraham, they would, had they only acknowledged and received Christ,
have remained as the natural branches in the olive tree;5 nor would the
churches of Christ have been different from the synagogues of the Jews,
for they would have been one and the same, had they also desired to abide
in Him. But having refused, what remained but that, continuing themselves
out of Christ, they put out of the synagogues those who would not abandon
Christ? For having received the Holy Spirit, and so become His witnesses,
they would certainly not belong to the class of whom it is said: "Many
of the chief rulers of the Jews believed on Him; but for fear of the Jews
they dared not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:
for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God."6 And so
they believed on Him, but not in the way He wished them to believe when
He said: "How can ye believe, who expect honor one of another, and seek
not the honor that cometh from God only?"7 It is, therefore, with those
disciples who so believe in Him, that, filled with the Holy Spirit, or,
in other words, with the gift of divine grace, they no longer belong to
those who, "ignorant of the righteousness of God, and going about to establish
their own, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God;"8
nor to those of whom it is said, "They loved the praise of men more than
the praise of God:" that the prophecy harmonizes, which finds its fulfillment
in their own case: "They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance:
and in Thy name shall they rejoice all the day; and in Thy righteousness
shall they be exalted: for Thou art the glory of their strength."9 Rightly
enough is it said to such, "They shall cast you out of the synagogues;"
that is, they who "have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge;"
because, "ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own,"10 they expel those who are exalted, not in their own righteousness,
but in God's, and have no cause to be ashamed at being expelled by men,
since He is the glory of their strength.
3. Finally, to what He had thus told them, He added the words: "But
the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God
service: and these things will they do unto you, because they have not
known the Father, nor me." That is to say, they have not known the Father,
nor His Son, to whom they think they will be doing service in slaying you.
Words which the Lord added in the way of consolation to His own, who should
be driven out of the Jewish synagogues. For it is in thus announcing beforehand
what evils they would have to endure for their testimony in His behalf,
that He said, "They will put you out of the synagogues." Nor does He say,
And the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth
God service. What then? "But the hour cometh:" just in the way He would
have spoken, were He foretelling them of something good that would follow
such evils. What, then, does He mean by the words, "They will put you out
of the synagogues: but the hour cometh"? As if He would have gone on to
say this: They, indeed, will scatter you, but I will gather you; or, They
shall, indeed, scatter you, but the hour of your joy cometh. What, then,
has the word which He uses, "but the hour cometh," to do here, as if He
were going on to promise them comfort after their tribulation, when apparently
He ought rather to have said, in the form of continuous narration,11 And
the hour cometh? But He said not, And it cometh, although predicting the
approach of one tribulation after another, instead of comfort after tribulation.
Could it have been that such a separation from the synagogues would so
discompose them, that they would prefer to die, rather than remain in this
life apart from the Jewish assemblies? Far surely would those be from such
discomposure, who were seeking, not the praise of men, but of God. What,
then, of the words, "They will put you out of the synagogues: but the hour
cometh;" when apparently He ought rather to have said, And the hour cometh,
"that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service"? For
it is not even said, But the hour cometh that they shall kill you, as if
implying that their comfort for such a separation would be found in the
death that would befall them; but "The hour cometh," He says, "that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God service." On the whole, I do not
think He wished to convey any further meaning than that they might understand
and rejoice that they themselves would gain so many to Christ, by being
driven out of the Jewish congregations, that it would be found insufficient
to expel them, and they would not suffer them to live for fear of all being
converted by their preaching to the name of Christ, and so turned away
from the observance of Judaism, as if it were the very truth of God. For
so ought we to understand the reference of His words to the Jews, when
He said of them, "They will put you out of the synagogues." For the witnesses,
in other words, the martyrs of Christ, were likewise slain by the Gentiles:
they, however, thought not that it was to the true God, but to their own
false deities, that they were doing service when they so acted. But every
Jew that slew the preachers of Christ reckoned that he was doing God service;
believing as he did that all who were converted to Christ were deserting
the God of Israel. For it was also by the same reasoning that they were
incited to the murder of Christ Himself: because their own words on this
subject have also been put on record. "Ye perceive that the whole world
is gone after him:12 "If we let him live, the Romans will come, and take
away both our place and nation." And those of Caiaphas: "It is expedient
for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation
should perish."13 And accordingly in this address He sought by His own
example to stimulate His disciples, to whom He had just been saying, "If
they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you;"14 that as in slaying
Him they thought they had done God a service, so also would it be in reference
to them.
4. Such, then, is the meaning of these words: "They will put you out
of the synagogues;" but have no fear of solitude: inasmuch as, when separated
from their assembly, you will assemble so many in my name, that they, in
very fear lest the temple, that was with them, and all the sacraments of
the old law, should be deserted, will slay you: actually, in thus shedding
your blood, full of the notion that they are doing God service. An illustration
surely of the apostle's words, "They have a zeal for God, but not according
to knowledge;"15 when they imagine that they are doing God service in slaying
His servants. Appalling mistake! Is it thus thou wouldst please God by
striking down the God-pleaser; and is the living temple of God by thy blows
laid level with the ground, that God's temple of stone may not be deserted?
Accursed blindness! But it is in part that it has happened to Israel, that
the fullness of the Gentiles might come in: in part, I say, and not totally,
has it happened. For not all, but only some of the branches have been broken
off, that the wild olive might be ingrafted.16 For just at the time when
the disciples of Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, were speaking in
the tongues of all nations, and performing many divine miracles, and scattering
divine utterances on every side, Christ, even though slain, was so beloved,
that His disciples, when expelled from the congregations of the Jews, gathered
into a congregation of their own a vast multitude of those very Jews, and
had no fear of being left to solitude.17 hereupon, accordingly, the others,
reprobate and blind, being inflamed with wrath, and having a zeal of God,
but not according to knowledge, and believing that they were doing God
service, put them to death. But He, who was slain for them, gathered those
together; just as He had also, before He was slain, instructed them in
what was to happen, lest their minds, left ignorant and unprepared, should
be cast into trouble by evils, however transient, that were unexpected
and unprovided for; but rather by knowing of them beforehand, and sustaining
them with patience, might be led onward to everlasting blessing. For that
such was the cause of His making these announcements to them beforehand,
is shown also by His words that followed: "But these things have I told
you, that, when their time shall come, ye may remember that I told you
of them." Their hour was an hour of darkness, a midnight hour. But the
Lord commanded His loving-kindness in the daytime, and made them sing of
it in the night:18 when the Jewish night threw no confusion of darkness
into the day of the Christians, separated as it was from themselves; and
when that which could slay the flesh had no power to darken their faith.
