Gregory of Nazianzus — Commentary on Scripture

John 1:1

[He] is not contained in any place; the timeless, the bodiless, the uncircumscribed, the same who was and is; who was both above time and came under time, and was invisible and is seen. He was in the beginning and was with God and was God. The word was occurs the third time to be confirmed by number. What he was, he laid aside; what he was not, he assumed; not that he became two, but he deigned to be one made out of the two. For both are God, that which assumed and that which was assumed; two natures meeting in one, not two sons (let us not give a false account of the blending).

ON THE WORDS OF THE GOSPEL, “WHEN JESUS HAD FINISHED THESE SAYINGS,” ORATION 37.2

John 1:1

There never was a time when [the Father] was without his Word, or when he was not the Father.

ON THE SON, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 3

John 1:5

The light shines in darkness, in this life and in the flesh, and is chased by the darkness but is not overtaken by it. By this I mean the adverse power leaping up in its shamelessness against the visible Adam but encountering God and being defeated—in order that we, putting away the darkness, may draw near to the Light and may then become perfect Light, the children of perfect Light.

ON THE HOLY LIGHTS, ORATION 39.2

John 3:3

And indeed from the Spirit comes our new birth, and from the new birth our new creation, and from the new creation our deeper knowledge of the dignity of him from whom it is derived.

ON THE HOLY SPIRIT, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 5(31).28

John 3:4

We are a compound of both body and soul. The one part is visible, the other invisible. In the same way, our cleansing also is two-fold, that is, by water and the Spirit. The one is received visibly in the body, the other concurs with it invisibly and apart from the body.… The one that comes to the aid of our first birth makes us new instead of old and like God instead of what we now are. It recasts us without fire and creates us anew without breaking us up. For … the virtue of baptism is to be understood as a covenant with God for a second life and a purer conversation.

ON HOLY BAPTISM, ORATION 40.8

John 3:16

Let us praise the Son first of all, venerating the blood that expiated our sins. He lost nothing of his divinity when he saved me, when like a good physician he stooped to my festering wounds. He was a mortal man, but he was also God. He was of the race of David but Adam's creator. He who has no body clothed himself with flesh. He had a mother who, nonetheless, was a virgin. He who is without bounds bound himself with the cords of our humanity. He was victim and high priest—yet he was God. He offered up his blood and cleansed the whole world. He was lifted up on the cross, but it was sin that was nailed to it. He became as one among the dead, but he rose from the dead, raising to life also many who had died before him. On the one hand, there was the poverty of his humanity; on the other, the riches of his divinity. Do not let what is human in the Son permit you wrongfully to detract from what is divine. For the sake of the divine, hold in the greatest honor the humanity, which the immortal Son took on himself for love of you.

POEM 2

John 5:14

Yesterday you were flung upon a bed, exhausted and paralyzed, and you had no one to put you into the pool when the water should be troubled. Today you have him who is in one person man and God, or rather God and man. You were raised up from your bed, or rather you took up your bed and publicly acknowledged the benefit. Do not again be thrown on your bed by sinning.… But as you now are, so walk, mindful of the command.… Sin no more lest a worse thing happen to you if you prove yourself to be evil after the blessing you have received.

ON HOLY BAPTISM, ORATION 40.33

John 5:29

Those who have done good shall go into the resurrection of life, now hidden in Christ and to be manifested hereafter with him. And those who have done evil shall go into the resurrection of judgment to which those who have not believed have been condemned already by the word, which judges them. Some will be welcomed by the unspeakable light and the vision of the holy and royal Trinity, which now shines on them with greater brilliancy and purity and unites itself wholly to the whole soul.… The others … must endure the being outcast from God and the shame of conscience which has no limit.

ON HIS FATHER’S SILENCE, ORATION 16.9

John 6:45

I was ashamed of all those others who … intrude into the most sacred offices and, before becoming worthy to approach the temples, lay claim to the sanctuary. They push and thrust around the holy table as if they thought this order to be a means of livelihood instead of a pattern of virtue, or an absolute authority instead of a ministry of which we must give account. In fact they are almost more in number than those whom they govern.… Soon enough, as time and this evil alike progress, they will not even have anyone left to rule when all are teachers instead of taught by God, as the promise says, and all prophesy.

IN DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT TO PONTUS, ORATION 2.8

John 6:57

All things that the Father has are the Son’s. On the other hand, all that belongs to the Son is the Father’s. Nothing then is unique to either one, because all things are in common. For their being [essence] itself is common and equal, even though the Son receives it from the Father. It is in this respect … that it is said, “I live by the Father,” not as though his life and being were kept together by the Father but because he has his being from him beyond all time and beyond all cause.

ON THE SON, THEOLOGICAL 4(30).11

John 8:12

Listen to the voice of God, which sounds so exceedingly clear to me—I who am both disciple and master of these mysteries. This is how I hope to God it may sound to you: “I am the Light of the world.” Therefore approach him and be enlightened, and do not let your faces be ashamed, being signed with the true Light. It is a season of new birth; let us be born again. It is a time of reformation; let us receive again the first Adam. Let us not remain what we are, but let us become what we once were. The Light shines in darkness in this life and in the flesh. It is chased by the darkness but is not overtaken by it. I am referring to the power of the enemy that leaps up in its shamelessness against the visible Adam. But it encounters God and is defeated. Let us put away the darkness so that we may draw near to the Light and may then become perfect Light, the children of perfect Light.

ON THE HOLY LIGHTS, ORATION 39.2

John 8:48

He is called a Samaritan and a demoniac, but he saves him that came down from Jerusalem and fell among thieves. The demons acknowledge him, and yet he drives them out and runs legions of foul spirits into the sea and sees the prince of the demons falling like lightning.

ON THE SON, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 3(29).20

John 8:54

Let it be alleged that it is said of him that he receives glory.… This all belongs to his humanity; and yet if you were to ascribe it to the Godhead, it would be no absurdity either. For you would not ascribe it as if it were newly acquired but as belonging to him from the beginning by reason of nature, and not as a gift.

ON THE SON, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 4(30).9

John 10:3

These I call by name … and they follow me, for I herd them up beside the waters of rest. They follow every shepherd whose voice they love to hear.… But they will not follow a stranger. Instead, they will flee from him because they have a habit of distinguishing the voice of their own from that of strangers.

AGAINST THE ARIANS AND ON HIMSELF, ORATION 33.16

John 10:9

He is the Way, because he leads us through himself. He is the Door who lets us in, the Shepherd who makes us dwell in green pastures, bringing us up by waters of rest and leading us there. He protects us from wild beasts, converts the erring, brings back what was lost and binds up what was broken. He guards the strong and brings them together into the fold beyond with words of pastoral knowledge.

ON THE SON, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 4(30).21

John 10:11

Will you think less of him … because to seek for what had wandered, the good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep came on the mountains and hills on which you used to sacrifice and found the wanderer. And having found it, he took it upon his shoulders, on which he also bore the wood. And having borne the wandering sheep, he brought it back to the life above. And having brought it back, he numbered it among those who have never strayed.

ON HOLY EASTER, ORATION 45.26

John 13:5

It is good for the [feet and hands] to be consecrated … so that they are not swift to shed blood or to run to evil, but that they are prompt to run to the gospel and the prize of the high calling and to receive Christ who washes and cleanses them.

ON HOLY BAPTISM, ORATION 40.39

John 14:2

Are there many mansions in God’s house, as you have heard, or only one? Of course you will admit that there are many, and not just one. Now, are they all to be filled, or only some, and others not, so that some will be left empty and will have been prepared to no purpose? Of course all will be filled, for nothing can be in vain that has been done by God.

AGAINST THE EUNOMIANS, THEOLOGICAL ORATION 1(27).8

John 14:16

The Spirit came after Christ so that we would not lack a Comforter. But he is called “another” Comforter so that you might acknowledge his co-equality. For this word another defines an alter ego, a name of equal lordship, not of inequality. We do not use the word another for different kinds of things but for those that are consubstantial.

ON PENTECOST, ORATION 41.12

John 15:15

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and, so to say, its first swathing band. But, when wisdom bursts the bonds of fear and rises up to love, it makes us friends of God and children instead of slaves.

ON THE GREAT ATHANASIUS, ORATION 21.6