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On John

20 of 164
  1. John 6:28-29
    In setting forth the mystery of his incarnation and his Godhead, our Lord has also uttered the teaching of our faith and hope that we should work not for that food that perishes but that which abides for ever; that we should remember that this food of eternity is given to us by the Son of man as sealed by God the Father; that we should know that this is the work of God: even faith in him whom he has sent. And who is it whom the Father has sent? Even he whom the Father has sealed. And who is he whom the Father has sealed? In truth, the Son of man, even he who gives the food of eternal life.

    ON THE TRINITY 8.42

  2. John 6:35
    Not that He does what He does not wish. He fulfills obediently His Father's will, wishing also Himself to fulfill that will.

  3. John 6:35-40
    (iii. de Trin. c. 9) Not that He does what He does not wish. He fulfils obediently His Father's will, wishing also Himself to fulfil that will.

    (as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274) Catena Aurea by Aquinas

  4. John 6:38
    It was not that he himself was unwilling but that he might manifest his obedience as the result of his Father’s will. For his own will is to do his Father’s. His will is to carry out the Father’s will.

    ON THE TRINITY 3.9

  5. John 6:44
    There is no approach to the Father except through Christ. But there is also no approach to Christ, unless the Father draws us.

    ON THE TRINITY 11.33

  6. John 6:55-59
    (vii. de Trin. c. 14) Of the truth then of the body and blood of Christ, no room for doubting remains: for, by the declaration of our Lord Himself, and by the teaching of our own faith, the flesh is really flesh, and the blood really blood. This then is our principle of life. While we are in the flesh, Christ dwelleth in us by His flesh. (c.14:19) And we shall live by Him, according as He liveth. If then we live naturally by partaking of Him according to the flesh, He also liveth naturally by the indwelling of the Father according to the Spirit. His birth did not give Him an alien or different nature from the Father.

    (de Trin. x. c. 18.) He calls Himself the bread, because He is the origin of His own body. And lest it should be thought that the virtue and nature of the Word had given way to the flesh, He calls the bread His flesh, that, inasmuch as the bread came down from heaven, it might be seen that His body was not of human conception, but a heavenly body. To say that the bread is His own, is to declare that the Word assumed His body Himself.

    (as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274) Catena Aurea by Aquinas

  7. John 6:55
    If in truth the Word has been made flesh and we in very truth receive the Word made flesh as food from the Lord, are we not bound to believe that he abides in us naturally? [Jesus], born as a man, has assumed the nature of our flesh now inseparable from himself and has joined together the nature of his own flesh to the nature of the eternal Godhead in the sacrament by which his flesh is communicated to us. For in this way we are all one because the Father is in Christ and Christ is in us.… And so, if indeed Christ has taken to himself the flesh of our body, and that man who was born from Mary was indeed Christ, and we indeed receive in a mystery the flesh of his body—and because of this we shall be one, because the Father is in him and he in us—how can a unity of will be maintained, seeing that the special property of nature received through the sacrament is the sacrament of a perfect unity?…As to what we say concerning the reality of Christ’s nature within us, unless we have been taught by him our words are foolish and impious. For he says himself, “My flesh is true food, and my blo…
    If in truth the Word has been made flesh and we in very truth receive the Word made flesh as food from the Lord, are we not bound to believe that he abides in us naturally? [Jesus], born as a man, has assumed the nature of our flesh now inseparable from himself and has joined together the nature of his own flesh to the nature of the eternal Godhead in the sacrament by which his flesh is communicated to us. For in this way we are all one because the Father is in Christ and Christ is in us.… And so, if indeed Christ has taken to himself the flesh of our body, and that man who was born from Mary was indeed Christ, and we indeed receive in a mystery the flesh of his body—and because of this we shall be one, because the Father is in him and he in us—how can a unity of will be maintained, seeing that the special property of nature received through the sacrament is the sacrament of a perfect unity?…As to what we say concerning the reality of Christ’s nature within us, unless we have been taught by him our words are foolish and impious. For he says himself, “My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” As to the verity of the flesh and blood there is no room left for doubt. For now, both from the declaration of the Lord himself and our own faith, it is truly flesh and truly blood. And these when eaten and drunk enable both that we are in Christ and Christ is in us. Is this not true? Yet those who affirm that Christ Jesus is not truly God are welcome to find it false. He therefore himself is in us through the flesh and we are in him, while together with him our own selves are in God.

    ON THE TRINITY 8.13-14

  8. John 6:57
    So then he lives through the Father, and just as he lives through the Father we live through his flesh. For all comparison is chosen to shape our understanding so that we may grasp the subject we are treating with the help of the analogy set before us. Christ dwelling within our carnal selves through the flesh is the reason we have life, and we shall live through him in the same way as he lives through the Father. If, then, we live naturally through him according to the flesh, that is, if we have partaken of the nature of his flesh, must not Christ naturally have the Father within himself according to the Spirit since he himself lives through the Father? And he lives through the Father because his birth has not implanted in him an alien and different nature. This is because his very being is from the Father yet is not divided from the Father by any barrier of an unlikeness of nature because within himself he has the Father through the birth in the power of the nature.

    ON THE TRINITY 8.16

  9. John 6:57
    Can lifeless copies be put on a level with their living originals? Can painted or carved or molten effigies be put on a level with the nature that they imitate? The Son is not the image of the Father after such a fashion as this; he is the living image of the Living. The Son who is born of the Father has a nature in no way different from his. And, because his nature is not different, he possesses the power of the nature that is the same as his own. The fact that he is the image proves that God the Father is the author of the birth of the Only Begotten, who is himself revealed as the likeness and image of the invisible God. And hence the likeness, which is joined in union with the divine nature, is indelibly his own because the powers of that nature are inalienably his own.

    ON THE TRINITY 7.37

  10. John 6:64
    Jesus Christ knows the thoughts of the mind, as it is now, stirred by present motives, and as it will be tomorrow, aroused by the impulse of future desires.… By its virtue his nature could perceive the unborn future and foresee the awakening of passions yet dormant in the mind. Do you believe that it did not know what is through itself and within itself? He is Lord of all that belongs to others; is he not Lord of his own?

    ON THE TRINITY 9.59

  11. John 7:25-30
    (de Trin. ult. med.) Every man, ever born in the flesh, is in a certain sense from God. How then could He say that they were ignorant who He was, and whence He wasa? Because our Lord is here referring to His own peculiar birth from God, which they were ignorant of, because they did not know that He was the Son of God. His very saying then that they did not know whence He was, was telling them whence He was. If they did not know whence He was, He could not be from nothing; for then there would be no whence to be ignorant of. He must therefore be from God. And then not knowing whence He is, was the reason that they did not know who He is. He does not know the Son who does not know His birth from the Father. (vi. de Trin. ultra med.) I ask however, does the being from Him express a work of creation, or a birth by generation? If a work of creation, then every thing which is created is from Him. And how then does not all creation know the Father, if the Son knows Him, because He is from Him? But if the knowledge of the Father is peculiar to Him, as being from Him, then the being from Him…
    (de Trin. ult. med.) Every man, ever born in the flesh, is in a certain sense from God. How then could He say that they were ignorant who He was, and whence He wasa? Because our Lord is here referring to His own peculiar birth from God, which they were ignorant of, because they did not know that He was the Son of God. His very saying then that they did not know whence He was, was telling them whence He was. If they did not know whence He was, He could not be from nothing; for then there would be no whence to be ignorant of. He must therefore be from God. And then not knowing whence He is, was the reason that they did not know who He is. He does not know the Son who does not know His birth from the Father.

    (vi. de Trin. ultra med.) I ask however, does the being from Him express a work of creation, or a birth by generation? If a work of creation, then every thing which is created is from Him. And how then does not all creation know the Father, if the Son knows Him, because He is from Him? But if the knowledge of the Father is peculiar to Him, as being from Him, then the being from Him is peculiar to Him also; i. e. the being the true Son of God by nature. So you have then a peculiar knowledge springing from a peculiar generation. To prevent however any heresy applying the being from Him, to the time of His advent, He adds, And He hath sent Me: thus preserving the order of the Gospel sacrament; first announcing Himself born, and then sent.

    (as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274) Catena Aurea by Aquinas

  12. John 7:28
    No one knows the Father; the Son often assures us of this. The reason why he says that no one knows him but himself is because he is from the Father. Is it, I ask, as the result of an act of creation or of a genuine birth that he is from him? If it is an act of creation, then all created things are from God. How then is it that none of them know the Father, when the Son says that the reason why he has this knowledge is that he is from him? If he is created, not born, we shall observe in him a resemblance to other beings who are from God. Since all, on this supposition, are from God, why is he not as ignorant of the Father as the others are? But if this knowledge of the Father is peculiar to him who is from the Father, must not this circumstance also be peculiar to him, that is, that he is from the Father? That is, must he not be the true Son born from the nature of God? For the reason why he alone knows God is because he alone is from God. You observe, then, a knowledge that is peculiar to himself, resulting from a birth that also is peculiar to himself. You recognize that it is not…
    No one knows the Father; the Son often assures us of this. The reason why he says that no one knows him but himself is because he is from the Father. Is it, I ask, as the result of an act of creation or of a genuine birth that he is from him? If it is an act of creation, then all created things are from God. How then is it that none of them know the Father, when the Son says that the reason why he has this knowledge is that he is from him? If he is created, not born, we shall observe in him a resemblance to other beings who are from God. Since all, on this supposition, are from God, why is he not as ignorant of the Father as the others are? But if this knowledge of the Father is peculiar to him who is from the Father, must not this circumstance also be peculiar to him, that is, that he is from the Father? That is, must he not be the true Son born from the nature of God? For the reason why he alone knows God is because he alone is from God. You observe, then, a knowledge that is peculiar to himself, resulting from a birth that also is peculiar to himself. You recognize that it is not by an act of creative power but through a true birth that he is from the Father. And you realize that this is why he alone knows the Father who is unknown to all other beings that are from him.

    ON THE TRINITY 6.28

  13. John 7:29
    Every person is born in the flesh; yet does not universal consciousness make every person spring from God? How then can Christ assert that either he or the source of his being is unknown? He can do so only by assigning his immediate parentage to the ultimate author of existence. And, when he has done this, he can demonstrate their ignorance of God by their ignorance of the fact that he is the Son of God.… Now he who came is not the author of his own being; but he who sent him is true whom the blasphemers do not know. He it was who sent him; and they do not know that he was the sender. Thus the sent one is from the sender; from him whom they do not know as his author. The reason why they do not know who Christ is, is that they do not know from whom he is. None can confess the Son who deny that he was born; none can understand that he was born who has formed the opinion that Jesus is from nothing. And indeed Jesus is so far from being made out of nothing that the heretics cannot tell from where he is.

    ON THE TRINITY 6.29

  14. John 7:29
    [Jesus says this] to debar heresy from the violent assumption that his being from God dates from the time of his advent. The gospel revelation of the mystery proceeds in a logical sequence. First he is born, then he is sent. Similarly, in the previous declaration, we were told of ignorance, first as to who he is and then as to from where he is. For the words “I am from him, and he sent me” contain two separate statements, as also do the words “You know me, and you know where I am from.”

    ON THE TRINITY 6.29

  15. John 8:41-43
    (vi. de Trin. c. 30) It was not that the Son of God condemned the assumption of so religious a name; that is, condemned them for professing to be the sons of God, and calling God their Father; but that He blamed the rash presumption of the Jews in claiming God for their Father, when they did not love the Son. For I proceeded forth, and came from God. To proceed forth, is not the same with to come. When our Lord says that those who called God their Father, ought to love Him, because He came forth from God, He means that His being born of God was the reason why He should be loved: the proceeding forth, having reference to His incorporeal birth. Their claim to be the sons of God, was to be made good by their loving Christ, Who was begotten from God. For a true worshipper of God the Father must love the Son, as being from Godf. And he only can love the Father, who believes that the Son is from Him.

    (lib. v. ibid.) In what follows, He teaches that His origin is not in Himself; Neither came I of Myself, but He sent Me.

    (as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274) Catena Aurea by Aquinas

  16. John 8:42
    The Son of God here was not condemning the devout confidence of those who combine their confession that he is true God, the Son of God, with their own claim to be God’s children. What he is condemning here is the rash presumption of the Jews in claiming God for their Father when they did not love the Son: “If God were your Father, you would surely love me; for I proceeded from God.” … His proceeding is obviously different from his coming, for the two are mentioned side by side in this passage: “For I proceeded and came from God.” In order to elucidate the difference between “I proceeded from God” and “I came,” he further explains, “I did not come on my own, but he sent me.” These words tell us that he is not the source of his own existence. They also tell us that he has proceeded forth a second time from God [in the incarnation] when he was sent by him. But when our Lord says that those who called God their Father ought to love him because he has proceeded from God, there he means that his being born of God was the reason why he should be loved. This proceeding carries back our thoug…
    The Son of God here was not condemning the devout confidence of those who combine their confession that he is true God, the Son of God, with their own claim to be God’s children. What he is condemning here is the rash presumption of the Jews in claiming God for their Father when they did not love the Son: “If God were your Father, you would surely love me; for I proceeded from God.” … His proceeding is obviously different from his coming, for the two are mentioned side by side in this passage: “For I proceeded and came from God.” In order to elucidate the difference between “I proceeded from God” and “I came,” he further explains, “I did not come on my own, but he sent me.” These words tell us that he is not the source of his own existence. They also tell us that he has proceeded forth a second time from God [in the incarnation] when he was sent by him. But when our Lord says that those who called God their Father ought to love him because he has proceeded from God, there he means that his being born of God was the reason why he should be loved. This proceeding carries back our thoughts to the incorporeal birth, for their claim that God was their Father was supposed to be evident in their loving Christ who was begotten from God. For when the Son says, “Whoever hates me hates my Father as well,” this my is an assertion of his relationship to the Father that no one else has.… No one can worship the Father except those who love the Son. For the one and only reason that he gives for loving the Son is his origin from the Father, not by his advent [i.e. his incarnation] but by his birth [i.e., his eternal generation]. And love for the Father is only possible for those who believe that the Son is from him.

    ON THE TRINITY 6.30

  17. John 9:35
    When the man was already healed and had suffered ejection from the synagogue, the Lord put to him the question, “Do you believe on the Son of God?” This was to save him from the thought that he had lost everything by being excluded from the synagogue. It gave him the certainty that confession of the true faith had restored him to immortality. When the man, his soul still unenlightened, answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him?” the Lord’s reply was, “You have both seen him, and it is he that speaks with you.” For his goal was to remove the ignorance of the man whose sight he had restored and whom he was now enriching with the knowledge of so glorious a faith. Does the Lord demand from this man, as from others who entreated him to heal them, a confession of faith as the price of their recovery? Emphatically not! For the blind man could already see when he was thus addressed. The Lord asked the question in order to receive the answer, “Lord, I believe.” The faith that spoke in that answer was to receive not sight but life.

    On the Trinity, Book 6.48

  18. John 9:35
    If any mere confession whatsoever of Christ were the perfection of faith, it would have been said, Do you believe in Christ? But inasmuch as all heretics would have had this name in their mouths, confessing Christ, and yet denying the Son, that which is two of Christ alone, is required of our faith, viz. that we should believe in the Son of God. But what avails it to believe on the Son of God as being a creature, when we are required to have faith in Christ, not as a creature of God, but as the Son of God.

  19. John 10:22
    Now seeing that heretics cannot deny these things because they are so clearly stated and understood, they nevertheless pervert them by the most foolish and wicked lies so as afterwards to deny them. For the words of Christ, "I and the Father are one," they endeavour to refer to a mere concord of unanimity, so that there may be in them a unity of will not of nature, that is, that they may be one not by essence of being, but by identity of will... The Lord prayed on our behalf for our union with God, but God keeps His own unity and abides in it. It is not through any mysterious appointment of God that they are one, but through a birth of nature, for God loses nothing in begetting Him from Himself. They are one, for the things which are not plucked out of His hand are not plucked out of the hand of the Father, for, when He is known, the Father is known, for, when He is seen, the Father is seen, for what He speaks the Father speaks as abiding in Him, for in His works the Father works, for He is in the Father and the Father in Him. This proceeds from no creation but from birth; it is not…
    Now seeing that heretics cannot deny these things because they are so clearly stated and understood, they nevertheless pervert them by the most foolish and wicked lies so as afterwards to deny them. For the words of Christ, "I and the Father are one," they endeavour to refer to a mere concord of unanimity, so that there may be in them a unity of will not of nature, that is, that they may be one not by essence of being, but by identity of will...

    The Lord prayed on our behalf for our union with God, but God keeps His own unity and abides in it. It is not through any mysterious appointment of God that they are one, but through a birth of nature, for God loses nothing in begetting Him from Himself. They are one, for the things which are not plucked out of His hand are not plucked out of the hand of the Father, for, when He is known, the Father is known, for, when He is seen, the Father is seen, for what He speaks the Father speaks as abiding in Him, for in His works the Father works, for He is in the Father and the Father in Him. This proceeds from no creation but from birth; it is not brought about by will but by power; it is no agreement of mind that speaks, it is nature; because to be created and to be born are not one and the same, any more than to will and to be able; neither is it the same thing to agree and to abide.

    Thus we do not deny a unanimity between the Father and the Son,-for heretics are accustomed to utter this falsehood, that since we do not accept concord by itself as the bond of unity we declare Them to be at variance. But let them listen how it is that we do not deny such a unanimity. The Father and the Son are one in nature, honour, power, and the same nature cannot will things that are contrary.

    On the Trinity, Book 8, Sections 5, 18-19

  20. John 10:29
    This is the speech of conscious power—this confession of free and irresistible energy that will allow no one to pluck his sheep from his hand. But more than this, not only does he have the nature of God but he would have us know that that nature is his by birth from God, and so he adds, "That which the Father has given me is greater than all." He does not conceal that his birth is from the Father, for what he received from the Father he says is greater than all. He received it in that he was born from him. He received it in the birth itself, not after it, and yet it came to him from Another, for he received it.

    ON THE TRINITY 7.22

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