Theodore of Mopsuestia — Commentary on Scripture

Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,)

It is evident that not all the doctors approved what they were doing, since one of the doctors was Nicodemus, who replied against their words.

Nicodemus, either out of weakness or fear of the doctors, did not reply to them when they wanted to diminish the words and works of Christ by mentioning Galilee.

John 8:12

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Do you not recognize the words of the prophet, in the fact that the Galileans enjoy a great light? Therefore, [Jesus says], “I am that light.” And I not only provide [this light] for them but for all people. Whoever keeps close to me will not suffer; I have sufficient [light] for all people.

John 8:17

It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.

Your law, [he says], states that any case about which there is doubt is settled if two testimonies are given about it. Therefore according to the will of the law, there must be two witnesses besides the one about whom the testimony is given. If the Father and the Son, as divinity, testify in favor of the human nature of our Lord, the rule of law is respected.

John 8:33

They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

They did not speak the truth. They had been freed from the bondage of the Egyptians, who were their neighbors, and from that of the Babylonians. And now, when they were speaking these words, they were subjects to the Romans. But our Lord did not lower himself to rebuke them about it, even though they were lying.

John 8:34

Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

This is what he means: The subject of what I am talking about is not corporeal bondage. I want to talk to you about real freedom. In one instance a master, at his discretion, drives away from the house a servant in whom he sees an evil will and subjects him to any punishment he considers to be appropriate. But … no master drives away his son from the house. So, one who is a slave to sin, since he is far removed from all divine goodness, is given a perpetual punishment. But the one who has been made worthy of freedom and has been given the status of son always enjoys divine goodness and can never be removed from it. If you, he says, are freed through me and are made worthy of the title of sons, then you will possess real freedom.

John 8:44

Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

When Satan, he says, speaks lies and similar words, he does not use those of others but his own. He is the father of falsehood because he generated it and was the first to use it by speaking to Adam when he substituted certain words in place of others. The expression “He is a liar and the father of it” signifies that he is a liar and the father of lies. In other words, the devil not only generated lies. He was also the first to introduce them and to use them.

John 8:53

Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?

Abraham and the prophets died, yet you say that you will make those who believe in you immortal. So, it would seem that you [Jesus] are exalting yourself over them.

John 8:54

Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:

Since they were openly rebuking him for exalting himself over Abraham and the prophets and since they accuse him by saying, “Who do you make yourself out to be?”—he in effect responds by saying: … If I spoke about my glory and the things that belong to me, you would not believe me—and with good reason, because I would be testifying about myself. But it is my Father who revealed my glory by testifying about me, as he said above, “The Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.” You then say you belong to God, but you do not know him; you are not even familiar with him because you do not obey his words. “I do know him,” and what I do matches perfectly with his testimony about me. Even if I say something pleasing about myself, I say nothing contrary to the previous testimony of the Father about me. This is what he means when he says, “And I keep his word. If I would say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you.”

John 8:56

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

Therefore, he says, after my Father’s testimony about me has been explained, now listen to what is in conformity with that [testimony] about me: I am certainly enough of Abraham’s superior that he also wished and hoped to see the time when I would reform the world through my passion. And in his desire he saw this, as much as he was allowed to, and clearly rejoiced when, by sacrificing his own son, he revealed his will and received from God the revelation so that he might know what would happen. As he accepted giving his son as a victim for God, so also God would give his Only Begotten for the salvation of the world.

John 8:59

Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

He passed through them and left the place as if their eyes were closed by divine power so that they might not know how he had left from their midst.… Clearly, then, he slipped away from the Jews and, moving on, he performed the work on the blind man. Right after his discourse, then, one miracle was followed by another. This is so since, on the one hand, he was not seen by those who could see (because they were possessed by blindness) while on the other, he gave sight to the one who did not have the natural ability to see.

John 9:3 · 2 passages

Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

The Lord taught the disciples that there are many reasons for all these events and that they are certainly secret and unexplainable. And so, we always complain about events whose causes we ignore, but then we also learn that nothing happens in vain. This knowledge will be given to us in the future world, because what is hidden now will be revealed to us.

It was not unusual for his disciples to ask this kind of question about all that was happening to the Lord so that they could learn those things that lead to godliness. Indeed, since they had left everything and had given themselves completely to the Lord in order to learn from him godliness and piety, it is with laudable care that they took the opportunity from what happened around them to ask him such questions. When they saw this man born blind who, before he could sin, had this damage, and to whom this defect of the eyes happened when he was still in the womb, they were upset in their human way about this fact in trying to relate it to their faith. They thought that there was a just reason for such an accident and that such adversity had occurred not without good cause because they knew that God rules all human things. They were not able to understand what had happened in any other way because of their human weakness, attributing the reason for what happened either to the sin of the parents or to the blind man himself. It was not that he had been injured because he had sinned alr…

It was not unusual for his disciples to ask this kind of question about all that was happening to the Lord so that they could learn those things that lead to godliness. Indeed, since they had left everything and had given themselves completely to the Lord in order to learn from him godliness and piety, it is with laudable care that they took the opportunity from what happened around them to ask him such questions. When they saw this man born blind who, before he could sin, had this damage, and to whom this defect of the eyes happened when he was still in the womb, they were upset in their human way about this fact in trying to relate it to their faith. They thought that there was a just reason for such an accident and that such adversity had occurred not without good cause because they knew that God rules all human things. They were not able to understand what had happened in any other way because of their human weakness, attributing the reason for what happened either to the sin of the parents or to the blind man himself. It was not that he had been injured because he had sinned already—indeed, how could he sin if he was not born yet? But, since he would commit future sins, God, in his foreknowledge, restrained him by that disability. They justly and piously thought that the sins of people were the cause of all evils. But since, because of their human weakness, they could understand nothing more by themselves, they thought that the cause for this disability could only be attributed to the blind man himself or to his parents; as if the son had received that punishment for their sins, or he was the cause of his misfortune because he had received that punishment for his future sins.

John 9:8

The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?

After having gone and washed, he encountered grace. And yet his neighbors and those who were with him when he was begging did not all come to the same conclusion about him. There were some who said that he was indeed the blind man, but others, because of the miracle that had happened to him, said it was not him but someone like him. He, however, says that it is him, not because the event itself compelled him to but because he was eager to proclaim before everyone what had happened.

John 9:12

Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.

They were asking him, “Where is he?” His reply was that he did not know because he had not seen him, since at the time [of the healing] he was blind.

John 9:17

They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.

While they were discussing things, they turned to the blind man again, as if they chose him as their arbiter, and they said to him, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” Should we admire him for the work he performed? Or is he a sinner because he violated the sabbath? So about the one “who opened your eyes,” that is, since he opened your eyes, what do you have to say about him? What is your opinion? The blind man wisely answered the question, saying, “He is a prophet,” that is, that is the kind of respect I have for him, and it encapsulates what I think of the work he performed. When they saw that the miracle itself already testified to the power of the healer and that the blind man openly revealed the grace he had received and proclaimed the greatness of his helper, they began to doubt whether that man who had been healed was really the blind man or someone else. And so they were obliged to call his parents.

John 9:25

He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

He says, in effect, I do not want to declare what I do not know; nor can I keep silent or hide what I know. I really do not know whether he is what you say he is. In fact, I did not come to know him as a sinner. I was blind, and through my hope I received sight; I know this first of all. It is up to you to judge whether a sinner can do that, because this is what you assert he is.He gave a quite prudent answer by moderating his words so that he might not appear to be in disagreement with those who questioned him. Through his silence he nonetheless suggested that [Jesus] could not have done what he did if he really were a sinner.

John 9:33-34

If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.

So Jesus must be admired, the blind man says, as one who is superior to human thought. While you do not know where he is from, the accomplished miracle openly proves his power to me. You do not know who he is and would need testimony from others if there had been no clue of his power. But if his miracles show that he is a great man—and you still do not know where he is from or who he is—it is evident, both from the greatness of his miracles and your foolishness, that he is beyond human comprehension. And from these facts it seems clear that he cannot be called a sinner. Certainly God does not fulfill the requests of sinners but listens instead to the voice of those who show honest behavior and faithfully do his will.… Indeed, he healed a man born blind, and we know that this has never been done before, not even by Moses, whom you admire.

John 9:36

He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?

The blind man, recognizing his voice—remember he had not seen him yet—said, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” With good reason he thought that he who had given him sight even though he was beyond hope could also show him the Son of God.

John 9:39

And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

What Jesus said elsewhere, namely, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order to save it,” is not contrary to this statement. For there it states the purpose of Jesus’ coming: that all people may be saved. Here he talks about the outcome of his coming. In fact, even though this is his will, that is, to save all people, the unbelievers nonetheless must be absolutely punished because of their choice not to believe. Here he indicates what seems to be the outcome of these events. As is only reasonable, he says, I came to test individuals in order to ascertain who are blind and who are able to see. Now he who was believed to be blind, twice received eyes to see. He received bodily eyes and, to the perfection of his soul, he received saving doctrine. Those [i.e., the Pharisees] who think they see with bodily eyes, who have been entrusted with the teaching of the precepts of the law, appear to be blind, both because they do not accept the truth and because they do not believe the works that they have seen with their own eyes.