Homily 4
1 John 2:27-3:8
"And it is true, and lies not. Even as it has taught you, abide in it. And
now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may
have confidence, and not be put to shame by Him at His coming. If you
know that He is righteous, know that every one who does
righteousness is born of Him. Behold, what manner of love the Father
has bestowed upon us, that we should be called and should be the
sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew not
Him, us also the world knows not. Beloved, now are we the sons of
God, and it is not not manifested what we shall be. We know that,
when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He
is. And every man that has this hope in Him purifies himself, even as
He is pure. Whoever commits sin commits also iniquity. Sin is iniquity.
And you know that He was manifested to take away sin; and in Him is
no sin. Whoever abides in Him sins not: whoever sins has not seen
Him, neither known Him. Little children, let no man seduce you. He
who does righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He who
commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sins from the beginning. For
this purpose the Son of God was manifested; that He might destroy the
works of the devil."
1. You remember, brethren, that yesterday's lesson was brought to a
close at this point, that "you have no need that any man teach you, but
the unction itself teaches you concerning all things." Now this, as I am
sure you remember, we so expounded to you, that we who from
without speak to your ears, are as workmen applying culture from
without to a tree, but we cannot give the increase nor form the fruits:
but only He who created and redeemed and called you, He, dwelling in
you by faith and the Spirit, must speak to you within, else vain is all
our noise of words. Whence does this appear? From this: that while
many hear, not all are persuaded of that which is said, but only they to
whom God speaks within. Now they to whom He speaks within, are
those who give place to Him: and those give place to God, who "give
not place to the devil." For the devil wishes to inhabit the hearts of
men, and speak there the things which are able to seduce. But what
says the Lord Jesus? "The prince of this world is cast out." Whence
cast? out of heaven and earth? out of the fabric of the world? Nay, but
out of the hearts of the believing. The invader being cast out, let the
Redeemer dwell within: because the same redeemed, who created.
And the devil now assaults from without, not conquers Him that has
possession within. And he assaults from without, by casting in various
temptations: but that person consents not thereto, to whom God
speaks within, and the unction of which you have heard.
2. "And it is true," namely, this same unction; i.e. the very Spirit of the
Lord which teaches men, cannot lie: "and is not false. Even as it has
taught you, abide you in the same. And now, little children, abide in
Him, that when He shall be manifested, we may have boldness in His
sight, that we be not put to shame by Him at His coming." You see,
brethren: we believe on Jesus whom we have not seen: they
announced Him, that saw, that handled, that heard the word out of His
own mouth; and that they might persuade all mankind of the truth
thereof, they were sent by Him, not dared to go of themselves. And
whither were they sent? You heard while the Gospel was read, "Go,
preach the Gospel to the whole creation which is under heaven."
Consequently, the disciples were sent "everywhere:" with signs and
wonders to attest that what they spake, they had seen. And we believe
on Him whom we have not seen, and we look for Him to come. Those
who look for Him by faith, shall rejoice when He comes: those who are
without faith, when that which now they see not is come, shall be
ashamed. And that confusion of face shall not be for a single day and
so pass away, in such sort as those are wont to be confounded, who
are found out in some fault, and are scoffed at by their fellowmen.
That confusion shall carry those who are confounded to the left hand,
that to them it may be said, "Go into everlasting fire, prepared for the
devil and his angels." Let us abide then in His words, that we be not
confounded when He cometh. For Himself says in the Gospel to those
who had believed on Him: "If you shall abide in my word, then are you
verily my disciples." And, as if they had asked, With what fruit? "And,"
says He, "ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
For as yet our salvation is in hope, not in deed: for we do not already
possess that which is promised, but we hope for it to come. And
"faithful is He who promised;" He deceives not you: only do not faint,
but wait for the promise. For He, the Truth, cannot deceive. Be not a
liar, to profess one thing and do another; keep the faith, and He keeps
His promise. But if you keep not the faith, your own self, not He who
promised, has defrauded you.
3. "If you know that He is righteous, know that every one who does
righteousness is born of Him." The righteousness which at present is
ours is of faith. Perfect righteousness is not, save only in the angels:
and scarce in angels, if they be compared with God: yet if there be any
perfect righteousness of souls and spirits which God has created, it is
in the angels, holy, just, good, by no lapse turned aside, by no pride
falling, but remaining ever in the contemplation of the Word of God,
and having nothing else sweet to them save Him by whom they were
created; in them is perfect righteousness: but in us it has begun to be,
of faith, by the Spirit. You heard when the Psalm was read, "Begin to
the Lord in confession." "Begin," says it; the beginning of our
righteousness is the confession of sins. You have begun not to defend
your sin; now have you made a beginning of righteousness: but it shall
be perfected in you when to do nothing else shall delight you, when
"death shall be swallowed up in victory," when there shall be no
itching of lust, when there shall be no struggling with flesh and blood,
when there shall be the palm of victory, the triumph over the enemy;
then shall there be perfect righteousness. At present we are still
fighting: if we fight we are in the lists; we smite and are smitten; but
who shall conquer, remains to be seen. And that man conquers, who
even when he smites presumes not on his own strength, but relies
upon God that cheers him on. The devil is alone when he fights against
us. If we are with God, we overcome the devil: for if you fight alone
with the devil, you will be overcome. He is a skilful enemy: how may
palms has he won! Consider to what he has cast us down! That we are
born mortal, comes of this, that he in the first place cast down from
Paradise our very original. What then is to be done, seeing he is so
well practised? Let the Almighty be invoked to your aid against the
devices of the devil. Let Him dwell in you, who cannot be overcome,
and you shall securely overcome him who is wont to overcome. But to
overcome whom? Those in whom God dwells not. For, that you may
know it, brethren; Adam being in Paradise despised the
commandment of God, and lifted up the neck, as if he desired to be his
own master, and were loath to be subject to the will of God: so he fell
from that immortality, from that blessedness. But there was a certain
man, a man now well skilled, though a mortal born, who even as he sat
on the dunghill, putrefying with worms, overcame the devil: yea,
Adam himself then overcame: even he, in Job; because Job was of his
race. So then, Adam, overcome in Paradise, overcame on the dunghill.
Being in Paradise, he gave ear to the persuasion of the woman which
the devil had put into her: but being on the dunghill he said to Eve,
"You have spoken as one of the foolish women." There he lent an ear,
here he gave an answer: when he was glad, he listened, when he was
scourged, he overcame. Therefore, see what follows, my brethren, in
the Epistle: because this is what it would have us lay to heart, that we
may overcome the devil indeed, but not of ourselves. "If you know that
He is righteous," says it, "know that every one who does righteousness
is born of Him:" of God, of Christ. And in that he has said, "is born of
Him," he cheers us on. Already therefore, in that we are born of Him,
we are perfect.
4. Hear. "Behold what manner of love the Father has given us, that we
should be called sons of God, and be (such)." For whoever are called
sons, and are not sons, what profits them the name where the thing is
not? How many are called physicians, who know not how to heal! how
many are called watchers, who sleep all night long! So, many are
called Christians, and yet in deeds are not found such; because they
are not this which they are called, that is, in life, in manners, in faith, in
hope, in charity. But what have you heard here, brethren? "Behold,
what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should
be called, and should be, the sons of God: therefore the world knows
us not, because it has not known Him, us also the world knows not."
There is a whole world Christian, and a whole world ungodly; because
throughout the whole world there are ungodly, and throughout the
whole world there are godly: those know not these. In what sense,
think we, do they not know them? They deride those who live good
lives. Mark well and see: for haply there are such also among you.
Each one of you who now lives godly, who despises worldly things,
who does not choose to go to spectacles, who does not choose to make
himself drunken as it were by solemn custom, yea, what is worse,
under countenance of holy days to make himself unclean: the man
who does not choose to do these things, how is he derided by those
who do them! Would he be scoffed at if he were known? But why is he
not known? "The world knows Him not." Who is "the world"? Those
inhabiters of the world. Just as we say, "a house;" meaning, its
inhabitants. These things have been said to you again and again, and
we forbear to repeat them to your disgust. By this time, when you
hear the word "world," in a bad signification, you know that you must
understand it to mean only lovers of the world because through love
they inhabit, and by inhabiting have become entitled to the name.
Therefore the world has not known us, because it has not known Him.
He walked here Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh; He was
God, He was latent in weakness. And wherefore was He not known?
Because He reproved all sins in men. They, through loving the delights
of sins, did not acknowledge the God: through loving that which the
fever prompted, they did wrong to the Physician.
5. For us then, what are we? Already we are begotten of Him; but
because we are such in hope, he says, "Beloved, now are we sons of
God." Now already? Then what is it we look for, if already we are sons
of God? "And not yet," says he, "is it manifested what we shall be." But
what else shall we be than sons of God? Hear what follows: "We know
that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, because we shall see
Him as He is." Understand, my beloved. It is a great matter: "We know
that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him
as He is." In the first place mark, what is called "is." You know what it
is that is so called. That which is called "is," and not only is called but
is so, is unchangeable: It ever remains, It cannot be changed, It is in no
part corruptible: It has neither proficiency, for It is perfect; nor has
deficiency, for It is eternal. And what is this? "In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And what
is this? "Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God." To see Christ in this sort, Christ in the form of God,
Word of God, Only-Begotten of the Father, equal with the Father, is to
the bad impossible. But in regard that the Word was made flesh, the
bad also shall have power to see Him: because in the day of judgment
the bad also will see Him; for He shall so come to judge, as He came to
be judged. In the selfsame form, a man, but yet God: for "cursed is
every one who puts his trust in man." A man, He came to be judged, a
man, He will come to judge. And if He shall not be seen, what is this
that is written, "They shall look on Him whom they pierced?" For of
the ungodly it is said, that they shall see and be confounded. How shall
the ungodly not see, when He shall set some on the right hand, others
on the left? To those on the right hand He will say, "Come, you blessed
of my Father, receive the kingdom:" to those on the left He will say, "Go
into everlasting fire." They will see but the form of a servant, the form
of God they will not see. Why? because they were ungodly; and the
Lord Himself says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God." Therefore, we are to see a certain vision, my brethren, "which
neither eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor has entered into the heart
of man:" a certain vision, a vision surpassing all earthly beauty, of
gold, of silver, of groves and fields; the beauty of sea and air, the
beauty of sun and moon, the beauty of the stars, the beauty of angels:
surpassing all things: because from it are all things beautiful.
6. What then shall "we" be, when we shall see this? What is promised
to us? "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." The tongue
has done what it could, has sounded the words: let the rest be thought
by the heart. For what has even John himself said in comparison of
That which Is, or what can be said by us men, who are so far from
being equal to his merits? Return we therefore to that unction of Him,
return we to that unction which inwardly teaches that which we
cannot speak: and because you cannot at present see, let your part
and duty be in desire. The whole life of a good Christian is a holy
desire. Now what you long for, you do not yet see: although by longing,
you are made capable, so that when that is come which you may see,
you shall be filled. For just as, if you would fill a bag, and know how
great the thing is that shall be given, you stretch the opening of the
sack or the skin, or whatever else it is; you know how much you would
put in, and see that the bag is narrow; by stretching you make it
capable of holding more: so God, by deferring our hope, stretches our
desire; by the desiring, stretches the mind; by stretching, makes it
more capacious. Let us desire therefore, my brethren, for we shall be
filled. See Paul widening, as it were, his heart, that it may be able to
receive that which is to come. He says, namely, "Not that I have already
received, or am already perfect: brethren, I deem not myself to have
apprehended." Then what are you doing in this life, if you have not yet
apprehended? "But this one thing [I do]; forgetting the things that are
behind, reaching forth to the things that are before, upon the strain I
follow on to the prize of the high calling." He says he reaches forth, or
stretches himself, and says that he follows "upon the strain." He felt
himself too little to take in that "which eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
neither has entered into the heart of man." This is our life, that by
longing we should be exercised. But holy longing exercises us just so
much as we prune off our longings from the love of the world. We have
already said, "Empty out that which is to be filled." With good you are
to be filled: pour out the bad. Suppose that God would fill you with
honey: if you are full of vinegar, where will you put the honey? That
which the vessel bore in it must be poured out: the vessel itself must
be cleansed; must be cleansed, albeit with labour, albeit with hard
rubbing, that it may become fit for that thing, whatever it is. Let us say
honey, say gold, say wine; whatever we say it is, being that which
cannot be said, whatever we would fain say, It is called - God. And
when we say "God," what have we said? Is that one syllable the whole
of that we look for? So then, whatever we have had power to say is
beneath Him: let us stretch ourselves to Him, that when He shall come,
He may fill us. For "we shall be like Him; because we shall see Him as
He is."
7. "And every one who has this hope in Him." You see how he has set
us our place, in "hope." You see how the Apostle Paul agrees with his
fellow-apostle, "By hope we are saved. But hope that is seen, is not
hope: for what a man sees, why does he hope for? For if what we see
not, we hope for, by patience we wait for it." This very patience
exercises desire. Continue you, for He continues: and persevere in
walking, that you may reach the goal: for that to which you tend will
not remove. See: "And every one who has this hope in Him, purifies
himself even as He is pure." See how he has not taken away free-will,
in that he says, "purifies himself." Who purifies us but God? Yea, but
God does not purify you if you are unwilling. Therefore, in that you
join your will to God, in that you purify yourself. You purify yourself,
not by yourself, but by Him who comes to inhabit you. Still, because
you do somewhat therein by the will, therefore is somewhat
attributed to you. But it is attributed to you only to the end you should
say, as in the Psalm, "Be my helper, forsake me not." If you say, "Be my
helper," you do somewhat: for if you are doing nothing, how should He
be said to "help" you?
8. "Every one who does sin, does also iniquity." Let no man say, Sin is
one thing, iniquity another: let no man say, I am a sinful man, but not a
doer of iniquity. For, "Every one who does sin, does also iniquity. Sin is
iniquity." Well then, what are we to do concerning sins and iniquities?
Hear what He says: "And you know that He was manifested to take
away sin; and sin in Him is not." He, in Whom sin is not, the same is
come to take away sin. For were there sin in Him, it must be taken
away from Him, not He take it away Himself. "Whoever abides in Him,
sins not." In so far as he abides in Him, in so far sins not. "Whoever
sins has not seen Him, neither known Him." A great question this:
"Whoever sins has not seen Him, neither known Him." No marvel. We
have not seen Him, but are to see; have not known Him, but are to
know: we believe on One we have not known. Or haply, by faith we
have known, and by actual beholding have not yet known? But then in
faith we have both seen and known. For if faith does not yet see, why
are we said to have been enlightened? There is an enlightening by
faith, and an enlightening by sight. At present, while we are on
pilgrimage, "we walk by faith, not by sight," or, actually beholding.
Therefore also our righteousness is "by faith, not by sight." Our
righteousness shall be perfect, when we shall see by actual beholding.
Only, in the meanwhile, let us not leave that righteousness which is of
faith, since "the just lives by faith," as says the apostle. "Whoever
abides in Him, sins not." For, "whoever sins, has not seen Him, neither
known Him." That man who sins, believes not: but if a man believes, so
far as pertains to his faith, he sins not.
9. "Little children, let no man seduce you. He who does righteousness
is righteous, as He is righteous." What, on hearing that we are
"righteous as He is righteous," are we to think ourselves equal with
God? You must know what means that "as:" thus he said a while ago,
"Purifies himself even as He is pure." Then is our purity like and equal
to the purity of God, and our righteousness to God's righteousness?
Who can say this? But the word "as," is not always wont to be used in
the sense of equality. As, for example, if, having seen this large church,
a person should wish to build a smaller church, but with the same
relative dimensions: as, for example, if this be one measure in width
and two measures in length, he too should build his church one
measure in width and two measures in length: in that case one sees
that he has built it "as" this is built. But this church has, say, a hundred
cubits in length, the other thirty: it is at once "as" this, and yet
unequal. You see that this "as" is not always referred to parity and
equality. For example, see what a difference there is between the face
of a man and its image from a mirror: there is a face in the image, a
face in the body: the image exists in imitation, the body in reality. And
what do we say? Why, "as" there are eyes here, so also there; "as" ears
here, so ears also there. The thing is different, but the "as" is said of
the resemblance. Well then, we also have in us the image of God; but
not that which the Son equal with the Father has: yet except we also,
according to our measure, were "as" He, we should in no respect be
said to be like Him. "He purifies us," then, "even as He is pure:" but He is pure from eternity, we pure by faith. We are "righteous even as He is
righteous;" but He is so in His immutable perpetuity, we righteous by
believing on One we do not see, that so we may one day see Him. Even
when our righteousness shall be perfect, when we shall be equal to
the angels, not even then shall it be equalled with Him. How far then is
it from Him now, when not even then it shall be equal!
10. "He who does sin, is of the devil, because the devil sins from the
beginning." "Is of the devil:" you know what he means: by imitating
the devil. For the devil made no man, begat no man, created no man:
but whoever imitates the devil, that person, as if begotten of him,
becomes a child of the devil; by imitating him, not literally by being
begotten of him. In what sense are you a child of Abraham, not that
Abraham begat you? In the same sense as the Jews, the children of
Abraham, not imitating the faith of Abraham, are become children of
the devil: of the flesh of Abraham they were begotten, and the faith of
Abraham they have not imitated. If then those who were thence
begotten were put out of the inheritance, because they did not imitate,
you, who are not begotten of him, are made a child, and in this way
shall be a child of him by imitating him. And if you imitate the devil, in
such wise as he became proud and impious against God, you will be a
child of the devil: by imitating, not that he created you or begat you.
11. "To this end was the Son of God manifested." Now then, brethren, mark! All sinners are begotten of the devil, as sinners. Adam was
made by God: but when he consented to the devil, he was begotten of
the devil; and he begat all men such as he was himself. With lust itself
we were born; even before we add our sins, from that condemnation
we have our birth. For if we are born without any sin, wherefore this
running with infants to baptism that they may be released? Then
mark well, brethren, the two birth-stocks, Adam and Christ: two men
are; but one of them, a man that is man; the other, a Man that is God.
By the man that is man we are sinners; by the Man that is God we are
justified. That birth has cast down to death; this birth has raised up to
life: that birth brings with it sin; this birth sets free from sin. For to
this end came Christ as Man, to undo the sins of men. "To this end was
the Son of God manifested, that He may undo the works of the devil."
12. The rest I commend to your thoughts, my beloved, that I may not
burden you. For the question we labour to solve is even this - that we
call ourselves sinners: for if any man shall say that he is without sin,
he is a liar. And in the Epistle of this same John we have found it
written, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves." For you
should remember what went before: "If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." And yet, on the other
hand, in what follows you are told, "He who is begotten of God sins
not: he who does sin has not seen Him, neither known Him. - Every
one who does sin is of the devil:" sin is not of God: this affrights us
again. In what sense are we begotten of God, and in what sense do we
confess ourselves sinners? Shall we say, because we are not begotten
of God? And what do these Sacraments in regard to infants? What has
John said? "He who is begotten of God, sins not." And yet again the
same John has said, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us!" A great question it is, and an
embarrassing one; and may I have made you intent upon having it
solved, my beloved. Tomorrow, in the name of the Lord, what He will
give, we will discourse thereof.