ACC ~ John 1 v17
MOSES AS THE POINT OF REFERENCE
CHRYSOSTOM: See how gently, by a single word and little by little, both John the Baptist and John the disciple lead their hearers up to the highest knowledge, having first exercised them in humbler things? John the Baptist, comparing with himself [Jesus], who is incomparably superior to all, thus afterwards shows Jesus’ superiority by saying, “he comes before me,” and then adding the words “he was before me.” Meanwhile, John the Evangelist has done much more than John the Baptist, though too little for the worthiness of the Only Begotten. For the Evangelist makes the comparison, not with John but with one reverenced by the Jews more than John. He compares him with Moses. “For the law,” he says, “was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 14.3. [1]
[1] NPNF 1 14:49**.
SACRIFICE UNDER THE LAW; THE GOSPEL IS MERCY
AMBROSE: I pardon willingly, [says the Lord,] I quickly forgive: “I will have mercy rather than sacrifice,” [1] because by sacrifice the just is rendered more acceptable, by mercy the sinner is redeemed. “I come not to call the righteous but sinners.” Sacrifice was under the law; in the gospel is mercy. “The law was given by Moses, grace by me.” CONCERNING REPENTANCE 1.12.54. [2]
[1] Hos 6:6.
[2] NPNF 2 10:338.
SUPERIORITY OF GRACE TO LAW
CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: What then is the distinction between the law and the grace that comes through the Savior?… The law condemned the world (for God through [the law] “concluded all under sin,” [1] as Paul says) and showed us subject to punishment. But the Savior rather sets the world free, for he came “not to judge the world but to save the world.” [2] And the law too used to give grace to people, calling them to the knowledge of God and drawing away from the worship of idols those who had been led astray. It also pointed out evil and taught good, if not perfectly, yet in the manner of a teacher and usefully. But the truth and grace that are through the Only Begotten do not introduce to us the good that is in types or to limited things that are only profitable as in shadow. Rather, in glorious and most pure ordinances, it leads us by the hand to an ever more perfect knowledge of the faith. And the law used to give the “spirit of bondage to fear,” [3] but Christ gives the spirit of adoption to liberty. The law likewise brings in the circumcision in the flesh, which is nothing (for “circumcision is nothing” [4] ). But our Lord Jesus Christ is the giver of circumcision “in the spirit and heart.” [5] The law baptizes the defiled with mere water; the Savior baptizes “with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” [6] The law brings in the tabernacle for a “figure of the true”; [7] Savior bears up to heaven itself and brings to the truer “tabernacle, which the Lord set up and not man [humankind].” [8] There are plenty of other proofs besides, but we must respect our limits.
But we will say this for profit and need. The blessed Paul in few words solved the question, saying of the law and of the Savior’s grace, “For if there was splendor in the dispensation of condemnation, the dispensation of righteousness must far exceed it in splendor.” [9] For he says that the commandment by Moses is “the ministration of condemnation,” but the grace through the Savior he calls “the ministration of righteousness,” which he says surpasses in glory. And so he most perfectly examines the nature of things like a child with the Spirit. Since then the law, which condemns, “was given by Moses,” the grace that justifies came by the Only Begotten. If this is true, he says, how can it be otherwise than that [Jesus] is superior in glory through whom the better things were ordained? COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 1.9. [10]
[1] Gal 3:22.
[2] Jn 12:47.
[3] Rom 8:15.
[4] 1 Cor 7:19.
[5] Rom 2:29.
[6] Mt 3:11.
[7] Heb 9:24.
[8] Job 8:2.
[9] 2 Cor 3:9.
[10] LF 43:118-19**. Theodore’s argument is very similar.
THE LAW THREATENED, THE GOSPEL HEALS
AUGUSTINE: Death was the punishment of sins. The gift of mercy was in the Lord, not the punishment of sin…. And so the chain of sin shall not hold you forever, because the temporal death of your Lord defeated your eternal death. The same is grace, my brothers, the same is truth, because it is not only promised but also made known.
This grace was not in the Old Testament, because the law threatened but did not bring aid; commanded but did not heal; made known but did not take away our feebleness. Instead it prepared the way for that physician who was to come with grace and truth. He is the kind of physician who, when about to come to anyone to cure him, might first send his servant so that he might find the sick person bound. He was not healthy; he did not wish to be made healthy and just in case he should be made healthy, he boasted that he was so. The law was sent; it bound him. He finds himself accused, so now he cries out against the bondage. The Lord comes, cures with somewhat bitter and sharp medicines. For he says to the sick, “Bear.” He says, “Endure.” He says, “Do not love the world, have patience, let the fire of continence cure you, let your wounds endure the sword of persecutions.” Were you greatly terrified although bound? He, free and unbound, drank what he gave to you. He first suffered that he might console you, saying, as it were, that which you fear to suffer for yourself, I first suffer for you. This is grace, and great grace. Who can praise it in a worthy manner? TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 3.13-14. [1]
[1] NPNF 1 7:22-23**.
NEW GRACE AND TRUTH
JEROME: For [in place of] the grace of the law, which has passed away, we have received the abiding grace of the gospel, and, instead of the shadows and figures of the ancient covenant, truth has come by Jesus Christ. LETTER 75. [1]
[1] FC 12:357*.
Jn