ACC ~ John 1 v6 - 9

OVERVIEW:

God sent a man, not an angel or other heavenly being, to testify to his Son’s humanity (AUGUSTINE). This man, John the Baptist, was sent as a prophet and an apostle (IRENAEUS), charged to speak nothing on his own but only what was given him to say (JEROME). John was the sound of Christ, who, in turn, is the speech of the Father (ORIGEN). In order for his report to be believable, John the Evangelist enlists the help of John the Baptist so that his account might be attested by two or three witnesses (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). It was important that John’s testimony and those who preceded him be given in addition to Jesus’ later miracles, because the glory of the miracles might fade over time, but the word remains (ORIGEN). John testified to Christ, not because Christ needed the testimony but so that, as the Evangelist notes, “all might believe in him,” having heard about him from a voice with which they could identify (CHRYSOSTOM). The Baptist was a witness and forerunner to the light—a light that our world of darkness sorely needs (ORIGEN). The Son is the true light that has come into the world and that made the world (ATHANASIUS). John, however, was only a lamp illuminated by Christ, who is the source of light (AUGUSTINE). This light enlightens everyone who comes into the world; however, anyone who closes his eyes to Christ’s light will not be forced to see (CHRYSOSTOM). Those who do see are enlightened through participation in that light, which shone forth at creation as the uncreated light and which glorifies us with his gifts (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). Those who are called to be his lights must shine on the wooden lampstand of his cross (AUGUSTINE).

1:6 | John, a Man Sent from God

A MAN SENT TO TESTIFY TO THE ONE WHO IS MORE THAN MAN

AUGUSTINE: Christ obviously neither came nor departed according to his Godhead since he is present everywhere and is contained in no place. But how did he come? He appeared as a man.

Therefore, because he was such a man, albeit that God lay hidden in him, there was sent before him a great man whose testimony would confirm that Christ was more than man. And who is this? “He was a man.” TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.4-5. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:15**.

JOHN IS PROPHET AND APOSTLE

IRENAEUS: By what God, then, was John, the forerunner, who testifies of the Light, sent [into the world]? Truly it was by him of whom Gabriel is the angel, who also announced the glad tidings of his birth: [that God] who also had promised by the prophets that he would send his messenger before the face of his Son, [1] who should prepare his way, that is, that he should bear witness of that Light in the spirit and power of Elijah. [2] But, again, of what God was Elijah the servant and the prophet? Of him who made heaven and earth, [3] as he does himself confess. John, therefore, having been sent by the founder and maker of this world is… deemed “more than a prophet.” [4] For all the other prophets preached the advent of the paternal Light and desired to be worthy of seeing him whom they preached. But John both announced [the advent] beforehand in the same way as the others did, and actually saw him when he came and pointed him out and persuaded many to believe on him, so that he did himself hold the place of both prophet and apostle. AGAINST HERESIES 3.11.4. [5]

[1] Mal 3:1.

[2] Lk 1:17.

[3] See 1 Kings 18:36.

[4] Mt 11:9; Lk 7:26.

[5] ANF 1:427*.

SENT TO THE OFFICE OF PROPHET AND APOSTLE

JEROME: Where we say “sent,” the Hebrew says, “one sent forth”; in Greek apostolos, in Hebrew siloas. You see, therefore, that this John, the prophet, is not only a prophet but also an apostle. Isaiah is sent; he was an apostle. “Here I am, send me!” [1] “Sent” is a term well said…. Those who have come on their own authority and have not been sent are the thieves and robbers. [2] But this man has been sent from God, “whose name was John” and whose name corresponds to his calling. The name “Ioannes” is interpreted as the grace of the Lord, for io means Lord, and anna means grace. And so John is called the grace of the Lord. His mission as messenger he receives from the Lord. HOMILY 87, ON JOHN 1:1-14. [3]

[1] Is 6:8.

[2] See Jn 10:8.

[3] FC 57:216-17**.See also Chrysostom on the Baptist as apostle.

JOHN IS THE VOICE THAT PREDICTS THE SPOKEN WORD

ORIGEN: The fact that John was filled with the Holy Spirit while he was still in his mother’s womb is an even more striking argument for John to have been sent from some other region [1] when he was placed in a body with no other purpose for his sojourn in life than his testimony to the light. Gabriel mentions that John was filled with the Spirit while still in his mother’s womb when he announces the birth of John to Zechariah. [2] …

John is like sound [3] in relation to Christ, who is speech. [4] … John himself suggests this view since he once said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.” [5] … And perhaps it is because Zechariah disbelieved in the birth of the voice that makes known the Word of God that he loses his voice and regains it when the voice that is the forerunner of the Word is born. [6] For a voice must be listened to so that the mind can afterwards receive the word revealed by the voice. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.180, 193-94. [7]

[1] Origen speculated that John may have been an angel sent down as the forerunner of the Savior, see Commentary on the Gospel of John 2.186.

[2] See Lk 1:35-36, 44.

[3] Gk phōnē.

[4] Gk logos.

[5] See Mk 1:3.

[6] See Lk 1:20, 64.

[7] FC 80:143*, 147**; SC 120:328, 338. See also Augustine Sermon 293D.3.

1:7 | John Comes to Testify to the Light

THE NEED FOR TWO OR THREE WITNESSES

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Since, according to what was said by God through Moses, “At the mouth of two and three witnesses shall every word be established,” [1] wisely does [John the Evangelist] bring in addition to himself the blessed Baptist. … For he did not suppose that he ought, even if of gravest weight, to demand of the readers in his book concerning our Savior credence above that of the law, and that they should believe him by himself when declaring things above our understanding and sense. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 1.7. [2]

[1] Deut 19:15.

[2] LF 43:69-70*.

PROPHECIES AND MIRACLES TESTIFY TO CHRIST

ORIGEN: Some try to undo the testimonies of the prophets to Christ by saying that the Son of God had no need of such witnesses…. To this we may reply that where there are a number of reasons to make people believe, persons are often impressed by one kind of proof and not by another.

And with respect to the doctrine of the incarnation, it is certain that some have been forced by the prophetical writings into an admiration of Christ by the fact of so many prophets having, before his advent, fixed the place of his birth [and by other proofs of the same kind]….

It is to be remembered too, that, though the display of miraculous powers might stimulate the faith of those who lived in the same age with Christ, they might, in the lapse of time, fail to do so; as some of them might even get to be regarded as fabulous. Prophecy and miracles together are more convincing than simply past miracles by themselves…. We must remember too that people receive honor themselves from the witness that they bear to God….

He, therefore, who maintains that there is no need for the prophetic witness to Christ deprives the choir of prophets of their greatest gift. For what would prophecy, which is inspired by the Holy Spirit, have that is so great, if one exclude from it those matters related to the dispensation of our Lord?… John, too, therefore came to bear witness concerning the light. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.199, 202-4, 206, 208, 212. [1]

[1] FC 80:149-52**; SC 120:344-48, 352.

JOHN’S HUMAN VOICE FOR HUMAN LISTENERS

CHRYSOSTOM: He could have proven that he had no need of that [herald’s] testimony by showing himself in his unveiled essence, had he so chosen, and that would have confounded them all. But he did not do this because he would have annihilated everybody since no one could have endured the encounter of that unapproachable light. This is why he put on flesh and entrusted the witness [of himself] to one of our fellow servants, since everything he did was for the salvation of men and women, looking not only to his own honor but also to what might be more readily received by and profitable to his hearers. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 6.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:26**.

1:8 | John Was Not the Light

JOHN IS A FORERUNNER OF THE LIGHT

ORIGEN: The Baptist’s leaping for joy in the womb of Elizabeth at Mary’s greeting was a testimony about Christ. [1] He was testifying to the divinity of Christ’s conception and birth. For what indeed is John, except everywhere a witness and forerunner of Jesus? He precedes his birth and dies a little before the death of the Son of God, that, by appearing before the Christ not only to those in birth but also those awaiting the freedom from death through Christ, he might everywhere prepare for the Lord a prepared people….

Now since there was the beginning in which the Word was… and since the Word also existed, and life was made in him, and the life was the light of people… why then did he not come “to give testimony of the life,” or “to give testimony of the Word,” or “of the beginning,” or of any other aspect of the Christ whatsoever? Consider whether it is not [because] “the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light” [2] and because “the light shines in the darkness” and is not overcome by it. Those who are in darkness, that is, men and women, need light. For if the light “shines in the darkness”—there is no activity of darkness at all there—we shall share in other aspects of the Christ in which we do not now participate. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.224-27. [3]

[1] Lk 1:44.

[2] Mt 4:16; cf. Is 9:2.

[3] FC 80:155-56*; SC 120:360-62.

CHRIST IS THE TRUE LIGHT

PSEUDO-ATHANASIUS: It follows that the Word is the Son. But if the Son is the Light that has come into the world, beyond all dispute the world was made by the Son. For in the beginning of the Gospel, the Evangelist, speaking of John the Baptist, says, “He was not that Light, but that he might bear witness concerning that Light.” For Christ himself was, as we have said before, the true Light that enlightens everyone that comes into the world. For if “he was in the world, and the world was made by him,” [1] of necessity he is the Word of God, concerning whom also the Evangelist witnesses that all things were made by him. For either they will be compelled to speak of two worlds, that the one may have come into being by the Son and the other by the Word, or, if the world is one and the creation one, it follows that Son and Word are one and the same before all creation, for by him it came into being. FOURTH DISCOURSE AGAINST THE ARIANS 19. [2]

[1] Jn 1:10.

[2] NPNF 2 4:440*.

JOHN THE LAMP, CHRIST THE LIGHT

AUGUSTINE: How right it was for the Lord to call [John] a lamp. This is what the Lord said about John: “He was a burning and a shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to exult in his light.” [1] What, though, does John the Evangelist say about him? “There was a man sent by God, whose name was John; this man came for witness, to bear witness about the light; that man was not the light.” Who? John the Baptist. Who says this? John the Evangelist. “That man was not the light.” You say “that man was not the light,” while the light itself says about him, “That man was a burning and a shining lamp? “But I know,” he says, “what sort of light I am talking about; a light, I am well aware, in comparison with which a lamp is not a light.” Listen to what comes next: “That was the true light that enlightens everyone coming into this world.” John does not enlighten every person; Christ does. And John recognized himself as a lamp, in order not to be blown out by the wind of pride. A lamp can both be lit and be put out. The word of God cannot be put out; a lamp always can. SERMON 289.4. [2]

[1] Jn 5:35.

[2] WSA 3 8:122*.

1:9 | The True Light Was Coming into the World

THE LIGHT OF CHRIST FREELY GIVEN

CHRYSOSTOM: If he “enlightens everyone that comes into the world,” how is it that so many continue unenlightened? For not all have known the majesty of Christ. How then does he “enlighten everyone”? He enlightens all who live in him. But if some, willfully closing the eyes of their mind, would not receive the rays of that light, their darkness arises not from the nature of the light but from their own wickedness as they willfully deprive themselves of the gift. For the grace is shed forth upon all, turning its back on no one… but admitting all alike and inviting all equally. And those who are not willing to enjoy this gift ought in justice to impute their blindness to themselves. For if when the gate is opened to all and there is none to hinder, any who are willfully evil remain outside. They perish through no one else but their own wickedness. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 8.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:29**.

THE SON ENLIGHTENS US WITH HIS GIFTS

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The rational portion of the creation, being enlightened, enlightens by sharing ideas from one mind as they are poured into another. Such enlightenment will rightly be called teaching rather than revelation. But the Word of God “enlightens everyone that comes into the world,” not after the manner of teaching, as the angels, for example, or people, but rather, as God after the mode of creation, he engrafts in each of those that are called into being the seed of wisdom or of divine knowledge and implants a root of understanding. In this way, he renders the living creature rational, allowing it to participate in his own nature and sending into the mind, as it were, certain luminous vapors of the unutterable brightness in a way and mode that only he himself knows. For one may not, I think, say too much on these subjects. Therefore our forefather Adam too is seen to have attained wisdom not in time, as we, but right away from the first beginnings of his being he appears perfect in understanding, preserving in himself the illumination given of God to his nature as yet untroubled and pure and holding the dignity of his nature unadulterated.

The Son therefore lights after the manner of creation, as being himself the very Light. And by participation with the Light the creature shines forth and is therefore called and is light. The creature mounts up to what is above its nature by the kindness of him who glorified it and who crowns it with diverse honors. And so each one of those who have been honored may with good reason come forward and lift up prayers of thanksgiving…. For truly does the Lord commit acts of mercy, rendering those that are little and a mere nothing according to their own nature, great and worthy to be marveled at through his goodness toward them, even as he has, as God, willed to adorn us ungrudgingly with his own goods. And so he calls us gods and light. In fact, what good things are there that he does not call us? COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 1.9. [1]

[1] LF 43:86-87**. See also Augustine Sermon 229R (WSA 3 6:331).

YOU ARE LAMPS, AND THE CROSS IS THE LAMPSTAND

AUGUSTINE: But the apostles too, my brothers and sisters, are lamps for the day. Do not imagine that John alone is a lamp and that the apostles are not. The Lord said to them, “You are the light of the world.” [1] And in case they should suppose they were light of the same sort as the light about which it is said, “That was the true light, which enlightens everyone coming into this world,” he went on immediately to teach them this true light. After saying, “You are the light of the world,” he added, “Nobody lights a lamp and puts it under the bushel.” In calling you light, I meant you are a lamp; do not jump about for joy in your pride, in case its little flame gets blown out. I am not placing you under a bushel; but in order to shine, you shall be on the lampstand.

Listen to the lampstand; be lamps, and you shall have a lampstand. The cross of Christ is a great lampstand. Whoever wishes to shine must not be ashamed of this wooden lampstand. SERMON 289.6. [2]

[1] Mt 5:14.

[2] WSA 3 8:123. See also Sermon 182.5.