ACC ~ John 1 v6

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.