ACC ~ John 2 v12 - 25

OVERVIEW:

John’s sequence at this point in the Gospel narrative differs from that of the other Gospels and presents us with some difficulties regarding the overall sequence of events. The narrative begins with Jesus going down to Capernaum with his mother and his brothers, although the latter did not attend the wedding (ORIGEN). The consensus of the ancient church was that Jesus’ brothers are not the sons of the Virgin Mary but rather Mary’s relatives and not, as some assert, sons of Joseph’s predeceased wife (BEDE). After staying in Capernaum for a short time, he goes up to Jerusalem for the Passover of the Jews (ORIGEN), but this is not the same instance as recorded by the other Gospel writers when they speak of the cleansing of the temple (AUGUSTINE). He finds money changers in the temple similar to those who defile the church by seeking to profit from it (ORIGEN, AUGUSTINE). The one who would be scourged later is here the one who scourges first (AUGUSTINE) because of his love for his Father and his house (CHRYSOSTOM). The whip he uses is the Holy Spirit who blows away the wicked (HERACLEON via ORIGEN). By expelling sheep and cattle Jesus demonstrates not only that the temple is not a marketplace but also that the end of the sacrificial system was at hand (THEODORE). Our souls too are a temple of Christ (ORIGEN) even as our bodies (IRENAEUS) and the church are also his temple from which thieves and robbers, buyers and sellers are to be cast out (AUGUSTINE).

Why do the Jewish leaders demand a sign for the cleansing of the temple (CHRYSOSTOM)? When Jesus speaks of the temple of his body being destroyed as such a sign, the Jews later use his words against him at his trial (ORIGEN). Christ demonstrates his divinity by asserting his authority to destroy and to raise up the body of his temple (HILARY). Even as Christ’s body, which can also be understood as the church, may be destroyed by persecution, on the last day it too will also be raised (ORIGEN). Christ calls his body a “temple” in order to reveal who it is who dwells there (THEODORET, BEDE, LACTANTIUS). The Son raised up his own body (AMBROSE) but so also did the Father, who does nothing without the Word, since they are one (AUGUSTINE, THEODORE). John says that the people believed his miracles, although we are not told of any miracles he did at Jerusalem at this point (ORIGEN). Jesus exhibits appropriate caution, as should his ministers (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA), in not yet entrusting himself fully to those not born again (AUGUSTINE). He knew the hearts of those who did not truly believe (THEODORE).

2:12 | Jesus Went to Capernaum

JOHN’S SEQUENCE OF EVENTS DIFFERS FROM OTHER GOSPELS

ORIGEN: The other three authors of the Gospels say that after the Lord’s struggle with the devil, he withdrew into Galilee. [1] Matthew and Luke, however, say that he was in Nazareth first after these events and that he left there and went to settle in Capernaum. [2] Matthew and Mark also mention a reason for his withdrawal from there: he had heard that John had been delivered up. [3] …

We must let the reader know, then, that the truth of these accounts lies in the spiritual meanings, because if the discrepancy is not solved, many will dismiss the Gospels as not credible, or not written by a divine spirit or not successfully recorded. The composition of these Gospels, in fact, is said to have involved both. Let those who accept the four Gospels and who think the apparent discrepancy is not to be solved through the anagogical sense tell us when the Lord came to Capernaum in relation to the difficulty we mentioned earlier concerning the forty days of temptation that can have no place at all in John. For if it occurred six days after the time when he was baptized, since his ministry at the marriage in Cana of Galilee took place on the sixth day, it is clear that he has not been tempted, nor was he in Nazareth, nor had John yet been delivered up….

The four Evangelists… made full use of many things done and said in accordance with the prodigious and unexpected power of Jesus. In some places they have interwoven in Scripture something made clear to them in a purely intellectual manner, with language as though it were something perceptible to the senses. But I do not condemn the fact that they have also made some minor changes in what happened so far as history is concerned, with a view to the usefulness of the mystical object. Consequently, they have related what happened in this place as though it happened in another, or what happened at this time as though at another time, and they have composed what is reported in this manner with a certain degree of adaptation. For their intention was to speak the truth spiritually and materially at the same time where that was possible but, where it was not possible in both ways, to prefer the spiritual to the material. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.3-4, 10, 18-20. [4]

[1] Mt 4:12; Mk 1:14; Lk 4:14.

[2] Mt 4:13; Lk 4:16, 31.

[3] Mt 4:12; Mk 1:14.

[4] FC 80:254, 256, 259; SC 157:380-82, 386-88, 394. The reader sees an example of Origen’s careful treatment of the literal sense. The seeming discrepancies he notes, however, affords him the opportunity for his spiritual interpretation, which the reader will find in Jn 2:16, 18.

WHETHER THE BROTHERS WERE INVITED TO THE WEDDING

ORIGEN: We must ask, however, why his brothers are not invited to the wedding (nor were they present, for they are not mentioned), but they go down to Capernaum with him and his mother and the disciples. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.39. [1]

[1] FC 80:264.

THE BROTHERS ARE RELATIVES OF MARY

BEDE: It tends to disturb some people that in the opening portion of this Gospel reading it is said that when our Lord went down to Capernaum, not only his mother and his disciples followed him, but also his brothers. There have been heretics who supposed that Joseph, the husband of the blessed Virgin Mary, begot of another wife those whom the Scriptures call the Lord’s brothers. Others, with greater lack of faith, have supposed that he begot these of Mary herself after our Lord’s birth. But we, dearly beloved brothers, without any hesitation or questioning must be aware and confess that not only the blessed Mother of God, but also Joseph, the most blessed witness and guardian of her chastity, always remained wholly aloof from the conjugal act; and further, that those who after the customary manner of the Scriptures are called our Savior’s brothers or sisters were not their children but their relatives. Abraham spoke to Lot in the following way, “I beseech you, let there be no wrangling between you and me, and your shepherds and mine; for we are brothers.” [1] Laban [said] to Jacob, “Because you are my brother, why should you have to serve me for nothing?” [2] It is a fact that Lot was the son of Haran, Abraham’s brother, [3] and Jacob the son of Rebekah, Laban’s sister; [4] but on account of their kinship they were called brothers. Because of this most common practice in the holy Scriptures, we should, as I have said, understand that the relatives of Mary and Joseph are called our Lord’s brothers. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.1. [5]

[1] Gen 13:8.

[2] Gen 29:15.

[3] Gen 11:26, 31.

[4] Gen 25:20, 26.

[5] CS 111:1-2. Bede sums up the consensus in the early church. Augustine is especially strong in his assertion that Mary remained a virgin. See Tractates on the Gospel of John 10.2 (NPNF 1 7:69).

2:13 | Jesus Went to Jerusalem for the Passover

PASSOVER “OF THE JEWS”

ORIGEN: In examining the precision of the most wise John, I asked myself what the addition “of the Jews” means for him. For what other nation has a feast of the Pasch? For this reason it would have been sufficient if he had said, “And the Pasch was near.” But perhaps, since there is a human Pasch for those who do not celebrate it according to the intention of the Scripture, and a divine one, which is the true one that is executed in spirit and truth by those who worship God in spirit and truth, [1] he has contrasted the one said to be “of the Jews” with the divine one. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.67-68. [2]

[1] See Jn 4:24.

[2] FC 80:270; SC 157:426.

TWO CLEANSINGS OF THE TEMPLE

AUGUSTINE: This account of the multitude of sellers who were cast out of the temple is given by all the Evangelists, but John introduces it in a remarkably different order. After recording the testimony borne by John the Baptist to Jesus and mentioning that he went into Galilee at the time when he turned the water into wine, and after he has also noticed the sojourn of a few days in Capernaum, John proceeds to tell us that he went up to Jerusalem at the season of the Jews’ Passover, and when he had made a scourge of small cords, drove out of the temple those who were selling in it. This makes it evident that this act was performed by the Lord not on a single occasion but twice over; but that only the first instance is put on record by John, and the last by the other three. HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS 2.67.129. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 6:160. See also Chrysostom Homilies on the Gospel of John 23.2 who speaks of two accounts: one at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and one at the beginning of his passion. See also Origen Commentary on the Gospel of John 10.129.

2:14-15 | Driving Out the Money Changers

THE HOUSE OF THE SAVIOR’S FATHER

ORIGEN: He found in the temple, which is also said to be the house of the Savior’s Father, that is, in the church or in the proclamation of the sound message of the church, some who were making his Father’s house a house of merchandise. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.133. [1]

[1] FC 80:286; SC 157:466.

SELLING THE HOLY SPIRIT

AUGUSTINE: Nevertheless, in order to seek the mystery of the deed in the figurative meaning, who are they who sell the oxen? Who are they who sell the sheep and doves? They are those who seek their own interests in the church rather than those of Jesus Christ. [1] Those who have no desire for redemption have everything for sale. They do not want to be bought; they want to sell. Yet surely it is for their good that they be redeemed by the blood of Christ so that they may attain the peace of Christ. For what profit is there in acquiring anything temporal or transitory in this world—whether it be money, or gorging oneself on food or achieving high honors from your fellow human beings? Are not all things smoke and wind? Do not all things pass on in a moment? And woe to those who want to hang on to passing things, for they pass with them!… My brothers, those who seek such things sell them. For Simon [Magus] too wanted to buy the Holy Spirit for that very reason—because he wanted to sell the Holy Spirit [2] —and he thought that the apostles were the kind of merchants that the Lord drove out of the temple with a scourge. But he was the one who was actually such a merchant, wanting to buy what he might sell. He was of those who sell doves. For the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove. [3] Therefore, brothers, who are those who sell doves—who are they except those who say, “We give the Holy Spirit”? Why do they say this and at what price do they sell? At the price of their own honor. They receive for a time bishops’ seats as their price, that they may seem to sell doves. Let them beware of the scourge of ropes. The dove is not for sale; it is given gratis, for it is called grace. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.6.1-3. [4]

[1] Phil 2:21.

[2] Acts 8:9-24.

[3] HE WORD IN THE BEGINNING | JOHN 1:1

[4] FC 78:216-17.

THE ONE LATER SCOURGED, SCOURGES HERE

AUGUSTINE: He, who was to be scourged by them, was first the one who scourged. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.5. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:70*.

WHY SUCH VIOLENCE?

CHRYSOSTOM: But why did Christ use such violence? He was about to heal on the sabbath day and to do many things that appeared to them transgressions of the law. However, so that he might not appear to be acting as a rival to God and an opponent of his Father, he takes occasion to correct any such suspicion of theirs…. He did not merely “cast them out” but also “overturned the tables” and “poured out the money,” so that they could see how someone who threw himself into such danger for the good order of the house could never despise his master. If he had acted out of hypocrisy, he would have only advised them, but to place himself in such danger was very daring. It was no small thing to offer himself to the anger of so many market people or to excite against himself a most brutal mob of petty dealers by his reproaches and the disruption he caused. This was not, in other words, the action of a pretender but of one choosing to suffer everything for the order of the house. For the same reason, to show his agreement with the Father, he did not say “the holy house” but “my Father’s house.” See how he even calls him “Father,” and they are not angry with him. They thought he spoke in a more general way, but when he went on and spoke more plainly of his equality, this is when they become angry. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 23.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:81**.

THE HOLY SPIRIT AS THE WHIP

HERACLEON (VIA ORIGEN): [Heracleon says] that those found in the temple selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money-changers sitting, represent those who give nothing away free but suppose the entrance of foreigners into the temple to be a matter of merchandise and profit. They furnish the sacrifices for the service of God for the sake of their own profit and greed…. The whip, in turn, was made from cords by Jesus, who did not receive it from another…. The whip is an image of the power and activity of the Holy Spirit who blows away the wicked…. The whip, the cord, the linen, and all such things are an image of the power and activity of the Holy Spirit…. The whip was tied to a piece of wood. [1] The wood is a type of the cross… that the gamblers, the merchants and all evil have been nailed upon and destroyed by this wood. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.212-214. [2]

[1] Origen correctly notes that this detail is added by Heracleon.

[2] FC 80:302**; TS 1 4:68-69.

JESUS ABOLISHES THE SACRIFICIAL SYSTEM

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Having a symbolic purpose in mind, Jesus obscured his intent with allusions instead of stating plainly what he was doing. He thought that his hearers could not understand yet what he said. The disciples themselves did not understand either, as the Evangelist observes. They believed that by driving away the sellers of cattle and sheep, he abolished the market, but in truth what he meant was that the sacrifices of animals would be abolished. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 1.2.13-18, 19. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:61. See also Origen Commentary on the Gospel of John 10.138-39 (FC 80:287).

2:16 | How Dare You Turn My Father’s House into a Market?

OUR SOULS ARE THE TEMPLE OF CHRIST

ORIGEN: Now Christ is especially jealous for the house of God in each of us, not wishing it to be a house of merchandise or that the house of prayer become a den of thieves, since he is the son of a jealous God…. [These words] set forth the fact that God wishes nothing alien to his will to be mingled with the soul of anyone, but especially with the soul of those who wish to receive [the teachings of the] most divine faith. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.221. [1]

[1] FC 80:303-4; SC 157:514.

OUR BODIES ARE TEMPLES IN ACCORDANCE WITH CHRIST’S BODY

IRENAEUS: He says that this handiwork is “the temple of God,” thus declaring, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” [1] Here he manifestly declares the body to be the temple in which the Spirit dwells. As also the Lord speaks in reference to himself, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” He was speaking, however, it is said, of the temple of his body. And not only does he [the apostle] acknowledge our bodies to be a temple, but even to be the temple of Christ. AGAINST HERESIES 5.6.2. [2]

[1] 1 Cor 3:16-17.

[2] SC 153:80-82; ANF 1:532*.

BUYERS AND SELLERS IN THE BODY OF CHRIST

AUGUSTINE: Our Lord’s driving out of the temple people who were seeking their own ends, who came to the temple to buy and sell, is symbolic. For if that temple was a symbol it obviously follows that the body of Christ, the true temple of which the other was an image, has within it some who are buyers and sellers, or in other words, people who are seeking their own interests and not those of Jesus Christ.

But the temple was not destroyed by the people who wanted to turn the house of God into a den of thieves, and neither will those who live evil lives in the Catholic church and do all they can to convert God’s house into a robber’s den succeed in destroying the temple. The time will come when they will be driven out by a whip made of their own sins.

This temple of God, this body of Christ, this assembly of believers, has but one voice and sings the psalms as though it were but one person. If we wish, it is our voice; if we wish, we may listen to the singer with our ears and ourselves sing in our hearts. But if we choose not to do so it will mean that we are like buyers and sellers, preoccupied with our own interests. EXPLANATION OF PSALM 130.2-3. [1]

[1] CCL 40:1899-1900. See also Clement of Alexandria Christ the Educator 3.11.

2:17 | Zeal for God’s House

CANNOT BE INDIFFERENT IN GOD’S HOUSE

AUGUSTINE: He then is eaten up with zeal for God’s house who desires to correct all that he sees wrong there. And if he cannot correct it, he endures and mourns…. Let the zeal for God’s house consume every Christian wherever he or she is a member…. In your house you busy yourself in trying to prevent things going wrong. In the house of God, where salvation is offered, ought you to be indifferent?… Do you have a friend? Admonish him gently; a wife or husband? Admonish them too…. Do what you are able, according to your station. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.9. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:72**.

2:18 | Asking for a Sign

WHY DID THEY ASK FOR A SIGN?

CHRYSOSTOM: But was there a need for a sign before putting a stop to their evil practices and freeing the house of God from such dishonor? Was not the fact that he had such great zeal for the house of God the greatest sign of his virtue?… They did not however remember the prophecy but asked for a sign, at once irritated that their shameful traffic was cut off, while at the same time expecting to prevent him from going further. For this dilemma, they thought, would oblige him either to work miracles or give up his present course of action. But he refuses to give them the sign, as he did on a similar occasion, when he answers them that an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet [1] —only the answer is more open there than here. He however who even anticipated people’s wishes and gave signs when he was not asked, would not have rejected here a positive request, had he not seen that their minds were wicked and false and their intention was treacherous…. As it was, Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 23.2. [2]

[1] Mt 16:4.

[2] NPNF 1 14:81**.

2:19-21 | This Temple Raised in Three Days

JESUS’ WORDS HERE USED IN LATER ACCUSATIONS AT HIS TRIAL

ORIGEN: It is likely, moreover, that what has been recorded in the Gospels according to Matthew and Mark in the name of the false witness who accuses our Lord Jesus Christ at the end of the Gospel [1] contains a reference to the saying, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days.” For he… was speaking about the temple of his body, but they, supposing that the things said here were said about the temple built from stones, accused him. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.251-52. [2]

[1] See Mt 26:61; Mk 14:58.

[2] FC 80:310; SC 157:532. Tertullian sees Christ here affirming, in his reference to his body as a temple that can be destroyed, that it is the body, not the soul, that can be destroyed in death. See On the Resurrection of the Flesh 18.

CHRIST DECLARES THE RESURRECTION HIS OWN WORK

HILARY OF POITIERS: By the power to take his soul again and to raise the temple up, he declares himself God and the resurrection his own work: yet he refers all to the authority of his Father’s command. This is not contrary to the meaning of the apostle, when he proclaims Christ, the “power of God and the wisdom of God,” [1] thus referring all the magnificence of his work to the glory of the Father. For whatever Christ does, the power and the wisdom of God does…. Christ was raised from the dead by the working of God, for he himself worked the works of God the Father with a nature indistinguishable from God’s. And our faith in the resurrection rests on the God who raised Christ from the dead. ON THE TRINITY 9.12. [2]

[1] 1 Cor 1:24.

[2] NPNF 2 9:159. See also Novatian On the Trinity 21.

THE MYSTERY OF THE BODY OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION

ORIGEN: Both, however (I mean the temple and Jesus’ body), according to one interpretation, appear to me to be a type of the church, in that the church, being called a “temple,” [1] is built of living stones, becoming a spiritual house “for a holy priesthood,” [2] built “on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus being the chief cornerstone.” [3] And through the saying, “Now you are the body of Christ and members in part,” [4] [we know] that even if the harmony of the stones of the temple appear to be destroyed, [or,] as it is written in Psalm 21, [5] all the bones of Christ appear to be scattered in persecutions and afflictions by the plots of those who wage war against the unity of the temple by persecutions—we know that the temple will be raised up and the body will arise on the third day after the day of evil that threatens it and the day of consummation that follows. For the third day will dawn in the new heaven and the new earth, [6] when these bones, the whole house of Israel, [7] shall be raised up on the great day of the Lord, once death has been conquered. [8] Consequently, the resurrection of Christ too, which followed from his passion on the cross, contains the mystery of the resurrection of the whole body of Christ. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.228-29. [9]

[1] See Eph 2:21.

[2] 1 Pet 2:5.

[3] Eph 2:20.

[4] 1 Cor 12:27.

[5] See Ps 21:15 LXX.

[6] See Rev 21:1.

[7] See Ezek 37:11.

[8] See 1 Cor 15:54.

[9] FC 80:305-6; SC 157:520.

NOT THIS BODY BUT “THIS TEMPLE”

THEODORET OF CYR: Why is it that the Evangelist did not pass over this but added a correction when he said, “He was talking about the temple of his body”? For he did not say “destroy” this body but “the temple,” in order to reveal the God who resided within [it]. “Destroy this temple,” which is much greater than the Jewish one. For the latter held the law, but the former held the lawgiver; the latter had the letter that kills, but the former had the life-giving Spirit. [1] DIALOGUE 3.61. [2]

[1] See Jn 6:63.

[2] FC 106:243.

THE CLEANSED TEMPLE OF CHRIST

BEDE: With perfect justice he banished the wicked from the temple, since the temple represented the temple of his body, in which there was no stain of any kind of sin. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.1. [1]

[1] CS 111:7.

CHRIST IS THE TRUE TEMPLE OF GOD

LACTANTIUS: [Christ] meant that his passion would be brief and that when he was put to death… he would raise himself up on the third day. For he himself was the true temple of God…. For when there was no justice on the earth, [God] sent a teacher, a living law, as it were, to establish his name and a new temple, to sow the seeds of true and loving worship throughout the whole earth by his words and example. DIVINE INSTITUTES 4.18, 25. [1]

[1] FC 49:291, 307-8.

2:22 | When Jesus Was Raised from the Dead

THE SON, BEING GOD, RAISED UP HIS OWN BODY

AMBROSE: It was not the Father who divested himself of the flesh; for not the Father, but, as we read, the Word was made flesh. [1] You see, then, that the Arians, in dividing the Father from the Son, run into danger of saying that the Father endured passion. We, however, can easily show that the words treat of the Son’s action, for the Son himself indeed raised his own body again, as he himself said: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” And he himself quickens us together with his body: “For as the Father raises the dead and quickens them, so also the Son quickens whom he will.” [2] … He, therefore, who has achieved the work of our resurrection, is plainly pointed out to be truly God. ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 3.2.13-14. [3]

[1] Jn 1:14.

[2] Jn 5:21.

[3] NPNF 2 10:244*.

THE FATHER AND THE SON ARE ONE

AUGUSTINE: See that he was God, equal with the Father. My brothers, the apostle says, “who raised him from the dead.” [1] About whom is he speaking? About the Father. He says, “He became obedient unto death, even to death on a cross. For this reason, God also has raised him from the dead and has given him the name that is above every name.” [2] The Lord was raised up again and exalted. He raised him up again. Who? The Father, to whom he said in the Psalms, “Raise me up, and I shall requite them.” [3] Therefore the Father raised him up again. Did he [the Son] not raise himself? But what does the Father do without the Word? What does the Father do without his only One? For hear that he also was God: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Did he say, “Destroy the temple which the Father will raise up in three days”? But just as when the Father raises up, the Son, too, raises up; so also when the Son raises up, the Father, too, raises up, because the Son said, “I and the Father are one.” [4] TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.11.3. [5]

[1] Gal 1:1; Col 2:12.

[2] Phil 2:8-9.

[3] See Ps 41:10 (40:11 LXX, Vg).

[4] Jn 10:30.

[5] FC 78:222-23*.

JESUS RESURRECTS HIS BODY IN HARMONY WITH THE FATHER

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Even though it is said that the Father raises Christ, the meaning of this expression is not dubious. The unity that is between them both in all operations causes both Father and Son to be attributed with equal rights. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 1.2.21. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:62.

2:23 | The People Believed Jesus’ Miracles

WHICH MIRACLES DID THEY SEE?

ORIGEN: But how was it that many believed in him from seeing his miracles? For he seems to have performed no supernatural works at Jerusalem, unless we assume Scripture has passed over them. May not however the act of his making a scourge of small cords and driving all out of the temple be considered a miracle? COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10.319. [1]

[1] FC 80:326**; SC 157:578.

2:24 | Jesus Did Not Trust Himself to the People

STEWARDS OF THE MYSTERIES SHOULD FOLLOW JESUS’ CAUTION

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Christ does not yet commit himself to such novices, showing that affinity with God is a great thing and most worthy of love. It does not just lie there before those who want to have it but is achieved by an intense desire for good, along with diligence and time. Let the stewards of the mysteries of the Savior learn then not to suddenly admit just anyone within the sacred veils or to permit them to approach the divine tables who are neophytes who might be untimely baptized and importunely believing on Christ the Lord of all. As an example to us in this also in teaching us whom rightly to initiate, he indeed receives the believers but is seen not yet to have confidence in them in that he does not commit himself to them, making clear that it is only right that novices spend no small time under instruction, for rarely even then will they become faithful. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.1. [1]

[1] LF 43:165**.

2:25 | Jesus Knew What Was in People

REBIRTH OF BAPTISM AND JESUS’ TRUST

AUGUSTINE: See how they already believed in Jesus but Jesus himself did not entrust himself to them. Why? Because they were not yet born again of water and the Spirit. Because of that we have encouraged and do encourage our brothers, the catechumens. For if you should ask them, they have already believed in Jesus. But because they do not yet receive his body and blood, Jesus has not yet trusted himself to them. What are they to do that Jesus may trust himself to them? Let them be born again of water and the Spirit. Let the church, which is pregnant with them, bring them forth. They have been conceived; let them be brought forth into the light. Let them have breasts where they may be nourished. Let them not fear that they may be choked after their birth. Let them not withdraw from their mother’s breasts. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 12.3.2. [1]

[1] FC 79:30**.

JESUS KNOWS THAT THE FAITH OF PEOPLE IS STILL IMPERFECT

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: If they believed, why did he not entrust himself to them? Clearly the words “many believed in him” are not said about a firm and true faith, such as the faith of those who, after believing once that his words were true, considered him as a doctor of truth, without doubting the things said by him. That kind of faith is typical of the true believers. But here, John refers to people who were astonished by the events that happened and praised him as a great and admirable man. In fact, not all of them approved his words by showing their respect for him to others. Such respect, too, is typical of true believers. So, he added, “But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them.” In these words there is a particular doctrine of the true faith. Indeed, the virtue of the knowledge of Christ is revealed through which he was not cheated by the outward appearance of those coming to him. Rather by recognizing precisely each of them for who they were, he knew already who were the true disciples and who were in doubt and coming to him under false pretenses. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 2.2.24-25. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:64-65.