ACC ~ John 4 v14

IMMORTALITY AND THE HOLY SPIRIT

APOLLINARIS OF LAODICEA: He says that visible water can quench one’s thirst for a little while, but the unseen water cures one of thirst altogether because there is no longer a thirst for life when immortality is gushing forth on you. What follows clearly demonstrates that the Holy Spirit is what is freely being promised here, as the spiritual water spoken of here corresponds with the physical water spoken of…. The Spirit of wisdom, whose presence is unceasing, gives of its abundance freely. FRAGMENTS ON JOHN 17. [1]

[1] JKGK 10.

THE FIRE AND WATER OF THE SPIRIT

CHRYSOSTOM: Sometimes Scripture calls the grace of the Spirit “fire,” other times it calls it “water.” In this way, it shows that these names are not descriptive of its essence but of its operation. For the Spirit, which is invisible and simple, cannot be made up of different substances…. In the same way that he calls the Spirit by the name of “fire,” alluding to the rousing and warming property of grace and its power of destroying sins, he calls it “water” in order to highlight the cleansing it does and the great refreshment it provides those minds that receive it. For it makes the willing soul like a kind of garden, thick with all kinds of fruitful and productive trees, allowing it neither to feel despondency nor the plots of Satan. It quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked one. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 32.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:111*.

BAPTISM EXTINGUISHES THE FIRES OF HELL

MAXIMUS OF TURIN: Frequently indeed we see that water poured out extinguishes a fire. But sometimes we see the opposite—that huge balls of fire consume streams of water and that the flames grow more vehement, drawing strength from the water as if from food, so that the water does not seem to put out the burning but to aggravate it. What, then, is that water that consumes flames but is not itself consumed? It is, I think, that which, flowing in the bath from the fountain of Christ is not consumed by sins but consumes the fires of Gehenna, and which, once poured out on people in baptism, itself both lives in them and puts out the fire of hell. It is clear that it lives in people from what the Lord says [here]…. But in a wonderful way the water of Christ both vivifies and extinguishes by one and the same operation. For it vivifies souls and extinguishes sins. The souls are renewed by the refreshment of its bath; the sins are consumed by its surging stream. And as far as the higher grace of baptism is concerned, in the heavens a mystery is celebrated and in hell Gehenna is extinguished. In the one the waters flow; in the other the fire grows cold. In the one we are submerged in the bath; in the other we are set free from the underworld. Yet there is nothing astonishing if hell is opened by the sacrament of baptism since heaven is also unlocked. For these places are opened so that freedom and grace might come together in the bath of Christ— grace from heaven and freedom from hell. SERMON 22A.3. [1]

[1] ACW 50:56-57.

THE SPIRIT IN THE WORD SUFFICES TO INSTRUCT

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: We must know again that the Savior here calls the grace of the Holy Spirit water. If anyone drinks of this water, he will have the gift of the divine teaching constantly welling up from within him. He needs no admonition from others. Rather, it is enough to exhort those who thirst after the divine and heavenly Word that they are yet living in this present life and on earth along with the holy prophets and apostles. They are heirs of their ministrations of whom it was written, “And you shall draw water with joy out of the wells of salvation.” [1] COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.4. [2]

[1] Is 12:3.

[2] LF 43:209*.

THE SAMARITAN WOMAN MORE RECEPTIVE THAN NICODEMUS

CHRYSOSTOM: The woman immediately believed, showing that she was not only much wiser than Nicodemus but also more courageous. For when he heard ten thousand things like this, he neither invited any others to hear what he heard, nor did he himself speak openly [about his encounter]. But she exhibited the actions of an apostle, preaching the gospel to everyone she could and calling them to Jesus. She even drew out a whole city to hear him. When Nicodemus heard Jesus, his reaction was, “How can these things be?” And when Christ set before him a clear illustration utilizing “the wind,” even then he did not receive the Word. But this is not the case with the woman. At first she doubted, but afterwards, receiving the Word not by any regular demonstration but in the form of an assertion, she immediately hurried to embrace it. For when Christ said, “It shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life,” immediately the woman said, “Give me this water so that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 32.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:112.

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