ACC ~ John 6 v60 - 71

OVERVIEW:

When the disciples hear all of this, they have difficulty perceiving any deeper meaning, and if this is their perception, what would his enemies think (AUGUSTINE)? Perhaps part of the reason they ask, “Who can bear it?” is that they are beginning to look for excuses to leave (CHRYSOSTOM). Nevertheless, Jesus goes further in speaking of the ascension of the Son of man to where he was before, which can make sense only if we realize that the Son of God and the Son of man are one Christ according to the unity of the person (AUGUSTINE).

When Jesus opposes spirit to flesh here, he is not denigrating the flesh but revealing that it is the Spirit who gives life (TERTULLIAN). Flesh has great value when joined to the Spirit; otherwise, the Word would not have become flesh to dwell among us (AUGUSTINE). Christ is the fount of the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit is, there is life (AMBROSE). The words he spoke to his disciples are spirit, that is, both spiritual and of the Spirit. Flesh is understood and believed to be the temple of the Word and is thus a channel of sanctification and life, not altogether of itself but through God, who has been made one with our flesh in Christ (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA).

Jesus already knew what was on the minds of his enemies and knows what is on our minds too (HILARY). This is why the very act of believing is itself a gift and not of merit, as the Father sometimes has to “drag” us to Christ (AUGUSTINE). The truth he spoke to them was hard to hear, as it always has been and always will be (JEROME). But it also helped show who truly sought to follow him and who were only pretenders to the faith, those whom John wrote about in his first epistle (TERTULLIAN). Many of the disciples began distancing themselves from Jesus, and so he asks a probing question of the Twelve to discern their motivation for staying with him (CHRYSOSTOM). He does not compel them to stay, however (ATHANASIUS). It is as though he were saying to them, It is not the number of disciples that matters, but rather their faithfulness. Peter responds to our Lord’s question of leaving by asking, “To whom shall we go?” implying who or what could possibly be better to follow than their Lord, as Israel also learned. When they followed him, they were safe; when they left him or set out on their own, they were lost (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIa). Peter also confesses that life is found only in Christ, confessing the resurrection even before the event because he had taken to heart the Lord’s teaching (CHRYSOSTOM). He believed and then knew that in the flesh and blood that Christ gives there is eternal life (AUGUSTINE).

Jesus asks about having chosen twelve, a number significant enough that, after his betrayal, Judas is replaced (AUGUSTINE). But he does not expose Judas’s actions for the moment, although he lets Judas know that he knows what Judas is doing (CHRYSOSTOM), even if none of the other disciples know what he is talking about. This leads the disciples to more careful introspection of their own motivations (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). We learn from Jesus’ treatment of Judas that God can take what was meant for evil and turn even that into good (AUGUSTINE).

6:60 | What Jesus Says Is a Great Mystery

THE PEOPLE DO NOT PERCEIVE THE DEEPER MEANING

AUGUSTINE: If his disciples considered this a hard saying, what must his enemies have thought? But it was necessary that there would be some things that should not be understood by all. The secret of God should make people more eager and attentive, not hostile…. But the people did not perceive that what he said had a deeper meaning or that grace went along with it. Rather, receiving the matter in their own way and taking his words in a human sense, they understood him as if he spoke of the cutting of the flesh of the Word into pieces for distribution to those who believed on him. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 27.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:174**.

LOOKING FOR AN EXCUSE TO LEAVE

CHRYSOSTOM: They thought he spoke above himself, and more highly than he had a right to do. And so they said, “Who can bear it?” Perhaps they were making excuses for themselves since they were about to leave him. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 47.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:169**.

6:62 | The Son of Man Ascending to His Previous Place

SON OF GOD ALWAYS, SON OF MAN IN TIME

AUGUSTINE: For the Son of man is Christ, of the Virgin Mary. Therefore the Son of man began to be here on earth where he took on himself flesh from the earth. For this reason, in prophecy it had been said, “Truth has arisen out of the earth.” [1] What, then, does it mean, “When you see the Son of man ascending where he was before”? For there would be no question if he had said it this way: “If you should see the Son of God ascending where he was before.” But when he said “the Son of man ascending where he was before,” was the Son of man in heaven before the time when he began to be on earth? Here he said, “Where he was before,” as if then he were not there when he was speaking these words. But in another place he said, “No man has ascended into heaven except he who has descended from heaven: the Son of man who is in heaven.” [2] He did not say “was,” but he said, “The Son of man who is in heaven.” He was speaking on earth and said he was in heaven. And he did not say it this way: “No one has ascended into heaven except he who has descended from heaven; the Son of God who is in heaven.”

Where does this lead except that we understand—as also in my previous sermon I showed you, [3] my beloved people—that Christ, God and man is one person, not two? In this way our faith is only a Trinity and not a quaternity. Therefore Christ is one, the Word, soul and flesh, one Christ; the Son of God and the Son of man, one Christ. The Son of God always, the Son of man in time, nevertheless, one Christ according to the unity of the person. He was in heaven when he was speaking on earth. So the Son of man was in heaven as the Son of God was on earth. The Son of God was on earth in the flesh he had taken, the Son of man was in heaven in the unity of person. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 27.4.1-2. [4]

[1] See Ps 84:12 LXX.

[2] Jn 3:13.

[3] Cf. Tractates on the Gospel of John 26.19.

[4] FC 79:279*.

6:63 | The Spirit Gives Life

ONLY THE SPIRIT CAN GIVE LIFE

TERTULLIAN: If he says that “the flesh profits nothing,” then the meaning must take direction from the context of that remark. For seeing that they regarded his speech as hard and unbearable, as though he had really prescribed his flesh for them to eat, since his purpose was to assign the establishment of salvation to the Spirit, he first said, “It is the spirit that gives life,” and only then added, “the flesh profits nothing”—toward the giving of life, of course. He also proceeds to state how he wishes “the Spirit” to be understood. “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”… And so, when establishing his teaching as the Life-giver (because the Word is spirit and life), he also said that it is his flesh, because the Word also was made flesh. [1] We ought therefore to desire him in order that we may have life. We ought to devour him with the ear, and to ruminate on him with the mind and to digest him by faith. ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 37. [2]

[1] Jn 1:14.

[2] TTR 103*. See also On the Resurrection of the Flesh 50 and Basil Letter 159.2 (NPNF 2 8:212).

FLESH ENLIVENED BY THE SPIRIT HAS GREAT VALUE

AUGUSTINE: What, then, does it mean, “the flesh profits nothing”? It profits nothing, but [only] as they understood it. For, of course, they understood flesh as [something that] is torn to pieces in a carcass or sold in a meat market, not as [something that] is enlivened by a spirit. And so it was said, “The flesh profits nothing.”… But he is talking there about that flesh that is alone by itself. Let spirit be added to flesh… and it profits very much. For if flesh profited nothing, the Word would not have become flesh to dwell among us. [1] TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 27.5.1. [2]

[1] See Jn 1:14.

[2] FC 79:280*.

WHERE LIFE IS, THE SPIRIT IS

AMBROSE: Learn now that as the Father is the Fount of life, so, too, many have stated that the Son is signified as the Fount of life. [1] This is why he says that with you, almighty God, your Son is the Fount of life. That is the Fount of the Holy Spirit, for the Spirit is life, as the Lord says: “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life,” for where the Spirit is, there also is life. And where life is, there is also the Holy Spirit. ON THE HOLY SPIRIT 1.15.172. [2]

[1] Ps 36:9 (35:10 LXX).

[2] NPNF 2 10:113*.

LIFE-GIVING WORDS

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: [In this passage Christ is saying,] “It is not the nature of the flesh that renders the Spirit life-giving but the might of the Spirit that makes the body life-giving. The words then that I have spoken with you are spirit, that, is both spiritual and of the Spirit, and they are life.” COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 4.3. [1]

[1] LF 43:437**.

THE WORD SANCTIFIES THE FLESH

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Even the body of Christ itself was sanctified by the power of the Word made one with it, and it is thus endowed with living force in the blessed Eucharist so that is it able to implant in us its sanctifying grace…. For here too he says that the flesh can profit nothing, that is, to sanctify and quicken those who receive it, insofar as it is mere human flesh. But when flesh is understood and believed to be the temple of the Word, then surely it will be a channel of sanctification and life, not altogether of itself but through God who has been made one with it, who is holy and life. [1] COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 11.9. [2]

[1] See also Cyril’s excursus on Jn 17:13.

[2] LF 48:523-24*.

6:64 | Jesus Knew Who Did Not Believe and Who Would Betray Him

JESUS KNOWS OUR THOUGHTS

HILARY OF POITIERS: Jesus Christ knows the thoughts of the mind, as it is now, stirred by present motives, and as it will be tomorrow, aroused by the impulse of future desires…. By its virtue his nature could perceive the unborn future and foresee the awakening of passions yet dormant in the mind. Do you believe that it did not know what is through itself and within itself? He is Lord of all that belongs to others; is he not Lord of his own? ON THE TRINITY 9.59. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:176.

6:65 | One Who Is Granted by the Father Comes to the Son

FAITH IS A GIFT

AUGUSTINE: He teaches us that even the act of believing is by way of being a gift and not a matter of merit: “As I told you,” he says, “no one can come to me but whoever has been given it by my Father.” If we call to mind the earlier part of the Gospel, we shall discover where the Lord said this. We shall find that he said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me drags him.” [1] He did not say “leads” but “drags.” This violence happens to the heart, not to the flesh. So why be surprised? Believe, and you come; love, and you are dragged. Do not regard this violence as harsh and irksome; on the contrary, it is sweet and pleasant. It is the very pleasantness of the thing that drags you to it. Isn’t a sheep dragged, or drawn irresistibly, when it is hungry and grass is shown to it? And I presume it is not being moved by bodily force but pulled by desire. [2] SERMON 131.2. [3]

[1] Jn 6:44; Lat traho = “to draw” or in a stronger sense“to drag.”

[2] An argument Augustine often used against Pelagius.

[3] WSA 3 4:317*.

6:66 | Many of Jesus’ Disciples Left Him

TRUTH IS NOT EASY TO SPEAK OR HEAR

JEROME: The medical men called surgeons pass for being cruel but really deserve pity. For is it not pitiful to cut away the dead flesh of another person with merciless knives without being moved by his pain? Is it not pitiful that the one who is curing the patient is callous to his sufferings and has to appear as his enemy? Yet this is the order of nature. While truth is always bitter, a pleasant disposition waits upon evildoing. Isaiah goes naked without blushing as a type of the captivity to come. [1] Jeremiah is sent from Jerusalem to the Euphrates (a river in Mesopotamia) and leaves his girdle to be marred in the Chaldean camp among the Assyrians hostile to his people. [2] Ezekiel is told to eat bread made of mingled seeds and sprinkled with the dung of people and cattle. [3] He has to see his wife die without shedding a tear. [4] Amos is driven from Samaria. [5] Why is he driven from it? Surely in this case, as in the others, because he was a spiritual surgeon who cut away the parts diseased by sin and urged people to repentance. The apostle Paul says, “Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?” [6] The Savior himself found it no different. Many of the disciples left him because his sayings seemed hard. LETTER 40.1. [7]

[1] Is 20:2.

[2] Jer 13:6-7.

[3] Ezek 4:9-16.

[4] Ezek 24:15-18.

[5] Amos 7:12-13.

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

[7] NPNF 2 6:54*.

NO ROOM FOR FICKLE FAITH

TERTULLIAN: Let the chaff of a fickle faith fly off as much as it will at every blast of temptation, all the purer will be that heap of corn that shall be laid up in the garner of the Lord. Did not certain of the disciples turn back from the Lord himself when they were offended? Yet the rest did not therefore think that they must turn away from following him. But because they knew that he was the Word of Life and had come from God, they continued in his company to the very last, after he had gently inquired of them whether they also would go away. It is a comparatively small thing that certain men, like Phygelus, and Hermogenes, and Philetus and Hymenaeus, deserted his apostle: [1] the betrayer of Christ was himself one of the apostles. We are surprised at seeing his churches forsaken by some people, although the things that we suffer after the example of Christ himself show us to be Christians. “They went out from us,” says [John], “but they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us.” [2] PRESCRIPTIONS AGAINST HERETICS 3. [3]

[1] 2 Tim 1:15; 2:17; 1 Tim 1:20.

[2] 1 Jn 2:19.

[3] ANF 3:244*.

6:67 | Jesus Challenged the Twelve

THE QUESTION PROBES THEIR MOTIVES

CHRYSOSTOM: Had he praised them, they would naturally, as people do, have thought that they were conferring a favor on Christ by not leaving him. By showing, as he did, that he did not need their company, he made them stick all the more closely to him. He does not say, however, “Go away,” as this would have been to cast them off. Rather, he asks whether they wanted to go away. In this way, he prevented them from staying with him out of any feeling of shame or compulsion. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 47.3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:170-71*.

NO COMPULSION

ATHANASIUS: For it is the part of true godliness not to compel but to persuade. Our Lord himself does not employ force but offers the choice, saying to everyone, “If anyone will follow after me, ” [1] and to his disciples in particular, “Will you also go away?” HISTORY OF THE ARIANS 8.67. [2]

[1] Mt 16:24.

[2] NPNF 2 4:295**. See Chrysostom Homilies on the Gospel of John 47.4.

HOW MANY FAITHFUL

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: For it is not the number of worshipers but rather those who excel in the right faith, though they are few, that are precious in the sight of God. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 4.3. [1]

[1] LF 43:442*. Cyril also sees an implicit threat in Jesus’ words that the disciples must remain faithful.

6:68 | Peter Believed in the Words of Eternal Life

WHO COULD BE ANY BETTER TO FOLLOW?

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: “To whom shall we go?” Peter asks. In other words, “Who else will instruct us the way you do?” or “To whom shall we go to find anything better?” “You have the words of eternal life”; not hard words, as those other disciples say, but words that will bring us to the loftiest goal, unceasing, endless life removed from all corruption. These words surely make quite obvious to us the necessity for sitting at the feet of Christ, taking him as our one and only teacher and giving him our constant and undivided attention. He must be our guide who knows well how to lead us to everlasting life. In this way, we shall ascend to the divine court of heaven, and entering the church of the firstborn, delight in blessings passing all human understanding.

It is entirely self-evident that the desire to follow Christ alone and to be with him always is a good thing leading to our salvation. And yet, we can learn this from the Old Testament as well. When the Israelites had shaken off Egyptian tyranny and were hurrying toward the promised land, God did not allow them to march in disorder. The lawgiver [Moses] did not let each one go where he wanted to since, without a guide, they should undoubtedly have lost the way completely. [1] … They were ordered to follow: to set out with the cloud, to stop with the cloud and to rest with the cloud. When they stayed with their guide, then it was the Israelites’ salvation, just as not leaving Christ is ours now. For he was with those people of old under the form of the tabernacle, the cloud and the fire….

They were commanded to follow and not undertake the journey on their own initiative. They were to set out with the tabernacle and stop with it, that by this symbol you might understand Christ’s words: “Whoever serves me must follow me, so as to be with me wherever I am.” [2] When you are always in his company, it means you are resolute in following him and constant in holding on to him. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 4.4. [3]

[1] Cyril then quotes Num 9:15-18 LXX.

[2] Jn 12:26.

[3] LF 43:444-46**.

PETER CONFESSES THE RESURRECTION

CHRYSOSTOM: [Peter’s was] a speech of the greatest love, proving that Christ was more precious to them than father or mother. And that it might not seem to be said as a result of thinking that there was no one whose guidance they could look to, he adds, “You have the words of eternal life.” … These men already confessed the resurrection and all the apportionment that shall happen there. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 47.3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:171*.

6:69 | The Twelve Believe and Know Jesus Is the Christ38

WE BELIEVE IN ORDER TO KNOW

AUGUSTINE: For we believed in order to know. Had we wanted first to know and then to believe, we could never have been able to believe. What have we believed and known? “That you are the Christ the Son of God,” that is, that you are eternal life and that in your flesh and blood you give what you are yourself. TRACTATE ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 27.9. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:177**.

6:70 | One of the Twelve Is a Devil

TWELVE A SACRED NUMBER

AUGUSTINE: In “Have I not chosen you twelve,”… twelve seems to be a sacred number used in the case of those who were to spread the doctrine of the Trinity through the four quarters of the world. That is the reason of the three times four [which equals twelve]. Judas, then, only cut himself off. He did not profane the number twelve. He abandoned his teacher, for God appointed a successor to take his place. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 27.10. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:177**.

CHRIST NEITHER EXPOSES NOR SANCTIONS JUDAS

CHRYSOSTOM: See the wisdom of Christ. He neither exposes the traitor nor allows him to remain hidden. In this way, [Judas] is not so publicly humiliated that he becomes more contentious, but Christ also does not embolden him by allowing him to think that his wicked deeds are proceeding undetected. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 47.4. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:171**.

WHO WILL BETRAY JESUS?

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: By this severe scolding Jesus rouses each one [of his disciples] to profitable vigilance and renders them more steadfast in faith. For he does not say clearly who shall betray him, but rather, by laying the burden of iniquity on one of the disciples, without saying whom, Jesus brought them all to the contest. And so, with each one dreading the loss of his own soul, Jesus invites them to more careful circumspection. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 4.4. [1]

[1] LF 43:457**.

GOOD PRODUCED FROM EVIL

AUGUSTINE: Evil people make evil use of all the good creations of God. Good people, on the other hand, make good use of the evil actions of the wicked. And who is as good as the one and only God? [1] … For as the wicked turn the good works of God to an evil use, so inversely God turns the evil works of human beings to good. What can be worse than what Judas did? He was chosen as the treasurer among the Twelve who would dispense gifts to the poor. But instead of being thankful for so great an honor and favor, he took the money and lost righteousness. Being dead, he betrayed life. The one he followed as a disciple he betrayed as an enemy. Yet our Lord made a good use of his wickedness, allowing himself to be betrayed so that he might redeem us…. If God employs the evil works of the devil himself for good, whatever the evil person does by making bad use of God’s good gifts only hurts himself. It in no way contradicts the goodness of God. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 27.10. [2]

[1] See Mk 10:10.

[2] NPNF 1 7:177**.