ACC ~ John 9 v6
JESUS COMPLETES HIS WORK AS CREATOR
IRENAEUS: He healed others by a wordâŚ. But the Lord bestowed sight on the one who was blind from birthânot by a word, but by an outward action. He did this neither casually nor simply because this was how it happened. He did it this way in order to show it was the same hand of God here that had also formed man at the beginning. And therefore when his disciples asked him why he had been born blind, whether by his own fault or his parentsâ, Jesus said, âNeither this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God might be manifested in him.â The work of God is, after all, the forming of man. He did this by an outward action, as Scripture says, âAnd the Lord took clay from earth, and formed man.â [1] Notice here too how the Lord spit on the earth, and made clay and smeared it on his eyes, showing how the ancient creation was made. He was making clear to those who can understand, that this was the [same] hand of God through which man was formed from clay. For what the creating Word had neglected to form in the womb, this he supplied openly. He did this so that the works of God might be evident in him, and so that we would now seek for no other hand than that through which humanity was formed. Nor should we seek another Father, knowing that the hand of God which formed us in the beginning, and forms in the womb, has in the last times sought us lost ones out. He is gaining his own lost sheep and putting it on his shoulders and joyfully restoring it to the fold of life. AGAINST HERESIES 5.15.2. [2]
[1] Gen 2:7.
[2] ANF 1:543**. See also Against Heresies 5.16.1. This is a common theme in patristic interpretation. See also Chrysostom Homilies on the Gospel of John 56.2 and Theodore Commentary on John 4.9.6-7.
ANOINTING OF THE EYES WITH CLAY
ORIGEN: I think this has been said to establish that Christâs saliva had a quality of healing power. Even though the blind man did not himself ask to receive his sight, yet he will be found praiseworthy in delivering himself to Jesus anointing his eyes with clay and in doing without hesitation what had been enjoined him, without Jesus having even said that he would receive sightâŚ. Let us therefore wash off the clay smeared in our eyes in the water of the pool of him [i.e., Jesus] who has been sent so that after this we may be able to see again. But you will understand by the clay the beginning of the rudiments of the oracles of God, according to which we as babies are fed with milk. But when the childish things are done away with and we eat solid food, we wipe away the clay so that we may return to Jesus as one who sees. FRAGMENT 63 ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN. [1]
[1] AEG 4:3-4*; GCS 10 (4):533-34.
PROVING JESUS IS CREATOR
AMMONIUS: He spat on the ground and made mud out of the saliva and he daubed the mud onto the eyes of the blind man. He wanted to show with the mud that he himself is the one who made Adam from the earth. His statement that âI am the one doing thisâ seemed to make his hearer hostile to him. But have shown himself to be the one through this work that he didâthis, finally, did not give offense. Therefore, he fashioned eyes in that way rather than simply healing them. And he did not only make the eyes or open them but also graced them with the ability to see. This is positive proof that he had also breathed a soul into Adam. For he would never have seen, even if the eye had been completed, unless that life-giving spirit that breathed into Adam was at work. FRAGMENTS ON JOHN 317. [1]
[1] JKGK 276.
LAW AND GRACE, GROUND AND SALIVA
CAESARIUS OF ARLES: In the ground we understand the law, and grace is designated in the saliva. What does the law effect without grace? What does the ground do without the saliva of Christ? What does the law do without grace, except make people still more guilty? Why? Because the law knows how to obey but not how to help; the law can point out sin, but it cannot take sin away from people. Therefore, let the saliva of Christ go down to the ground and gather together the earth. Let he who made the earth remake it, and he who created it reform and recreate it. Likewise, in the saliva is understood the word of God, his real human body on earth. For this reason let the saliva of Christ down in order that the law may be fulfilled. âHe made clay with the saliva.â What is saliva mixed with clay, except the incarnate Word? That blind man presented an image of the whole human race, and, therefore, the saliva was mixed with clay, and the blind man was made to see: the Word became incarnate, and the world was illumined. SERMON 172.3. [1]
[1] FC 47:426-27*.
WHY NOT WATER INSTEAD OF SALIVA?
CHRYSOSTOM: And why didnât he use water instead of saliva for the clay? He was about to send the man to Siloam. In order, therefore, that nothing might be ascribed to the fountain but that you might learn that the power proceeds from his mouthâthe same, both formed and opened the manâs eyesâhe âspat on the ground.â⌠And then, so that you might not think that it was the earth that healed him, he commanded him to wash. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 57.1. [1]
[1] NPNF 1 14:204**.
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