Lecture 8
Lectio 8
Christ proclaims himself God
Christus se Deum esse dicit
8:51 Amen, amen I say to you: if any man keep my word, he will never see death. [n. 1271]
8:51 Amen, amen dico vobis: si quis sermonem meum servaverit, mortem non videbit in aeternum. [n. 1271]
8:52 The Jews therefore said: now we know that you have a demon. Abraham is dead, and the prophets, and you say, if any man keep my word, he will never taste death. [n. 1272]
8:52 Dixerunt ergo Iudaei: nunc cognovimus quia daemonium habes. Abraham mortuus est, et prophetae, et tu dicis: si quis sermonem meum servaverit, non gustabit mortem in aeternum. [n. 1272]
8:53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do you make yourself to be? [n. 1274]
8:53 Numquid tu maior es patre nostro Abraham, qui mortuus est? Et prophetae, mortui sunt. Quem teipsum facis? [n. 1274]
8:54 Jesus answered: if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is your God. [n. 1276]
8:54 Respondit Iesus: si ego glorifico meipsum, gloria mea nihil est. Est Pater meus qui glorificat me, quem vos dicitis, quia Deus vester est. [n. 1276]
8:55 And you have not known him, but I know him. And if I said that I do not know him, I would be like you, a liar. But I do know him and keep his word. [n. 1280]
8:55 Et non cognovistis eum: ego autem novi eum. Et si dixero, quia non scio eum, ero similis vobis mendax. Sed scio eum, et sermonem eius servo. [n. 1280]
8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it and was glad. [n. 1287]
8:56 Abraham pater vester exultavit, ut videret diem meum: vidit, et gavisus est. [n. 1287]
8:57 The Jews therefore said to him: you are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham? [n. 1288]
8:57 Dixerunt ergo Iudaei ad eum: quinquaginta annos nondum habes, et Abraham vidisti? [n. 1288]
8:58 Jesus said to them: amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am. [n. 1290]
8:58 Dixit eis Iesus: amen, amen dico vobis, antequam Abraham fieret, ego sum. [n. 1290]
8:59 They therefore took up stones to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple. [n. 1291]
8:59 Tulerunt ergo lapides, ut iacerent in eum, Iesus autem abscondit se, et exivit de templo. [n. 1291]
1270. Above, our Lord had promised two things to his followers: liberation from darkness and the attainment of life, saying, he who follows me does not walk in darkness but will have the light of life (John 8:12). The first of these has been treated above; so we are now concerned with the second, the obtaining of life through Christ.
1270. Supra Dominus duo promiserat eum sequentibus: scilicet liberationem a tenebris, et adeptionem vitae, dicens: qui sequitur me, non ambulat in tenebris, sed habebit lumen vitae. Et de primo quidem dictum est supra; nunc autem agitur de secundo, scilicet de adeptione vitae per Christum, et
First, he states the truth;
primo proponit veritatem;
second he counters its denial by the Jews, at the Jews therefore said: now we know that you have a demon.
secundo repellit Iudaeorum contradictionem, ibi dixerunt ergo Iudaei: nunc cognovimus etc.
1271. It should be noted that although Christ had been loaded down with insults and criticisms, he did not stop his teaching; indeed, after being accused of having a demon, he offers the benefits of his teachings more generously, saying: amen, amen, I say to you, if any man keeps my word, he will never see death. He is here giving us an example that when the malice of wicked men increases, and those that are converted are abused with insults, preaching, so far from being curtailed, should be increased: and you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words (Ezek 2:6); . . . the Gospel for which I am suffering and wearing fetters like a criminal. But the word of God is not fettered (2 Tim 2:9).
1271. Sciendum est autem, quod quamvis Christus lacessitus esset iniuriis et opprobriis, non tamen destitit a doctrina; sed postquam habere Daemonium dictus est, praedicationis suae beneficia largius impendit, dicens amen, amen dico vobis etc. In quo datur nobis exemplum, quod cum malorum perversitas crescit, et per opprobria hominum conculcantur qui convertuntur, non solum praedicatio frangi non debet, sed etiam augeri; Ez. II, 6: tu ergo, fili hominis, ne timeas eos, neque sermones eorum metuas; II Tim. IX: laboro usque ad vincula quasi male operans; sed verbum Dei non est alligatum.
In this statement our Lord does two things: he requires something, and he promises something. What he requires is that his words be kept, if any man keep my word—for the word of Christ is the truth. Therefore, we should keep it, first of all, by faith and continual meditation: do not forsake her, and she will keep you (Prov 4:6); second, by fulfilling it in action: he who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me (John 14:21).
Duo autem facit Dominus in his verbis. Unum quidem est quod requirit, aliud quod promittit. Requirit quidem sermonis sui observationem; unde dicit si quis sermonem meum servaverit. Nam sermo Christi veritas est; ideo debemus ipsum servare, primo quidem per fidem, et iugem meditationem; Prov. IV, 6: serva eam et servabit te; secundo vero per operis impletionem; infra XIV, 21: qui habet mandata mea, et servat ea, ille est qui diligit me.
What he promises is freedom from death; thus he says, he will never see death, that is, experience it: they who act by me i.e., by divine wisdom shall not sin; they who explain me shall have life everlasting (Sir 24:30). Such a reward suits such merit, for life everlasting consists especially in the divine vision: this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (John 17:3). Now the seedbed and source of this vision comes into us by the word of Christ; the seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11). Therefore, just as a person who keeps the seed of some plant or tree from being destroyed succeeds in obtaining its fruit, so the person who keeps the word of God attains to life everlasting: keep my statutes and my ordinances by doing which a man shall live (Lev 18:5).
Promittit autem mortis liberationem; unde dicit mortem non videbit in aeternum, idest non experietur; Eccli. XXIV, 30: qui operantur in me, scilicet in divina sapientia, non peccabunt; et qui elucidant me, vitam aeternam habebunt. Et congrue tali merito debetur tale praemium. Nam vita aeterna praecipue in divina visione consistit; infra XVII, 3: haec est vita aeterna ut cognoscant te solum verum Deum, et quem misisti Iesum Christum. Huius autem visionis quoddam seminarium et principium in nobis fit per verbum Christi; Lc. VIII, 11: semen est verbum Dei. Sicut ergo ille qui servat semen alicuius plantae vel arboris ne corrumpatur, pervenit ad perceptionem fructus; ita qui servat verbum Dei; pervenit ad vitam aeternam; Lev. XVIII, v. 5: quae fecerit homo, vivet in eis.
1272. Next, at the Jews therefore said: now we know that you have a demon. We see the opposition of the Jews being repelled. They oppose Christ in three ways:
1272. Consequenter cum dicit dixerunt ergo Iudaei etc., ponitur contradictionis Iudaeorum confutatio. Contradicunt autem Christo tripliciter.
first, by accusing him of making a false statement;
Primo quidem falsitatis arguendo;
second, by their derision, at the Jews therefore said to him: you are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham? and
secundo irridendo, ibi dixerunt ergo Iudaei ad eum: quinquaginta annos nondum habes, et Abraham vidisti?
third by assaulting him, at they therefore took up stones to cast at him.
Tertio persequendo, ibi tulerunt ergo lapides, ut iacerent in eum.
As to the first, there are two things:
Circa primum duo faciunt.
first, they try to accuse him of presumption;
Primo conantur eum redarguere praesumptionis;
second, Christ answers some of their retorts, at if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing.
secundo ad quaedam eorum quae dicta sunt Christus respondet, ibi si ego glorifico meipsum, gloria mea nihil est.
As to the first they do three things:
Circa primum tria faciunt.
first, they insult Christ;
Primo irrogant improperium;
second, they state a certain fact, at Abraham is dead;
secundo proponunt factum, ibi Abraham mortuus est etc.;
and third, they ask a question, at are you greater than our father Abraham?
tertio interrogant, ibi numquid tu maior es patre nostro Abraham?
1273. They reproached him for lying when they said, now we know that you have a demon. They said this because the Jews knew that the inventor of sin, and especially of lying, was the devil: I will go forth and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets (1 Kgs 22:22). It seemed to them that our Lord’s statement, if any man keep my word, he will never see death, was an obvious lie—for since they were carnal minded, they understood of physical death what he said about spiritual and eternal death; and especially also because it was contrary to the authority of Sacred Scripture, which says, what man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? (Ps 89:48). For these reasons they said to him: you have a demon. It was like saying: you are lying because prompted by the devil.
1273. Irrogaverunt autem improperium mendacii, cum dicunt nunc cognovimus quia daemonium habes. Et hoc ideo dixerunt, quia notum est apud Iudaeos quod adinventor peccatorum est diabolus, et praecipue mendacii, secundum illud Reg. ult., 22, egrediar, et ero spiritus mendax in ore omnium prophetarum eius. Quia autem videbatur eis hoc quod Dominus dixit, scilicet si quis sermonem meum servaverit, mortem non videbit in aeternum, apertum mendacium esse, nam ipsi tamquam carnales intelligebant de morte corporali, quod de spirituali et aeterna morte dixerat, et praecipue, quia contrariatur auctoritati Sacrae Scripturae, Ps. LXXXVIII, 49: quis est homo qui vivit, et non videbit mortem, eruet animam suam de manu Inferi? Ideo dicunt ei daemonium habes, quasi dicant: ex instinctu Daemonis mendacium loqueris.
1274. Further, they do two things to convict him of lying: first, they mention the death of the ancients; second, they quote Christ’s own words, at and you say, if any man keep my word, he will never taste death.
1274. Et ut convincant eum de mendacio, duo faciunt. Primo quidem proponunt mortem antiquorum; secundo vero repetunt verba Christi, ibi et tu dicis etc.
So they say: what you say, if any one keeps my word, he will never see death, is obviously false, for Abraham is dead (Gen 25); and the prophets are dead; we must all die, we are like water split on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again (2 Sam 14:14). But although they are dead in the bodily sense, they are not dead spiritually, for our Lord says: I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob (Matt 22:32), and then he adds, he is not God of the dead, but of the living. Thus, they were dead as to the body, but they were living in the spirit, because the Lord was not speaking of bodily death.
Dicunt ergo: vere falsum est quod loqueris: si quis sermonem tuum etc., nam Abraham, homo, mortuus est, ut patet Gen. c. XXV. Similiter et prophetae mortui sunt; II Reg. XIV, 14: omnes morimur, et quasi aquae dilabimur in terram, quae non revertuntur. Et quidem licet mortui sint corporaliter, non tamen mortui sunt spiritualiter; Matth. XXII, 32, dicit Dominus: ego sum Deus Abraham, et Deus Isaac, et Deus Iacob. Postea sequitur: non est Deus mortuorum, sed vivorum. Mortui ergo sunt corpore, sed vivunt spiritu, quia sermonem Dei servaverunt, et vixerunt ex fide. Et de ea morte Dominus intelligebat, non de corporali.
However, they repeat the words of Christ and add and you say, if any man keep my word, he will never taste death. But they were careless and evil listeners and so garbled our Lord’s words and did not repeat them exactly. For our Lord had said, he will never see death, but they quote it as he will never taste death. However, as far as their understanding was concerned, it was all the same, because in both cases they understood that they would never experience a bodily death. But as Origen tells us, there is a real difference between seeing death and tasting death: for to see death is to experience it completely; while to taste it is to have some taste or share in death. Now, just as it is a greater punishment to see death than to taste it, so not to taste death is more of a glory than not to see death. For the ones who do not taste death are those who are on high with Christ, i.e., who remain in an intellectual order: there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom (Matt 16:28). And there are others who, if they do not see death by sinning mortally, nevertheless taste it, because they have a slight affection for earthly things. Consequently, our Lord, as it is written in the Greek, and as Origen explains it, said, he will never see death, because the person who has accepted and kept the words of Christ will not see death, even though he might taste something of it.
Verbum autem Christi repetunt cum subdunt et tu dicis: si quis sermonem meum servaverit, non gustabit mortem in aeternum. Velut incauti et maligni auditores, Dominicum sermonem confundentes, non repetunt eadem verba. Nam Dominus dixit mortem non videbit ipsi vero protulerunt mortem non gustabit. Sed quantum ad eorum intentionem idem est: quia per utrumque ipsi intelligunt, quod mortem, scilicet corporalem, non experietur in aeternum. Sed quantum ad verum intellectum differt, ut Origenes dicit, inter mortem gustare et videre: nam videre mortem est eam perfecte experiri; gustare autem est aliquem mortis gustum seu participationem habere. Sicut autem est plus ad poenam videre mortem quam gustare, ita plus est ad gloriam non gustare mortem quam non videre. Illi enim non gustant qui in alto sunt cum Christo, scilicet in intellectuali loco statum observant: de quibus dicitur Matth. XVI, 28: sunt de hic stantibus, qui non gustabunt mortem, donec videant Filium hominis venientem in regno suo. Aliqui tamen sunt qui si non videant mortem mortaliter peccando, tamen aliquid gustant per aliquam levem terrenorum affectionem. Et ideo Dominus, ut habetur in Graeco, et Origenes etiam exponit, dixit, mortem non videbit in aeternum: quia qui sermonem Christi acceperit et custodierit, etsi gustet aliquid, non tamen videbit mortem.
1275. Then they ask their question, saying, are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? They are asking, first of all, about a comparison between him and their fathers of old: are you, they ask greater than our father Abraham? But as Chrysostom says, in their carnal understanding they could have asked something higher, that is, are you greater than God? For Abraham and the prophets kept God’s commands, yet they died in the bodily sense. Therefore, if any one who keeps your word will never die, it seems that you are greater than God. Yet they were satisfied with their retort, because they considered him less than Abraham, in spite of the fact that we read: there is none like thee among the gods, O Lord (Ps 86:8); and who is like thee, O Lord, among the gods? (Exod 15:11); as if to say: no one.
1275. Interrogant autem cum dicunt numquid tu maior es patre nostro Abraham, qui mortuus est? Et primo quidem quaerunt de comparatione ipsius ad antiquos patres: numquid inquiunt tu maior es patre nostro Abraham? Poterant, ut Chrysostomus dicit, secundum carnalem eorum intellectum, altius quaerere: numquid scilicet ut maior es Deo? Nam Abraham et prophetae mandata Dei servaverunt, et tamen corporaliter mortui sunt. Sic ergo si qui sermonem tuum servaverit non morietur, videtur quod sis maior Deo. Sed contenti sunt hac redargutione, quia putabant eum minorem quam Abraham; cum tamen sit scriptum in Ps. LXXXV, 8: non est similis tui in diis, Domine; et Ex. XV, 11: quis similis tui in fortibus, Domine? Quasi dicat nullus.
Second, they ask about his estimate of himself, i.e., who does he take himself to be? As if to say: if you are greater than them, namely, Abraham and the prophets, it seems to imply that you are of a higher nature, say an angel or God. But we do not think you are. So they do not ask, who are you? but who do you claim to be? For whatever you say in this matter, we who know will regard it as a fiction. They spoke in a similar fashion below: we do not stone you for a good work but for blasphemy, and because you, being a man, make yourself God (John 10:33).
Secundo quaerunt de sua aestimatione, quem scilicet seipsum facit; quasi dicant: si tu es maior istis, scilicet Abraham et prophetis, videtur per hoc intelligi quod sis altioris naturae, puta angelus, vel Deus. Sed hoc non aestimamus de te. Et ideo non dicunt, tu quis es; sed quem te ipsum facis? Quia quidquid dicitur supra istis, non recognoscentes de te, reputabimus, quod tu illud fingas. Similiter dicebant infra X, 33: de bono opere non lapidamus te, sed de blasphemia: quia tu homo cum sis, facis teipsum Deum.
1276. Then, at Jesus answered: if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing, our Lord’s answer is given.
1276. Consequenter cum dicit respondit Iesus etc., ponitur responsio Domini, et
First, he answers the second question;
primo respondet secundae quaestioni;