[4760] John i. 7.
[4761] The Old Testament belongs to the Creator, the Demiurge.
[4762] 1 John ii. 23.
[4763] John viii. 56.
[4764] Isa. xliii. 10.
[4765] Acts i. 8.
[4766] Matt. viii. 4.
29. The Six Testimonies of the Baptist Enumerated. Jesus' "Come and See." Significance of the Tenth Hour.
Accordingly John came to bear witness of the light, and in his witness-bearing he cried, saying, [4767] "He that cometh after me exists before me; for He was before me; for of His fulness we have all received and grace for grace, for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." This whole speech is from the mouth of the Baptist bearing witness to the Christ. Some take it otherwise, and consider that the words from "for of His fulness" to "He hath declared Him" are from the writer, John the Apostle. The true state of the case is that John's first testimony begins, as we said before, "He that cometh after me," and ends, "He hath declared Him," and his second testimony is that spoken to the priests and levites sent from Jerusalem, whom the Jews had sent. To them he confesses and does not deny the truth, namely, that he is not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet, but "the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as saith Isaiah the prophet." [4768] After this there is another testimony of the same Baptist to Christ, still teaching His superior nature, which goes forth into the whole world and enters into reasonable souls. He says, [4769] "There standeth One among you whom you know not, even He that cometh after me, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose." Consider if, since the heart is in the middle of the whole body, and the ruling principle in the heart, the saying, "There standeth One among you whom you know not," can be understood of [4770] the reason which is in every man. John's fourth testimony of Christ after these points to His human sufferings. He says, [4771] "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a man who exists before me, for He was before me. And I knew Him not, but that He should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water." And the fifth testimony is recorded in the words, [4772] "I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and it abode upon Him, and I knew Him not, but He that sent me to baptize with water, He said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding upon Him, the same is He that baptizeth with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God." In the sixth place John witnesses of Christ to the two disciples: [4773] "He looked on Jesus as He walked and saith, Behold the Lamb of God." After this testimony the two disciples who heard it followed Jesus; and Jesus turned and beheld them following, and saith unto them, "What seek ye?" Perhaps it is not without significance that after six testimonies John ceases from his witness-bearing and Jesus brings forward in the seventh place His "What seek ye?" Very becoming in those who have been helped by John's testimony is the speech in which they address Christ as their Master, and declare their wish to see the dwelling of the Son of God; for they say to Him, "Rabbi," which answers to "Master," in our language, "where dwellest Thou?" And since every one that seeketh findeth, when John's disciples seek Jesus' dwelling, Jesus shows it to them, saying, "Come and see." By the word "Come" He exhorts them perhaps to the practical part of life, while the "see" is to suggest to them that that speculation which comes in the train of right conduct will be vouchsafed to those who desire it; in Jesus' dwelling they will have it. After they had asked where Jesus dwells, and had followed the Master and had seen, they desired to stay with Him and to spend that day with the Son of God. Now the number ten is a sacred one, not a few mysteries being indicated by it; and so we are to understand that the mention of the tenth hour as that at which these disciples turned in with Jesus, is not without significance. Of these disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, is one; and he having profited by this day with Jesus and having found his own brother Simon (perhaps he had not found him before), told him that he had found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, Christ. It is written that "he that seeketh findeth." Now he had sought where Jesus dwelt, and had followed Him and looked upon His dwelling; he stays with the Lord "at the tenth hour," and finds the Son of God, the Word, and Wisdom, and is ruled by Him as King. That is why he says, "We have found the Messiah," and this a thing which every one can say who has found this Word of God and is ruled as by a king, by His Divinity. As a fruit he at once brings his brother to Christ, and Christ deigned to look upon Simon, that is to say, by looking at him to visit and enlighten his ruling principle; and Simon by Jesus' looking at him was enabled to grow strong, so as to earn a new name from that work of firmness and strength, and to be called Peter.
[4767] i. 7, 15-18.
[4768] i. 23.
[4769] i. 26.
[4770] Reading katha for khai.
[4771] i. 29-31.
[4772] i. 32-34.
[4773] i. 35-38.
30. How John Was a Witness of Christ, and Specially of "The Light."
It may be asked why we should have gone through all this when the verse before us is, "He came for witness, that he might bear witness of the light." But it was necessary to give John's testimonies to the light, and to show the order in which they took place, and also, in order to show how effective John's testimony proved, to set forth the help it afforded afterwards to those to whom he bore it. But before all these testimonies there was an earlier one when the Baptist leaped in the womb of Elisabeth at the greeting of Mary. That was a testimony to Christ and attested His divine conception and birth. And what more need I say? John is everywhere a witness and forerunner of Christ. He anticipates His birth and dies a little before the death of the Son of God, and thus witnesses not only for those at the time of the birth, but to those who were expecting the freedom which was to come for man through the death of Christ. Thus, in all his life, he is a little before Christ, and everywhere makes ready for the Lord a people prepared for Him. And John's testimony precedes also the second and diviner coming of Christ, for we read, [4774] "If ye will receive it, this is Elijah which is to come. He that hath ears to hear let him hear." Now, there was a beginning, in which the Word was,--and we saw from Proverbs that that beginning was wisdom,--and the Word was in existence, and in the Word life was made, and the life was the light of men; and all this being so, I ask why the man who came, sent from God, whose name was John, why he came for witness to bear witness especially of the light? Why did he not come to bear witness of the life, or of the Word, or about the beginning, or about any other of the many aspects in which Christ appears? Consider here the texts, "The people which sat in darkness saw a great light," and "The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness overtook it not," and consider how those who are in darkness, that is, men, have need of light. For if the light of men shines in darkness, and there is no active power in darkness to attain to it, then we must partake of other aspects of Christ; at present we have no real share of Him at all. For what share have we of life, we who are still in the body of death, and whose life is hid with Christ in God? [4775] "For when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory." It was not possible, therefore, that he who came should bear witness about a life which is still hid with Christ in God. Nor did he come for witness to bear witness of the Word, for we know the Word who was in the beginning with God and who is God the Word; for the Word was made flesh on the earth. And though the witness had been, at least apparently, about the Word, it would in fact have been about the Word made flesh and not about the word of God. He did not come, therefore, to bear witness of the Word. And how could there be any witness-bearing about wisdom, to those who, even if they appear to know something, cannot understand pure truth, but behold it through a glass and in an enigma? It is likely, however, that before the second and diviner advent of Christ, John or Elias will come to bear witness about life a little before Christ our life is made manifest, and that then they will bear witness about the Word, and offer also their testimony about wisdom. Some inquiry is necessary whether a testimony such as that of John is to precede each of the aspects of Christ. So much for the words, "He came for witness, to bear witness of the light." What we are to understand by the further words, "That all might believe through Him," may be considered later.
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[4774] Matt. xi. 14, 15.
[4775] Coloss. iii. 3, 4.
Fragments of the Fourth Book. [4776]
(Three Leaves from the Beginning.)
1. He who distinguishes in himself voice and meaning and things for which the meaning stands, will not be offended at rudeness of language if, on enquiry, he finds the things spoken of to be sound. The more may this be so when we remember how the holy men acknowledge their speech and their preaching to be not in persuasion of the wisdom of words, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power....
[Then, after speaking of the rudeness of style of the Gospel, he proceeds: ]
2. The Apostles are not unaware that in some things they give offence, and that in some respects their culture is defective, and they confess themselves [4777] accordingly to be rude in speech but not in knowledge; for we must consider that the other Apostles would have said this, too, as well as Paul. As for the text, [4778] "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us," we interpret it in this way. By "treasures" we understand here, as in other passages, the treasure of knowledge (gnosis) and of hidden wisdom. By "earthen vessels" we understand the humble diction of the Scriptures, which the Greek might so readily be led to despise, and in which the excellency of God's power appears so clearly. The mystery of the truth and the power of the things said were not hindered by the humble diction from travelling to the ends of the earth, nor from subduing to the word of Christ, not only the foolish things of the world, but sometimes its wise things, too. For we see our calling, [4779] not that no wise man according to the flesh, but that not many wise according to the flesh. But Paul, in his preaching of the Gospel, is a debtor [4780] to deliver the word not to Barbarians only, but also to Greeks, and not only to the unwise, who would easily agree with him, but also to the wise. For he was made sufficient [4781] by God to be a minister of the New Covenant, wielding the demonstration of the spirit and of power, so that when the believers agreed with him their belief should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. For, perhaps, if the Scripture possessed, like the works the Greeks admire, elegance and command of diction, then it would be open to suppose that not the truth of them had laid hold of men, but that the apparent sequence and splendour of language had carried off the hearers, and had carried them off by guile.
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[4776] From the Philocalia.
[4777] 2 Cor. xi. 6.