[4840] John i. 21.
[4841] Matt. xi. 14.
[4842] Mal. iv. 5, 6.
[4843] Luke i. 13.
[4844] Luke i. 17.
[4845] vii. 4.
[4846] Luke i. 35.
[4847] 1 Cor. xiv. 32.
[4848] 2 Kings ii. 15.
[4849] Gen. iv. 25.
[4850] Luke i. 65.
[4851] Matt. xvi. 13, 14.
[4852] Mark vi. 16.
[4853] Matt. xiii. 55.
[4854] 2 Kings i. 8.
[4855] Judg. xx. 28.
[4856] Numb. xxv. 12.
8. John is a Prophet, But Not the Prophet.
"Art thou that prophet? And he answered No." [4857] If the law and the prophets were until John, [4858] what can we say that John was but a prophet? His father Zacharias, indeed, says, filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesying, [4859] "And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go before the Lord to prepare His ways." (One might indeed get past this passage by laying stress on the word called: he is to be called, he is not said to be, a prophet.) And still more weighty is it that the Saviour said to those who considered John to be a prophet, [4860] "But what went ye out to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet." The words, Yea, I say unto you, manifestly affirm that John is a prophet, and that is nowhere denied afterwards. If, then, he is said by the Saviour to be not only a prophet but "more than a prophet," how is it that when the priests and levites come and ask him, "Art thou the Prophet?" he answers No! On this we must remark that it is not the same thing to say, "Art thou the Prophet?" and "Art thou a prophet?" The distinction between the two expressions has already been observed, when we asked what was the difference between the God and God, and between the Logos and Logos. [4861] Now it is written in Deuteronomy, [4862] "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like me; Him shall ye hear, and it shall be that every soul that will not hear that prophet shall be cut off from among His people." There was, therefore, an expectation of one particular prophet having a resemblance to Moses in mediating between God and the people and receiving a new covenant from God to give to those who accepted his teaching; and in the case of each of the prophets, the people of Israel recognized that he was not the person of whom Moses spoke. As, then, they doubted about John, whether he were not the Christ, [4863] so they doubted whether he could not be the prophet. And there is no wonder that those who doubted about John whether he were the Christ, did not understand that the Christ and the prophet are the same person; their doubt as to John necessarily implied that they were not clear on this point. Now the difference between "the prophet" and "a prophet" has escaped the observation of most students; this is the case with Heracleon, who says, in these very words: "As, then, John confessed that he was not the Christ, and not even a prophet, nor Elijah." If he interpreted the words before us in such a way, he ought to have examined the various passages to see whether in saying that he is not a prophet nor Elijah he is or is not saying what is true. He devotes no attention, however, to these passages, and in his remaining commentaries he passes over such points without any enquiry. In the sequel, too, his remarks, of which we shall have to speak directly, are very scanty, and do not testify to careful study.
[4857] John i. 21.
[4858] Luke xvi. 16.
[4859] Luke i. 76.
[4860] Matt. xi. 9.
[4861] P. 321.
[4862] xviii. 15 sq.
[4863] Luke iii. 15.
9. John I. 22.
"They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?" This speech of the emissaries amounts to the following: We had a surmise what you were and came to learn if it was so, but now we know that you are not that. It remains for us, therefore, to hear your account of yourself, so that we may report your answer to those who sent us.
10. Of the Voice John the Baptist is.
"He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet." As He who is peculiarly the Son of God, being no other than the Logos, yet makes use of Logos (reason)--for He was the Logos in the beginning, and was with God, the Logos of God--so John, the servant of that Logos, being, if we take the Scripture to mean what it says, no other than a voice, yet uses his voice to point to the Logos. He, then, understanding in this way the prophecy about himself spoken by Isaiah the prophet, says he is a voice, not crying in the wilderness, but "of one crying in the wilderness," of Him, namely, who stood and cried, [4864] "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink." He it was, too, who said, [4865] "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and all the crooked shall be made straight." For as we read in Exodus that God said to Moses, [4866] "Behold I have given thee for a God to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet;" so we are to understand--the cases are at least analogous if not altogether similar--it is with the Word in the beginning, who is God, and with John. For John's voice points to that word and demonstrates it. It is therefore a very appropriate punishment that falls on Zacharias on his saying to the angel, [4867] "Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife well stricken in years." For his want of faith with regard to the birth of the voice, he is himself deprived of his voice, as the angel Gabriel says to him, "Behold, thou shalt be silent and not able to speak until the day that these things shall come to pass, because thou hast not believed my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season." And afterwards when he had "asked for a writing tablet and written, His name is John; and they all marvelled," he recovered his voice; for "his mouth was opened immediately and his tongue, and he spake, blessing God." We discussed above how it is to be understood that the Logos is the Son of God, and went over the ideas connected with that; and a similar sequence of ideas is to be observed at this point. John came for a witness; he was a man sent from God to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe; he was that voice, then, we are to understand, which alone was fitted worthily to announce the Logos. We shall understand this aright if we call to mind what was adduced in our exposition of the texts: "That all might believe through Him," and "This is he of whom it is written, Behold I send My messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee." [4868] There is fitness, too, in his being said to be the voice, not of one saying in the wilderness, but of one crying in the wilderness. He who cries, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord," also says it; but he might say it without crying it. But he cries and shouts it, that even those may hear who are at a distance from the speaker, and that even the deaf may understand the greatness of the tidings, since it is announced in a great voice; and he thus brings help, both to those who have departed from God and to those who have lost the acuteness of their hearing. This, too, was the reason why "Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink." Hence, too, [4869] "John beareth witness of Him, and cried, saying," "Hence also God commands Isaiah to cry, with the voice of one saying, Cry. And I said, What shall I cry?" The physical voice we use in prayer need not be great nor startling; even should we not lift up any great cry or shout, God will yet hear us. He says to Moses, [4870] "Why criest thou unto Me?" when Moses had not cried audibly at all. It is not recorded in Exodus that he did so; but Moses had cried mightily to God in prayer with that voice which is heard by God alone. Hence David also says, [4871] "With my voice I cried unto the Lord, and He heard me." And one who cries in the desert has need of a voice, that the soul which is deprived of God and deserted of truth--and what more dreadful desert is there than a soul deserted of God and of all virtue, since it still goes crookedly and needs instruction--may be exhorted to make straight the way of the Lord. And that way is made straight by the man who, far from copying the serpent's crooked journey; while he who is of the contrary disposition perverts his way. Hence the rebuke directed to a man of this kind and to all who resemble him, "Why pervert ye the right ways of the Lord?"
[4864] John vii. 37.
[4865] Luke iii. 4.
[4866] vii. 1.
[4867] Luke i. 18.
[4868] Matt. xi. 10.
[4869] John i. 15.
[4870] Exod. xiv. 15.
[4871] Ps. lxxvii. 7.
[4872] Acts xiii. 10.
11. Of the Way of the Lord, How It is Narrow, and How Jesus is the Way.
Now the way of the Lord is made straight in two fashions. First, in the way of contemplation, when thought is made clear in truth without any mixture of falsehood; and then in the way of conduct, after the sound contemplation of what ought to be done, when action is produced which harmonizes with sound theory of conduct. And that we may the more clearly understand the text, "Make straight the way of the Lord," it will be well to compare with it what is said in the Proverbs, [4873] "Depart not, either to the right hand or to the left." For he who deviates in either direction has given up keeping his path straight, and is no longer worthy of regard, since he has gone apart from the straightness of the journey, for "the Lord [4874] is righteous, and loves righteousness, and His face beholds straightness." Hence he who is the object of regard, and receives the benefit that comes from this oversight, says, [4875] "The light of Thy countenance was shown upon us, O Lord." Let us stand, then, as Jeremiah [4876] exhorts, upon the ways, and let us see and ask after the ancient ways of the Lord, and let us see which is the good way, and walk in it. Thus did the Apostles stand and ask for the ancient ways of the Lord; they asked the Patriarchs and the Prophets, enquiring into their writings, and when they came to understand these writings they saw the good way, namely, Jesus Christ, who said, "I am the way," and they walked in it. For it is a good way that leads the good man to the good father, the man who, from the good treasure of his heart, brings forth good things, and who is a good and faithful servant. This way is narrow, indeed, for the many cannot bear to walk in it and are lovers of their flesh; but it is also hard-pressed [4877] by those who use violence [4878] to walk in it, for it is not called afflicting, but afflicted. [4879] For that way which is a living way, and feels the qualities of those who tread it, is pressed and afflicted, when he travels on it who has not taken off his shoes from off his feet, [4880] nor truly realized that the place on which he stands. or indeed treads, is holy ground. And it will lead to Him who is the life, and who says, "I am the life." For the Saviour, in whom all virtues are combined, has many aspects. To him who, though by no means near the end, is yet advancing, He is the way; to him who has put off all that is dead He is the life. He who travels on this way is told to take nothing with him on it, since it provides bread and all that is necessary for life, enemies are powerless on it, and he needs no staff, and since it is holy, he needs no shoes.
[4873] iv. 27.
[4874] Ps. xi. 7.
[4875] Ps. iv. 7.
[4876] Jer. iv. 16.