And they said to him, Are you not also of Galilee? Consider and see that there is no prophet coming from Galilee. And they all went home.

CHAPTER EIGHT

And Jesus went up to the Mount of Olives. And in the morning he came to the temple again, and all the people went to Him. He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman who had been taken in adultery, and having placed her in the midst, they said to Him, "Teacher! this woman was taken in adultery; and Moses commanded us in the law to stone such people. What do you say? And they said these things, tempting Him, that they might find something to accuse Him. But Jesus, bending low, wrote with his finger on the ground, paying no attention to them. And when they continued to question him, he lifted himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to cast a stone at her." And again, bending low, he wrote on the ground. And they, hearing this and being rebuked by their conscience, began to depart one by one, from the elder to the last; and only Jesus remained, and the woman standing in the middle. Jesus, having risen up and seeing no one but the woman, said to her, "Woman! Where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you? She answered: "No one, Lord! Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more. Again Jesus spoke to the people, and said to them, I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. When Nicodemus very wisely denounced the Pharisees for their unlawful disposition, they, vexed, with rudeness and even brutality, said to him: "And are you not from Galilee?" He said that a person should not be accused without trial and investigation. No doubt in answer to this they had to prove that they were accusing Jesus, not without trial, but lawfully, that they had sent ministers to seize him, and that they were doing everything as they ought to do. And what do they say? "And art thou not of Galilee?" Do you see what inconsistency there is in the words? Then, making him look ignorant, they say: "Consider and you will see that the prophet did not come from Galilee," that is, go and learn, since you have not yet learned that the prophet did not come from Galilee. They say so, ridiculing him as ignorant. But, O Pharisees! What did Nicodemus say? He did not say that Jesus was a prophet, but that he should not kill Him without trial. How, then, did he say this, and you answer that to another? - Since they constantly reproached Christ with Galilee, and took Him for one of the prophets, He shows them that He is not one of the prophets. I, he says, am the Light of the world, light in the proper sense, not prophetic, that is, incomplete and weak, but true light, not limited to the borders of Galilee or Palestine, but the Light of the world and the Lord of all men; I am the One of Whom the prophet said: "I have made Thee the light of the Gentiles" (Isaiah 42:6). You can also use this saying against Nestorius. For the Lord did not say, In me is the light of the world, but, I am the light of the world. Whoever was seen as a Man, was the Son of God Himself, and the light of the world, and not, as Nestorius idlely said, as the Son of God dwelt in a simple man. No! The Son of Mary and God, as it is said, was one. "Whosoever follows me," he says, "shall not walk in darkness," that is, he shall not remain in error, but shall be freed from error and darkness. At the same time, he approves of Nicodemus and the ministers as acting directly and therefore in the light, and hints to the Pharisees that they are in error and darkness and are secretly building snares.

Then the Pharisees said to Him, "Thou bearest witness of Thyself; Thy testimony is not true. Jesus answered and said to them, "If I bear witness of myself, my testimony is true, because I know whence I have come, and whither I am going; but you do not know whence I am and whither I am going. When He said, "I am the light of the world," He is accused of bearing witness to Himself. O madness! He constantly testifies about Himself from the Scriptures, and they accuse Him of bearing witness to Himself. For this reason He also answers them according to their wickedness. Let it be that I bear witness to myself; - although in fact it is not so, but I have three witnesses - My Father, My works and the Scriptures, as it was said above (5:33. 36. 37. 39). Let us suppose that I bear witness to myself. But if I bear witness to myself, my testimony is true, because I know that I am the Son of God, and not a mere man, but one who comes from above, and God. How is My testimony false, when I am God, and therefore worthy of faith? God is undoubtedly worthy of faith in the witness of Himself. Moreover, I will go to the true God. How, then, shall I lie, intending to go to the Truth?

You judge according to the flesh; I don't judge anyone. And if I judge, then My judgment is true, because I am not alone, but I am also the Father who sent Me. I, he says, as God and Who came from above, bear witness to the truth about Myself; but you look only at the things that are seen, and as I am in the flesh, you take Me for mere flesh, and not for God and Him who came from God. "You judge according to the flesh," that is, erroneously. As it is said of him who lives according to the flesh that he lives wickedly, so it must be said of him who judges according to the flesh that he is an unrighteous judge. Then, as if someone would say: If we, Jews, judge unjustly, why do you not punish, why do you not condemn? And He says: I have not come to judge. I do not judge anyone now; but if I judge, my judgment is true, and if I wanted to judge, you would be condemned. Now you remain without condemnation, not because I cannot condemn you, but because now is not the time, since I reserve condemnation against you until the Second Coming. So in another place He says: "I have not come to judge the world, but to save it" (John 12:47). And that He is the Judge of all, listen to the true lips: "The Father hath given all judgment unto the Son" (John 5:22). Therefore, when you hear: I judge no one, then understand these words not about the future Coming, but about the first. Having said, "I am not alone, but also My Father is with Me," He declared, "I am not the only one who condemns you, but also the Father." For I do not judge otherwise, and the Father judges otherwise, but as I judge so He and He do, and as He so do I.

And it is written in your law that the testimony of two men is true (Deuteronomy 19:15). I bear witness to myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness to me. Let the Arians and Eunomites, who do not acknowledge the Son to be of one essence with the Father, say here: If He were not of one essence, how would He dare to say: I have the same testimony and certainty as the Father? As two men bear witness to something, and their testimony is true, it is evident that their certainty is the same. So here He proves that His own testimony is in no way inferior to the testimony of the Father. For listen to the authority with which He speaks further: I myself bear witness of myself, and the Father beareth witness of me. Do you see the equality of authority, and how He presents Himself as certain as the Father? He would not have dared to say this, if He had been inferior to the Father in dignity and had not been His equal and consubstantial. For if He had wanted to show that He was inferior to the Father in any way, and less than Him, He would not have numbered Himself with the Father, nor would He have compared His testimony with the testimony of the Father, but, being a slave, as heretics blaspheme, He would have turned to one of His fellow servants, and would have made him a witness, for example, of John or Moses; and in general, if He had desired such testimonies, He would have found many of them. But now He wants to show His consubstantiality with the Father, and therefore He counts Himself among the Father. If in other places He brings John, Moses, and the prophets as witnesses about Himself, then do not be surprised at this. He does this in an adaptive way to the concept of the listeners. They placed John and Moses above Him; wherefore He gives the testimony of those whom they considered glorious and great. They had a lofty concept of God and the Father. For what else did they glorify if not God? Therefore now He also brings Himself as a witness, God Who is above all. And since He compares Himself with such an infallible and unfalse Witness, it is very evident that He has the same importance and authority as the Father. And those who call Him a slave and in all things less than the Father should be put to shame.

Then they said to Him, "Where is Thy Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father; if you had known me, you would have known my Father also. These are the words Jesus spoke at the treasury when He was teaching in the temple; and no man took him, because his hour had not yet come. Since they asked Him about the Father in the form of a temptation, and not with the aim of knowing the truth, He does not deign them to answer, but says: "You know neither Me nor My Father," that is, you cannot know my Father without Me. Though you think that you worship God, but because you do not believe that He is the Father to Me, the true Son, it is of no use to you. You don't know Him as you ought to know. Otherwise, you would know and revere Me as well. And since now you do not know and do not revere Me, you do not know Him either, and do not give Him honor, although you think the opposite. And that you do not know Me is not the fault of someone else, but of yourselves. Do you hear, O wicked one, who subordinates the Son to the Father? If He were not of one essence with the Father, how would He say that if you knew Me, you would know the Father? For if, in your opinion, the Son is a creature, how does he who knows the creature know God also? Whoever knows the essence of the angel does not yet know the Essence of God. But if he who knows the Son also knows the Father, then the Son is truly one and the same Being with the Father. Will you assert that those who know creation also know God? Nohow. For many and even all see and know creation, but no one sees or knows God. - "These are the words that Jesus spoke at the treasury when he taught in the temple." Thus He behaved boldly! And yet, those who breathed murder against Him, having Him in their hands, did not dare to take Him. And at the same time they did not understand that the work of truly divine power was that He, surrounded by enemies, remained unharmed and inviolable among them, whereas before the Passover they sought Him and lay in wait for Him. Whom they sought when He was not there, and against Whom, even in His absence, they raged, when He is in the midst of a snare, they cannot take. And in all this they do not acknowledge His power, because, he says, His hour has not yet come, that is, the appointed time of His death has not yet come, in which He wanted to give Himself up for it. For even then they could not have done anything to Him, if there had not come a certain time, which He Himself had appointed for Himself. The crucifixion was not a matter of impotence, but of permission; for He permitted when He willed. They had long desired to kill Him, but were restrained by the invisible bonds of His power. For He needed to remain alive in the flesh longer, in order to benefit people more by performing greater miracles and teaching greater teaching. - Some think that the Jews said to the Lord, "Where is Thy Father?" in insult and reproach. Since His pretended father Joseph was poor, the Jews say with the words, "Where is Thy Father," as it were: "Thy Father is unknown and of low birth," why then dost Thou constantly remind us of him?

Again Jesus said to them, "I am departing, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin; where I go, you cannot come. Then the Jews said, "Will He kill Himself," which says, "Where am I going, you cannot come?" He said to them, "You are from the lowest, I am from the highest; you are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I have told you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that it is I, you will die in your sins. Why does He say to them so often, "I am departing, and ye shall seek Me"? In order to shake and frighten their souls. For see into what care they immediately fell. They are perplexed and say, "Will He kill Himself?" Although they wanted to get rid of Him, asked Him to depart from them, and even wanted to kill Him, nevertheless, they consider this circumstance to be so important that they were perplexed by it. "I'm going away." He often says this in order to show that He knows His death in advance, and that the Cross is not the work of their power, but of His will. "I," he says, "am departing": it is not you who lead Me, but I am going of my own free will. - "Where I go, there you cannot come." By these words He shows that He will truly rise in glory and sit at the right hand of God, and they will die in their sins. What do they say to this? Rejecting their assumption and showing that suicide is a criminal matter, the Lord says: "You are from below," and cannot conceive of anything divine; therefore it is natural for you to think so; but "I am not of this world," that is, I do not care about anything worldly and earthly, and therefore I can never go to such madness as to kill Myself. For this is the work of demons, and not of God. Here Apollinarius, seizing upon this saying, following the Manichaeans, says: "You see, the body of the Lord was not of this world, but from above, from heaven, just as Paul says that the second man is the Lord from heaven" (1 Corinthians 15:47). What should be said? Or should we ask him how he understands the words of the Lord to the Apostles: "Ye are not of the world" (John 15:19) – is it so that they also had bodies from heaven, and not from this creature? Or did the Lord say this because they did not care about the good things of this world? Thus should we understand these words: "I am not of this world," that is, I am not like you who care about the things of the world. In the same way, Paul says to some: "You are not according to the flesh" (Romans 8:9), not because they are incorporeal, but testifies to their wisdom and freedom from carnal passions. What does the Lord say to them again? "If you do not believe in me, you will die in your sins." If He came to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29), and it is possible to receive the forgiveness of sins only through baptism, and it is impossible to be baptized without first believing, then the unbeliever will inevitably die in his sin, for if he did not receive baptism, he did not put off the old man. For this reason the Lord also says in another place that the unbeliever is already condemned (John 3:18), not only because he did not believe, but also because he dies with his former sins.

Then they said to Him, "Who are You?" Jesus said to them, "From the beginning I am, just as I say to you." I have much to say and judge of you; but He who sent Me is true, and what I have heard from Him, that I also say to the world. They did not understand what He was telling them about the Father. After so much time, after so many miracles had been performed, they still asked Him, "Who art Thou?" The Lord says: I tell you what I told you in the beginning. You, he says, are not worthy to hear My words entirely, nor to know Who I am; for you all speak with the aim of tempting, and do not wish to hearken to any of my teaching. I could have rebuked you for this, and not only rebuked you, but also punished you. For this he alludes to when he says, "I have much to say about you, and to judge." The word "speak" indicates reproof, and the word "judge" indicates condemnation and punishment. But, he says, He who sent Me did not send Me to judge and rebuke. For God did not send His Son to judge the world, but to save the world (John 3:17). And as My Father sent Me to save, and He is true; then I do not judge anyone by this very thing now, but only say what I have heard from My Father, that is, what serves for salvation, and not for reproof. He said this so that they would not think that He did not punish them because of His powerlessness. He shows that He is not powerless, but He does not want to punish them, since He did not come to punish, but to save. When He said this, they were so foolish that they did not understand what He was saying to them about His Father. How often and how much He had already spoken to them about the Father! But truly their foolish heart was darkened (Romans 1:21). - And some understand these words in this way: "He who sent Me is true" - I could judge you even now, but I leave it until the age to come. But you do not believe and do not pay attention to the time of retribution. But if you do not believe, my Father is true, who has appointed a day for your recompense, and has sent me to declare it, and has revealed to the world his righteousness and power.

Therefore Jesus said to them, "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that it is I, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my Father has taught me, so I say." He who sent Me is with Me; The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him. Jesus performed many miracles, and yet He did not draw the Jews to Himself. Now he tells them about the Cross. You, he says, think that when you crucify Me, you will be free from all care, and you will be delivered from Me. But I say that you will know that it is I, that is, Christ, the Son of God, who bears and holds all things (Heb. 1:3), and that I am not an adversary of the Father, nor do I act or speak of myself, for I have no will of my own, which is different from the will of the Father. How would they recognize Him on the cross? From the signs of that time, from His resurrection and their captivity. For all these things could reveal His power. Therefore, when you crucify Me, you will know both these things, and My power, and My oneness of mind with the Father. For the Father would not have delivered up your city to the Romans in vengeance for me, nor would he have performed signs on the cross, if I had not been his Son, and of one mind, and not contrary to God. Then you will know that whatever I teach and whatever I say, it is from Him, undoubtedly divine, and not Mine, but Him who sent Me. Then, lest it should be thought that the epistle and the embassy signify subjection, He saith that My Father is with Me. Though He sent Me as a Man, yet I am inseparable from Him, and He is with Me as God is with God. After this he again descends to humiliated speech and says: "And He did not leave Me alone," because I do what is pleasing to Him. Thus He humbly speaks to the Jews. They said that He was not of God, because He did not keep the Sabbath. And He says, "I do what is pleasing to Him," so that if I break the Sabbath, I do what is pleasing to Him. However, by such humiliating speech He does not in the least harm His glory, but He benefited His listeners, and strengthened His glory through this. For the hearers, hearing that He attributed everything to the Father, were more willing to be attached to Him and believed in Him, so that humility exalted Him more. Do you see the dignity of blessed humility? And what is so, listen further.

When He said this, many believed in Him. Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed in Him, "If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." I said that the listeners were more carried away by humble speeches. The Evangelist also hints at this. When He said this, he remarks, many believed; he said "this," that is, humble speeches and as if unworthy of His glory. Therefore, when you hear Him say something small and imperfect about Himself, do not be dismayed in any way, for He says this for listeners who cannot understand anything higher and are immediately enraged. What would not have happened to them, unable to comprehend the depths of the theological mystery, when the height of His glory remained incomprehensible even to Christians who knew His power and were saved by Him? When you hear that many have believed, understand that they believed simply and as it happened, and not as it should have been, they believed because they liked humility in speech. And that they were not believers in the exact sense is obvious. For He said to the Jews who believed, "If ye continue in My word." This shows that, although they believed, it was superficial, and therefore they would not remain in the faith. By rebuking them of this, He shows that He knows their hearts and is God. And since some of His former pretended disciples departed, therefore He now says to those who believe: "Though they have departed, yet if ye abide in My word and faith, ye shall know the truth," that is, Me, for I am the Truth" (John 14:6). But now you do not know the truth, because the law, of which you consider yourselves to be the guardians, is not the truth, but an image and a shadow. If you know Me, who is true, then "the truth will set you free," that is, I will free you from your sins. For whoever believes in the world who takes away the sin of the world is undoubtedly free from sins. As unbelievers, He said, "You will die in your sins." (John 8:21), so to those who continue in the faith, he promises freedom from sins. For lawful sacrifices and sprinklings, as images, did not free us from sins, but spiritual and true sacrifice through faith and knowledge frees us, who no longer remain slaves, but are made sons of God.

They answered him, "We are the seed of Abraham, and have never been slaves to anyone; how then sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, "Verily, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin." But the slave does not dwell in the house forever; The Son abides eternally. Therefore, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. The proud Jews are again attached to vain nobility and say with fury: "We are the seed of Abraham." If they needed to be indignant, it was something else. He said to them, "You will know the truth." Therefore they ought to say, "Well, do we not now know the truth? Are all the precepts of the law and our knowledge false? But they cared about nothing of the kind: they worry about the affairs of the world, thinking that He reproaches them with slavery and low birth. "We're Abraham's seed." Nowhere do they mention their own merits, but turn to the fathers. For this reason John also says to them, "Do not begin to say that our father is Abraham" (Matt. 3:9). When they said that they were slaves to no one, they were clearly lying. For every time they were taken captive, they were enslaved by the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and many other nations. The Lord does not convict them of lying. His purpose is not to prove that they are slaves of men, but that they are slaves of sin. And this slavery is the most grievous, and only God can deliver from it. For to forgive sins is the work of God alone. Therefore He says, "Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin," and therefore you also, since you are sinners, are also slaves. To this they could say that although we are subject to such slavery, we have sacrifices, there are priests who cleanse us from sins. He says that they also are slaves, because all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). However, your priests, being themselves slaves, do not have the power to forgive the sins of others. The Apostle Paul speaks more clearly about this, namely: that the priest must offer sacrifice also for himself, as for the people, because he himself is burdened with infirmities (Heb. 5:2, 3). "The servant," he says, "does not dwell in the house," that is, he has no power to give anything, since he is not the lord of the house, but the son-lord of the house, and dwells in the house. Authority calls home, just as in another place it calls rulers home, saying that "in My Father's house are many mansions" (John 14:2). Therefore those your priests, being slaves, had no power to forgive sins. But I, the Son who dwells in the house, that is, having authority and independent rulership, the Lord of the house, will give you freedom, because all things are mine, and I am of one power and one power with the Father. When I set you free, then you will be honored with true freedom. Now you arrogate to yourselves a false freedom, and by Me you will be freed essentially and truly.

I know that you are the seed of Abraham: yet you seek to kill me, because my word cannot be contained in you. I say what I saw in my father; but you do what you have seen in your father. You, he says, consider yourselves to be the seed of Abraham. I agree that you preserve a carnal kinship with this saint, but you have no kinship with him in spirit, He is righteous, philanthropic and hospitable, and you (I am silent about other aspects of your life, but I will expose the most obvious thing that you are doing now) breathe murder and hatred for people. For you seek to kill me, and plot against me. How are you his true children, when you are so far from the qualities of your father? If you boast of affinity, then you must imitate his virtue. Lest it be said that we rightly seek to kill You, He gives a reason. You, he says, are mad against Me for no other reason than because My word is beyond your understanding and does not fit into you. Yet for this it would be necessary not to kill, but to respect and revere, and to desire more strongly that I would teach the loftiness of dogmas. Lest it be said to Him again that we hate Thee justly because of Thy word, because Thou speakest to us not from God, but from Thyself, and therefore we cannot accept Thy teaching, He adds: I do not speak of Myself, but I speak what I have seen in My Father; but you do what you have seen in your father. I, he says, declare the divine and the heavenly things, and thereby manifest My Father, and by your works you manifest your father, that is, the devil. When you hear these words, "I say what I have seen," do not think of bodily vision, but understand natural, true, and most certain knowledge. As the eyes that see the matter and the truth see truly, and are not deceived, so do I truly say what I have learned from the Father.

And they answered and said unto him, Our father is Abraham. Jesus said to them, "If you were the children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham." And now seek to kill Me, the Man who told you the truth which I heard from God, that Abraham did not do it. You do the works of your father. And they said to him, We are not born of fornication; we have one Father, God. He makes the devil their father, because in their deeds he sees them like him; and they constantly put Abraham out. The Lord often reminds them of their criminal intent and denies their kinship with the righteous in order to stop their excessive boastfulness and convince them that hope should be placed not in vain pride in carnal kinship, but in the similarity of will. Verily, as the Physician of souls, He calms in them the inflammation arising from the dream of kinship with Abraham and preventing them from coming to Christ, for they considered this affinity sufficient for their salvation. Therefore you who breathe murder and seek to kill Me are not the children of Abraham. Then, lest any one should say that it is justly sought to kill Thee, He says: I am a man, not rebelling against God, not seeking My own glory, but speaking what I have heard from My Father, and telling the truth. What was this truth? That He is equal to the Father and not a slave, like one of the prophets, but the Son, who does not do or say anything of Himself, but everything is from the Father. For for this they sought to kill Him. And again they say: "We are not born of fornication; we have one Father, God." "Look, how arrogant! The Lord denies their kinship with Abraham, and they are so vain that in their madness they call themselves children of God Himself. They boast in the sonship of God, probably because they have heard the words: "My son is the firstborn Israel" (Exodus 4:22). But they should have known that God also said in another place: "He begat sons and exalted them, but they rejected Me" (Isaiah 1:2). The Lord could have rebuked them for the fact that many of them were born of fornication, since Jewish wives had relations with Gentiles contrary to the law, and pagan wives with Jews; yet He does not do so. For He did not care to prove their bodily ignorance, but mainly wanted to prove that they were low in soul.