Prooemium
COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN
PROOEMIUM
COMMENTARY ON JOHN
1. Behold, my servant shall understand, and he shall be exalted and lifted up and shall be exceedingly high. Because the commendation of the author redounds to the work, and the commendation of the work to the author, therefore the proposed text, which is written in Isaiah fifty-two, has been taken up, in which blessed John the Evangelist is commended on three grounds, namely for the holiness of life, when it is said: Behold, my servant: for the clarity of understanding, when it is added: he shall understand: for the excellence of doctrine, when it is further added: and he shall be exalted and lifted up and shall be exceedingly high. For this is the order; for holiness of life merits the gift of understanding, and the gift of understanding disposes to the excellence of doctrine.
2. He is commended, therefore, for the holiness of life in this, that the Lord calls him his servant; for they do not merit to be called servants of God except those who serve him in holiness all their days. The Lord calls him his servant: by reason of obedience, because he faithfully obeyed him; whence that passage in Numbers twelve can rightly be understood of him: My servant Moses is most faithful in all my house. Rightly was blessed John most faithful in all the house of Christ: in testimony of which the Lord entrusted to him for safekeeping that most noble treasure, namely the virginity of the Mother.
By reason of office, which was imposed upon him by God, and to which he was preordained from eternity, according to that passage in Isaiah forty-nine: The Lord called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother he remembered my name: behold, predestination. And he made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he protected me, and he made me like a chosen arrow, in his quiver he hid me: behold, the commission of the office of preaching. And he said to me: You are my servant, Israel, for in you I shall be glorified: behold, the acceptance of servitude, because he did not undertake that office for his own glory, but for the divine.
By reason of benefit, which the Lord conferred upon him, because he was chosen and appointed and beloved by God and enriched with a special gift of grace, according to that passage in Isaiah forty-two: Behold my servant, I will uphold him; my elect one, my soul has been well pleased in him, I have given my spirit upon him. Rightly was the soul of the Lord well pleased in blessed John; for this is that disciple whom Jesus loved, John, last chapter. Thus therefore blessed John was a servant of Christ on account of obedience, office, and benefit.
3. On account of this holiness of life, he merited the gift of understanding, with which he was enriched in manifold ways. For he understood by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, by angelic revelation, and by the instruction of Christ. By the anointing of the Holy Spirit he understood useful things; by angelic revelation he understood hidden things; by the instruction of Christ, sublime things; and in these three, every appetite and desire of our understanding is consummated and perfected.
He understood, therefore, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit useful things, because that Spirit of truth is the spirit of salvation; concerning which understanding, Isaiah twenty-eight says: Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand the message? Those weaned from milk, those drawn away from the breasts. Those weaned and removed from the sweetness of present consolation merit to understand useful things, but others do not. Whence First Corinthians two: The natural man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God, for it is foolishness to him, and he cannot understand the things that are spiritually examined. Blessed John indeed was weaned, because he abandoned his father and mother and even his bride, whom he had married, for the love of God.
He understood by angelic revelation hidden things, such as what things were to come; whence it rightly applies to him what is said in Daniel one concerning Daniel himself: The Lord gave Daniel understanding of all visions and dreams; and this indeed by the ministry of angelic revelation; whence in Daniel eight, one angel said to another: Gabriel, make this man understand the vision. But the angel did not do this authoritatively; in testimony of which, when John wished to adore the angel who was showing him those things, the angel forbade him, saying: See that you do not do it, for I am your fellow servant and of your brethren, Apocalypse nineteen; in which it is made manifest that he was not revealing as a lord, but as a fellow servant.
He also understood by the instruction of Christ sublime things. For although Christ taught all his disciples, nevertheless blessed John, whom he loved above the rest, he instructed above the rest and made to understand. Whence it can rightly be understood of him what the Lord said to Solomon in Third Kings three: I have given you a wise and understanding heart, to such a degree that none like you has been before you, nor shall any arise after you. For none before him nor after him followed who ascended to so great a knowledge of the Divinity.
4. Thus, therefore, blessed John understood useful things and hidden things and sublime things; and by reason of this threefold understanding he was raised to a threefold dignity of teaching. Therefore it is said he shall be exalted, namely to the apostolic chair; he shall be elevated to prophetic proclamation; and he shall be exceedingly sublime through evangelical doctrine. On account of which he composed three writings, namely the canonical Epistles, as an authoritative preacher; the Apocalypse, as an outstanding prophet; and the Gospel, as a most learned scribe.
First, therefore, he will be exalted to the apostolic chair. On account of which there rightly applies to him what is said in the Psalm: Let them exalt him in the church of the people, and in the chair of the elders let them praise him. The chair of the elders is the chair of the Apostles, in which blessed John did not sit as one idle, but rather instructed those present by words and those absent by epistles; Ecclesiasticus fifteen: She will be established in him, and he will not be bent; and she will hold him, and he will not be confounded; and she will exalt him among his neighbors.
He will be raised up to prophetic proclamation, according to that passage of Ezekiel eight: The Spirit lifted me up between heaven and earth and brought me to Jerusalem in a vision of God. By this elevation blessed John was raised up; whence Revelation twenty-one: He carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem descending from heaven. And this indeed he saw for the purpose of proclaiming; whence it was said to him in Revelation one: Write what you have seen and what is and what must come to pass after these things; because he flourished in a threefold kind of prophecy.
And he will be exceedingly sublime through evangelical doctrine, in which he surpasses all others. Therefore there can rightly be applied to him what is said in Genesis seven: The waters multiplied and lifted the ark on high above the earth. This ark is blessed John, in whom the seed of the divine word was preserved. Those waters that multiplied are the waters of saving wisdom, which were multiplied in blessed John, because, as Augustine says, "he drank the streams of the Gospel from the very fountain of the Lord's breast." These waters of wisdom raised him on high, above all mountains, because in the Gospel he spoke more loftily than all others. Whence Augustine says: "If he had thundered more loftily, the whole world could not have comprehended it." But because the sublimity of the teacher is manifested in the sublimity of his teaching, he rightly appears exceedingly sublime, if the sublimity of his Gospel is unfolded.
5. It must be understood, therefore, that a certain teaching is called sublime either because it treats of sublime things, or because it proceeds in a sublime manner, or because it leads to sublime things.
The Gospel of blessed John is sublime, because it treats of sublime things, because it treats of the incarnate Word according to both natures, which are exceedingly sublime, especially the divine. This is well expressed parabolically in Ezekiel seventeen: Thus says the Lord God: I will take from the pith of the lofty cedar, and I will plant it upon a high and eminent mountain, upon the lofty mountain of Israel. The pith of the lofty cedar is the hidden Divinity of the Word. This God the Father planted upon the lofty mountain of Israel, because he united it to human nature in Christ, who is the stone cut from the mountain without hands. From this pith of the lofty cedar is the Gospel of blessed John: whence in the same chapter it is said: A great eagle with great wings, with long extension of limbs, full of feathers and variety, came to Lebanon and took the pith of the cedar. He plucked off the top of its branches and carried it into the land of Canaan. A great eagle, through the breadth of charity; with great wings, through the height of contemplation; with long extension of limbs, through the length of expectation; full of feathers and variety, through the multitude of virtues: came to Lebanon, that is, to Christ, the mountain of mountains; took the pith of the cedar, that is, the hidden Divinity of the Word; and plucked off the top of the branches, because he described the excellence of the divine works, such as the most noble miracles and the most lofty teachings, which the other Evangelists left untouched. If therefore Lebanon is a high mountain in the world, and the cedar a tall tree on Lebanon, and the top of the branches the highest point on the cedar; it certainly follows that he who plucked off the top of the branches of the cedar treated of sublime things.
6. Not only does it treat of sublime things, but it also proceeds sublimely. The sublime mode of proceeding is the mode of certitude. Those sciences are called more sublime which are more certain. This sublime mode of proceeding is described in Ezekiel one in the figure of the living creatures, by which the Evangelists are understood: I heard, he says, the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the sublime God. The sound of the sublime God is certitudinal, not variable, because God is not as a man, that he should lie. Therefore the Lord said of himself in John three: We speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen. In this certitudinal mode blessed John spoke: whence in John nineteen: He who saw it has borne witness, and his testimony is true: and he knows that he speaks the truth. Whence he himself says in his first canonical epistle, in the first chapter at the beginning: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life, we testify and announce to you.
7. Not only does it proceed sublimely, but it also leads to sublime things. Sublime things are eternal goods; for temporal goods are the lowest and momentary; whence Second Corinthians four: That which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation works in us above measure an eternal weight of glory in sublimity. To this sublime weight of glory the doctrine of the Gospel according to John leads. Whence John twenty: These things are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name: that is, that eternal and sublime life, which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it ascended into the heart of man.
Thus therefore the doctrine of this Gospel is sublime, and for this reason not undeservedly is its author said to be sublime, and not only sublime, but also exceedingly sublime, in the superlative degree. For if divine Scripture surpasses all other writings, and the Gospel surpasses all parts of divine Scripture, and the Gospel of John surpasses all the Gospels: it follows that this book singularly surpasses all other books.
8. From what has been said, those things which are customarily inquired into at the beginning of any book are clear, namely the efficient cause, John the Evangelist, holy, understanding, exalted and elevated and made more sublime than the rest: the material cause, the incarnate Word, especially as regards those things which pertain to the Divinity: the formal cause or mode of proceeding, although it is by way of narration, is nevertheless one of certitude: the formal cause, which is the division of the book, will be made clear below, because it proceeds in a highly ordered manner: the proximate final cause is faith, while the ultimate is eternal life, which is the most desired end.
Questions.
9. But with regard to these three things in which this doctrine has been commended, namely in utility, certitude, and sublimity, three things are inquired into.
Question I. It is therefore asked: what was the necessity of writing this Gospel? And it seems that there was none:
1. Because Gregory, commenting on Ezekiel, says on the text: Four faces to one: "If you ask what John thinks, it is what Luke, Mark, and Matthew think." Therefore according to this, John did nothing except repeat what the other Evangelists had said: therefore if he had not written, nothing would be lacking.
2. Likewise, either Matthew wrote the Gospel sufficiently, or not; if not: therefore since he did not write of himself but from the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit was insufficient. But if Matthew sufficiently handed down the evangelical doctrine: therefore all the other Gospels are superfluous, both John's and the others.
3. Likewise, if it was necessary for the Church, why did he delay so long, defer, and withhold the word in the time of salvation? Therefore it seems that he acted negligently and sinned in that he deferred so long.
I respond: It must be said that the Evangelists are witnesses of the Lord, and this not on account of any deficiency of divine clarity, but of human weakness. Because, therefore, our weakness believes more firmly and more certainly in many than in one, divine wisdom disposed that there should be multiple Evangelists.
But if they said entirely different things, they would not strengthen faith; for it is necessary, in order that testimony be solid, that witnesses agree. But if they said entirely the same things, then certainly it would all be one and superfluous. Therefore, so that the testimony might be certain and contain nothing superfluous, the Holy Spirit disposed that they would narrate some things individually, some things in common, but nothing discordantly.
1. As to the objection that what one perceived, all perceived: this must be understood not as though they said entirely the same things, but that where they concurred in narrating the same event, they do not disagree, as Augustine says in On the Harmony of the Evangelists.
Or emphasis must be placed on the word perceive: because they perceive the same thing as those illuminated by one spirit and faith, but nevertheless they do not write entirely the same things.
2. As to the question whether Matthew spoke sufficiently, it must be said to this that to treat something sufficiently is twofold: either as much as the dignity of the matter demands, and thus to treat of Christ sufficiently is impossible, not only for one man, but even for the whole world, if it were converted into tongues, because all tongues fall short of narrating him. Whence at the end of John: But if there were written one by one the things that Jesus did, I do not think that even the world itself could contain the books that would have to be written. In another way, to treat sufficiently is as much as suffices for arriving at the end, and thus in any of the Evangelists the substance of faith is contained as far as suffices. But nevertheless the others are not superfluous, because they contribute to the clarity, explication, greater certainty, and defense of the faith.
3. As to the objection: why did he delay so long? It must be said that the reason was on the part of the writer: because he was a virgin and a young man, and therefore, being modest, he did not wish to put himself forward until he was asked by the bishops of Asia and stirred up by heretics. Whence it is said in the Prologue that he wrote the Gospel last, and this was fitting for a virgin.
Another reason was on the part of Scripture, because the others were occupied with the humanity and with the active life, but blessed John with the Divinity and the contemplative life, as Augustine says in the Gloss. Because therefore through visible things one arrives at invisible things, and through the active life at the contemplative, the others ought to have written first, but John last.
The third reason was on the part of the divine dispensation; for since John had preserved the Gospel better than the rest, if he had written first, he would either have written everything and taken away from the others the opportunity to write; or if not everything, the others would not have been able to supplement him. Therefore he allowed, by the prompting of the Holy Spirit, the others to write first, so that what the others had omitted, he himself might afterwards narrate.
The Greeks, however, give another reason, namely that he might correct the others; but they speak falsely, because if the Evangelists spoke by the same Spirit, it was impossible for them to say what is false; therefore something had to be added, but nothing corrected.
10. Question II. Secondly, inquiry is made concerning the certitude of this book, and it seems that it proceeds poorly.
1. For if the narrative mode is weak and infirm, because anyone can contradict it, nor does it have the means by which it may be refuted; and John proceeds in the narrative mode: therefore very weakly and infirmly.
2. Likewise, that it ought to proceed with certitude seems evident: because "nothing is more certain to a man than his own faith": therefore no knowledge or doctrine ought to be handed down more certainly than that which generates faith. But John's doctrine is for generating faith, as is said in John twenty: therefore it ought to be most certain and to proceed with certitude.
I respond: It must be said that certitude is fourfold, namely, of demonstration, of authority, of internal illumination, and of external persuasion. The first certitude is that which cannot be resisted: in it a man is compelled to assent, whether he wills it or not; and therefore such certitude, where it dominates, evacuates faith. Another is the certitude of authority, and this generates faith: whence Augustine says: "What we believe, we owe to authority." The third is the certitude of interior illumination, and this perfects and consummates faith. The fourth is of persuasion, when a faithful man assigns reasons of fittingness and efficacy, so that he may understand what he believes: and this certitude follows upon faith. For reasons of this kind are excellent and efficacious for the faithful, but utterly useless and infirm for the unfaithful.
1.2. As to what is asked concerning certitude, it must be said that "because the end imposes necessity on those things which are ordered to the end"; since this doctrine is for generating faith, it ought not to have had demonstrative certitude: it could not have had internal certitude, because that belongs to grace; it ought not to have had persuasive certitude: therefore it was fitting that it should have the certitude of authority. And this is the reason why all the books of Sacred Scripture are handed down by way of narration, not of argumentation, because they are for generating faith, which comes through free assent. But the books of the Doctors are handed down through arguments, because they are for generating understanding and for fostering and nourishing faith. But those arguments have no strength unless founded upon faith.
It must therefore be said that the certitude of authority in other sciences devised by men, who often speak falsely, has little strength; but in Sacred Scripture, which was given by the Holy Spirit, it has great firmness, because He cannot lie. Whence Augustine on Genesis says: "Greater is the authority of this Scripture than all the keenness of human intellect."
11. Question III. Inquiry is made concerning the sublimity of investigation and discourse. And it seems that blessed John acts wrongly, who investigates such sublime matters:
1. Because Ecclesiasticus three : Seek not the things that are too high for you, and search not into things above your ability: and again Proverbs twenty-five: He who is a searcher of majesty shall be overwhelmed by glory. What is greater than the eternal generation of the Word? If you say that he does not search into it, but narrates it: to the contrary: Isaiah fifty-three : Who shall declare his generation? And Jerome interprets this of the eternal generation.
2. Likewise, the Apostle in First Corinthians two commends himself for this, that he did not come to the Corinthians in loftiness of speech, but in humility. Therefore it seems that blessed John is blameworthy for having thundered so loftily that he could not have gone higher.
I respond: It should be understood that the searching of majesty and of lofty things can be threefold, namely in a diabolical spirit, a human spirit, and a divine spirit. The first is of malice, and was in the heretics; the second is of curiosity, and was in the philosophers; the third is of piety, and was in the Apostles and Prophets. The first is entirely to be condemned, the second is to be guarded against, but the third is to be embraced; because both the first and the second frequently lead into error, but the third does not, because the Spirit searches the deep things of God, 1 Corinthians 2. And because John was inspired by the divine Spirit, therefore he cannot be blamed in his searching and description of heavenly things: and therefore the Holy Spirit declared the eternal generation, not man.
2. As to what is asked concerning the loftiness of speech, it should be said that loftiness of speech is sometimes censured on account of wicked intention, as when a man speaks lofty things in order to appear glorious: and thus it is forbidden in First Kings two : Do not multiply speaking lofty things, boasting.
Sometimes it is censured on account of the subject matter, as when the subject matter is light and slight, it should not be weighed down and obscured with lofty words; concerning which, Colossians two : But I say this, that no one may deceive you in loftiness of words: and after: See to it that no one deceive you through philosophy and vain deceit.
Sometimes it is censured because the hearers are not capable: for this reason the Apostle said in First Corinthians two : I did not come to you in loftiness of speech: and the reason was that they were not able to understand. On the contrary, Jerome says of certain ones: "Others, with raised brow weighing grand words, philosophize about the sacred Scriptures among silly women." But blessed John both had lofty subject matter and good intention and advanced hearers, because the Church had already grown; wherefore he rightly and fittingly spoke in a lofty manner. Nevertheless this is wondrous, as Augustine says, that in his discourse the little one finds milk to suckle, and the mature one also finds solid food to nourish him. And that saying of Gregory is verified, that there the elephant swims, and the lamb walks on foot. And therefore the little ones who cannot swim with the elephants ought to walk on foot with the lambs.
Prologue of St. Jerome to the Gospel according to John.
This is John the Evangelist, one of the disciples of the Lord, who was chosen by God as a virgin, whom God called away from his wedding when he was about to marry. To his virginity a twofold testimony is given in the Gospel: that he is said to have been loved by the Lord above the rest, and that the Lord, hanging on the cross, commended His Mother to him, so that a virgin might care for the Virgin.
Indeed, making manifest in the Gospel what He Himself was, commencing the work of the incorruptible Word, he alone testifies that the Word was made flesh and that the light was not comprehended by the darkness: setting down the first sign that the Lord performed at a wedding, showing that He Himself was, so that he might demonstrate to readers that where the Lord has been invited, the wine of the wedding must fail, and, the old things having been changed, all new things that are instituted by Christ might appear.
Moreover, he wrote this Gospel in Asia, after he had written the Apocalypse on the island of Patmos: so that to the one for whom in the beginning of the canon an incorruptible beginning is set forth in Genesis, an incorruptible end might also be rendered through the virgin in the Apocalypse, with Christ saying: I am the Alpha and the Omega.
And this is John who, knowing that the day of his departure had come, having convoked his disciples at Ephesus, demonstrating Christ through many proofs of signs, descending into the excavated place of his burial, having made his prayer, was laid to rest with his fathers, found as much a stranger to the pain of death as he is found free from the corruption of the flesh. Nevertheless, after all the others he wrote his Gospel, and this was owed to the virgin. However, the chronological arrangement of these writings, or the ordering of the books, is not set forth by us one by one, so that, with the desire of knowing having been bestowed, both the fruit of labor might be preserved for those who seek and the teaching of the Master's instruction for God. Here ends the Prologue.
Exposition of this Prologue.
12. To this book Jerome prefixes a Prologue, in which the work is made known in multiple ways. For first the dignity of the writer is touched upon. Second, the manner of writing, at the words: Indeed, making manifest in the Gospel. Third, the time and place of writing, at the words: Moreover, he wrote this Gospel in Asia. Fourth, the death of the author, at the words: And this is John, who knowing. Lastly, the order of this Gospel relative to the other Gospels, at the words: Nevertheless, after all the others he wrote his Gospel.
The dignity of the author, therefore, he expresses in this, that "as a virgin he was called by the Lord from his wedding," and that great and noble testimonies are borne to his virginity, namely Christ's intimate love and the commending of His Mother.
The manner of writing, moreover, he describes as consonant with the writer in this, that because the writer was incorrupt in the flesh and called from a wedding, therefore he first "begins with the generation of the incorruptible Word," and then among the signs he begins from the changing of water into wine performed at a wedding: from these things "showing that He Himself was," which is a name, and means nothing other than showing what sort He was, as we commonly say: you show what you are.
The place of writing he says "was in Asia"; the time indeed was, because it was last, after the Apocalypse: and thus the Gospel of John was the last written among the books of Sacred Scripture: and it was fitting that, just as in the first book written, which is the beginning of the canon, an incorruptible beginning is prefixed, so also in the last book written: In the beginning was the Word, just as there: In the beginning He created, and this, "with the Lord saying in the Apocalypse: I am the Alpha and the Omega ." Whence in the first chapter of the Apocalypse is the determination of that which is saying.
Or it can be read otherwise, so that "the incorruptible end is rendered through the virgin in the Apocalypse," which is the last book of the canon, although not the last written. But the first reading is more consonant with the words.
The death of the author he describes as wondrous, because he foreknew it; and although he had flourished with many miracles, he passed from this life without pain. But nevertheless this admits of some doubt.
The order in relation to the other Gospels he touches upon, because he wrote last. And this was owed to him either as to a modest virgin, or as to an uncorrupted virgin, or as to a perfect virgin; therefore he ought to have brought it to completion, yet he declines to touch fully upon the order, so that he may leave to others the fruit of labor.