There was a man sent from God : St John i. 6-9

St John Chapter i : Verses 6-9

Contents

• John Chapter i : Verses 6-9.  Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

John Chapter i : Verses 6-9

 

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  

7 This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the light, that all men might believe through him.  

8 He was not the light, but was to give testimony of the light.  

9 That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world.

6 Ἐγένετο ἄνθρωπος ἀπεσταλμένος παρὰ θεοῦ, ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἰωάννης·

6 Fuit homo missus a Deo, cui nomen erat Joannes.  

7 οὗτος ἦλθεν εἰς μαρτυρίαν, ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός, ἵνα πάντες πιστεύσωσιν δι’ αὐτοῦ.

7 Hic venit in testimonium ut testimonium perhiberet de lumine, ut omnes crederent per illum.  

8 οὐκ ἦν ἐκεῖνος τὸ φῶς, ἀλλ’ ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός.

8 Non erat ille lux, sed ut testimonium perhiberet de lumine.  

9 ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον.

9 Erat lux vera, quæ illuminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum.

Annotations

    6. There was a man sent from God, &c. He was sent, as Luke says, (iii.1 & 2), “in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar: and the word of the Lord was made unto John, the son of Zachary, in the desert.” “Thou, then,” says Chrysostom, “when thou understandest that he was sent from God, do not think that anything merely human is being announced, but that all is Divine. He does not declare anything of his own, but the secrets of Him who sends him. Therefore he, John, is called an angel, that is, a messenger. It is the office of a messenger to know nothing of himself.”

    7. This man came for a witness, Namely, that he might bear witness that Jesus is the true Light of the world, and that we must look for, and ask of Him all the light of faith, and all the knowledge of salvation.

    Observe that in Greek the article is prefixed to light, as it were that light meaning the spiritual and Divine light, that which shineth of itself, and is essentially light, and the source of all enlightenment, which is as it were a Divine Sun, in respect of which John the Baptist was but as the moon, or the day-star. For as the morning star goes before the sun, so did John precede Christ the Sun of righteousness. The meaning is as follows—Inasmuch as the light of the Godhead was hidden in the humanity of Christ, as in a lantern dark and shaded, so that men discerned it not, therefore did God send John, that he might uncover and make this light manifest, and testify that Jesus was the very Son of God, the Teacher and Redeemer of the world. For, as Paul saith (1 Tim. vi. 16), God “. . . inhabiteth light inaccessible, whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and empire everlasting. Amen. ” And again, the Son “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the figure of his substance,” of God the Father (Heb. i. 3, Vulg.)

    And again, the same is “. . . the brightness of eternal light, and the unspotted mirror of God's majesty, and the image of his goodness.” (Wisd. vii. 26).

    that all men might believe through him: that is, believe in the Light, and so be justified and saved. Through him, namely, John, who as it were with his finger pointed out Christ, saying: “Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of the world.”

    8. He was not the light, but was to give testimony of the light.  The Jews and the Scribes thought, because of the preaching and heavenly life of John in the wilderness, that he was himself the Light, i.e., Christ. John the Evangelist by these words destroys such an idea. He was not that Light. That is, he was not the Saviour of the world, but only His witness, who received all his own light of knowledge and prophecy and grace from Christ. Wherefore in v. 35, he is called “. . . a burning and a shining light.” “But,” says Origen. “he did not burn by his own fire, nor shine by his own light.”

    9. That was the true light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. Not John, but Christ Himself. You will ask, Why is Christ called the true Light? or, as the Greek forcibly expresses it, τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν, the Light the true? 

    I answer, first, because the Word is the original, uncreated, and essential Light: but John the Baptist and the rest of the saints are light only by participation and communication from the Word. Wherefore, in comparison with Christ they do not deserve the name of light, forasmuch as they are infinitely surpassed by His brightness. Christ therefore alone is Light, and alone deserves the name of light. In the same way the name of God is Jehovah, or He who is, because He is the true, essential, eternal, and infinite Being, but all other things derive from Him a spark of being. Wherefore, in comparison with God they have but an imperfect and mutilated existence, so as rather to seem to exist, than actually to be. For they are as it were the shadow of that infinite Being, which fills immensity, that is, God, who truly is the only Being, or He who is.

    2. Christ is the true Light of the world, because His faith and doctrine are opposed to the errors and false doctrines of Gentile philosophers, heretics, and atheists. For the true Light is that which is pure, sincere, genuine, which has nothing feigned, nor obscure, nor imperfect.

    3. Because Christ illuminates us far more truly and perfectly than any corporeal light does, therefore spiritual light alone deserves the name of light, and corporeal light is only, as it were, a shadow of it. In a similar way, and with a like meaning, Christ says (xv.1), I am the true Vine: and in vi.54-59, He calls Himself the true Bread. In like manner that which is perfect, and of surpassing excellency, is often called true.

    4. Christ is the true Light because He most fully and most widely diffuses His light in every direction. Therefore everywhere is He the true Light. For, as S. John adds by way of explanation, He “enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. ” For all the saints and the faithful, how great soever, and how many soever they are, which have been, and are, and shall be, from the beginning of the world, have derived all their light of faith and grace from Christ. But John the Baptist was a light only to Judea, a little corner of the world, and that only in the days of Herod. In like manner it has been with the rest of the saints.

    Lastly, John and the rest were only able to teach their hearers exteriorly, and with the outward voice, but they could not directly, nor of themselves, illuminate the soul. But Christ does both. The voice only strikes upon the outward ears, but Christ, by His grace, both strikes upon, and illuminates the soul.

    This is why Christ is continually called by John, the Truth. And Christ says in the 14th chapter: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” For in Christ there is all truth, and that fourfold: there is the truth of being, or existence, the truth of the soul, the truth of word, and the truth of deed.

    Truth lies hid, as the true Deity lay hid, in the humanity of Christ. Yet cannot it lie hid for ever. As Cicero says (pro Cœlio), “O mighty power of truth, which by itself easily defends itself against the wit of men, against craft and cunning, and against every ensnaring device.” Wherefore, the truth may be oppressed, but can never be extinguished, just as the sun may be obscured by the clouds, but by-and-by it disperses the clouds by the force of its rays, and shines out brightly. Such is truth, and such too is Christ.

    enlighteneth every man. That is, as far as Christ is concerned. Wherefore, let those who are not enlightened, ascribe the fault to themselves, because they will not receive the light of faith and grace which Christ offers them. Thus does the sun give light so far as he is concerned to all that are in the house. But if any one shut the window, and prevent the sun from shining through it, this will be his own fault, not the fault of the sun. S. John here alludes to the sun, which gives light to the whole world. So S. Chrysostom, Cyril, Euthymius. This may be gathered from what preceded, the light shineth in darkness, &c. This is said of the supernatural light of grace, though S. Cyril explains it of the natural light of reason. For God has given to every man the light of reason, that by it he may know what is good, what is evil, what to embrace, and what to shun.

    that cometh into this world, i.e., born in this world. This is a Hebraism. The Greek ἐρχόμενον, coming, may be taken to be in grammatical agreement with light, so that the meaning would be, the light coming into this world, that is, Christ born in this world, enlightens, so far as He is concerned, every man. So S. Augustine (lib. I. de pec. mer. c. 25). So Christ says (xii. 46), I am come a light into the world; that whosoever believeth in me, may not remain in darkness.. But almost all the Greek and Latin interpreters take coming to be in the accusative, as agreeing with man.

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The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.

SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.

 

 

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.