St John Chapter viii : Verses 21-25
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| You are of this world, I am not of this world. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
22 The Jews therefore said: Will he kill himself, because he said: Whither I go, you cannot come?
23 And he said to them: You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world.
24 Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sin.
25 They said therefore to him: Who art thou? Jesus said to them: The beginning, who also speak unto you.
21 Εἶπεν οὖν πάλιν ⸀αὐτοῖς· Ἐγὼ ὑπάγω καὶ ζητήσετέ με, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ὑμῶν ἀποθανεῖσθε· ὅπου ἐγὼ ὑπάγω ὑμεῖς οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθεῖν.
21 Dixit ergo iterum eis Jesus : Ego vado, et quaeretis me, et in peccato vestro moriemini. Quo ego vado, vos non potestis venire.
22 ἔλεγον οὖν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι· Μήτι ἀποκτενεῖ ἑαυτὸν ὅτι λέγει· Ὅπου ἐγὼ ὑπάγω ὑμεῖς οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθεῖν;
22 Dicebant ergo Judaei : Numquid interficiet semetipsum, quia dixit : Quo ego vado, vos non potestis venire?
23 καὶ ⸀ἔλεγεν αὐτοῖς· Ὑμεῖς ἐκ τῶν κάτω ἐστέ, ἐγὼ ἐκ τῶν ἄνω εἰμί· ὑμεῖς ἐκ ⸂τούτου τοῦ κόσμου⸃ ἐστέ, ἐγὼ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου.
23 Et dicebat eis : Vos de deorsum estis, ego de supernis sum. Vos de mundo hoc estis, ego non sum de hoc mundo.
24 εἶπον οὖν ὑμῖν ὅτι ἀποθανεῖσθε ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν· ἐὰν γὰρ μὴ πιστεύσητε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι, ἀποθανεῖσθε ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν.
24 Dixi ergo vobis quia moriemini in peccatis vestris : si enim non credideritis quia ego sum, moriemini in peccato vestro.
25 ἔλεγον οὖν αὐτῷ· Σὺ τίς εἶ; ⸀εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Τὴν ἀρχὴν ⸂ὅ τι⸃ καὶ λαλῶ ὑμῖν;
25 Dicebant ergo ei : Tu quis es? Dixit eis Jesus : Principium, qui et loquor vobis.
Annotations
21. Again therefore Jesus said to them (1.) Some think that “therefore” only indicates the beginning of a new discourse. (2.) Origen thinks it indicates that what follows was spoken by Christ at the same time and place. (3.) Maldonatus refers it to verse 19, Neither me do you know, nor my Father: if you did know me, perhaps you would know my Father also. (4.) Rupertus and Toletus refer it more appositely to the words immediately preceding. Because He saw that the Pharisees understood, and were angered at His words, He adds, I go My way, &c.
He had said the same before (see vii. 33), first to the officers, and then to the Pharisees. I go My way, that is out of this life to My Father by My cross and death. “Death was to Christ,” says S. Augustine, “a going forth, for He abode not in the world, but passed through it to heaven and immortal life.”
I go, and you shall seek me, and you shall die in your sin. Whither I go, you cannot come, i.e., ye shall seek another Messiah, and will not find him, says Toletus, for there is none other but Me. More simply: Ye shall seek Me, to crucify Me again (see vii. 34). So Origen and S. Augustine, who says, “Ye shall seek Me, not from desire but from hatred.” For after He had withdrawn from sight, they who hated and they who loved Him alike sought Him, the one to persecute, and the other from desire to hear Him. For He adds, and you shall die in your sin. Your obstinate sins of unbelief and hatred. Ye will therefore seek Me in vain, for I shall ascend to heaven, ye will be thrust down to hell. Euthymius explains “in your sin,” in consequence of your sin, for which ye will be slain by the Romans. But the first explanation is the plainest and most forcible. For Christ frequently alarms the Pharisees with the terrors of the last judgment.
Whither I go, you cannot come. Ye cannot, because ye will not, says Origen, for every sin is a voluntary and free act.
S. Augustine thinks that these words were spoken to the disciples, “Whither I go ye cannot go now,” not depriving them of hope, but predicting its postponement. But the words which follow were evidently addressed to the Pharisees.
22. The Jews therefore said: Will he kill himself, because he said: Whither I go, you cannot come? The officers made a wiser inquiry (vii. 35), Will He go to the dispersion of the Gentiles? But the Pharisees, blinded by their hatred, thought He had no way of escape but by killing Himself. Wherever He may go, we will follow Him up. If He goes to the Gentiles, we will drag Him back. He must therefore mean that He will kill Himself, so as to escape our hands. A presumptuous and foolish thought, suggested, however, by their malice. He might have withdrawn Himself from them in various ways, as He had already done. But He meant that He would go up to heaven, whither the Pharisees could not come. But His words, says S. Augustine, referred not to His going to death, but to where He was going afterwards.
23. And he said to them: You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. Ye cleave to your sins and will go to the lowest depth, while I shall return to heaven, and therefore ye will seek Me and will not find Me. For I am like the soaring eagle, dwelling in the loftiest mountains of eternity, while ye are as worms and insects creeping on the earth. So Rupertus and S. Augustine, who says,
➤“Ye are from beneath; ye savour of the earth; serpent-like, ye eat the earth. But what is meant by eating the earth? Ye feed on things of earth, ye delight in things of earth, are greedy for things of earth, ye lift not up your hearts above.”
S. Chrysostom and others, and S. Augustine and Bede among the Latins, think that the Pharisees misunderstood the words of Christ by reason of their earthly minds.
Morally:—Ye are from beneath, as descended from Adam, and deriving from him your earthly desires, and inflamed by evil passions, thus hankering only after worldly things. But I am from above, because as God I am begotten of the Father, and as man am incarnate of the Holy Spirit. And therefore My feelings, My love, My desires are all heavenly. And to these ye cannot attain, unless ye are born again; and thus from earthly become heavenly and spiritual, as I said to Nicodemus.
Physically:—Christ here teaches us that our birth-place, training, &c., impart to each one their qualities. And just as fishes could not live out of water, nor birds excepting in the air, so the Pharisees, born in Canaan or Judæa, could not but be earthly both in body and mind, as Ezekiel said (xvi. 3), “Thy birth was of the land of Canaan, and thy mother a Hittite.” But Christ, as born and dwelling in heaven, was heavenly.
Metaphysically:—Ye are of your father the devil, because as he killed Adam by the forbidden fruit, so do ye wish to kill Me. But I am from above, as being the Son of the Most High God. Hear S. Augustine (Tract. xxxvii.):
👉“He was from above. But how was He from above? From the air? By no means. For there the birds do fly. From the heaven we see? By no means. For there the sun, the moon, and stars go their rounds. From the angels? Do not imagine it, for they too were made by Him, by Whom all things were made. How then was He from above? From the Father Himself. For there is nothing above Him, who begat the Word equal to Himself, co-eternal with Himself, His only Begotten before time, by Whom He would create the times. Understand, therefore, this word ‘from above,’ as transcending in Thy conception everything that was made, the whole creation, every body, every created spirit, everything that is in any way subject to change.”
You are of this world, I am not of this world: ye are of this earth, or more closely to the point, ye are worldly. Ye aim at worldly favours, wealth, and honours. Ye live as do worldlings. Ye possess the very qualities of the world, says Toletus. Listen to S. Augustine (Tract. xxxviii.):
👉“Let no one say, I am not of the world; whosoever thou be, O man, thou art of the world. But He who made the world hath come to thee, and hath freed thee from the world. But if the world delight thee, thou wishest for ever to be unclean; but if this world no longer delight thee, thou art clean. But if through some infirmity the world still delights thee, let Him who cleanseth dwell in thee, and thou shalt be clean; but if thou art clean thou wilt not abide in the world, nor hear that which the Jews heard said, ‘Ye shall die in your sins.’ ”
24. Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sin. The sin of unbelief, and all your other sins, for there is no forgiveness of sin, save through faith in Christ, whom ye reject.
For if ye believe not that I am the Saviour of the world, as I constantly affirm and prove also by so many miracles. So Lyra. But S. Augustine, Bede, and Toletus more ingeniously: “Because I am that I am; i.e., God. But Rupertus thus subtilly: “Because I am from above.” Ye shall die in your sins, because there is no one but Myself, whom ye despise, who can pardon and take away sin.
25. They said therefore to him: Who art thou? Because they did not understand, or pretended they did not, they appositely ask, Who art Thou?
Jesus said to them: The beginning, who also speak unto you. S. Augustine, Bede, Rupertus, and S. Ambrose (De Fide, iii. 4), consider the word, the Beginning, to be in the nominative case, explaining it, I am the Beginning, the First and the Last, or the Beginning of all things, for all things were made by the Word of God. In the Greek the word is not ἀρχὴ, but ἀρχὴν, in the beginning.
S. Augustine and S. Ambrose explain it (2.) by supplying the word “credite,” which is not in the text. We must therefore consider it to be a Greek form of expression, ἀρχὴν for κἀτʼ ἀρχὴν, in the beginning. I am from the beginning, i.e., from eternity (before Abraham, as He said Himself, verse 58), Very God of Very God. And therefore I am the beginning of time, and age, and of all things. And yet I am speaking to you; that is, it is I who announce this to you, for I assumed flesh, and was made man in order to announce it, and save those who believe in it. I am from the beginning, which very thing I solemnly declare to you. Or rather, since I am the Word, which the Father spake from all eternity, I having been made man to announce to you the same truth. For the Son is the Word by whom the Father speaks, and the Son is also the Word which speaks to us. The word “beginning,” therefore, is more appropriate to the Son than to the Holy Spirit, for the Son is together with the Father the source (principium) of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit is not the source of any other Divine Person, but only of creatures; and further, because He is the beginning (principium) proceeding from the beginning, that is to say, from the Father. And accordingly this word signifies His origin, as being begotten of the Father. This is clear from what is said below, verse 27. The Vulgate does not translate it literally from the beginning, but the beginning, signifying thereby the Eternal Word, which was from the beginning, and begotten of the Father, to be with the Father, the beginning both of the Holy Spirit and of all creatures.
From the beginning signifies two things; first from all eternity, and next as begotten of God the Father. It is the same thing to say I am from the beginning, or I am the beginning. (See John i. 1; Rev. i. 8, iii.14; and also Col. i. 18.) And this is what SS. Augustine, Ambrose, and others above mentioned consider it to mean. So says the Gloss, “The Father is the Beginning, but not from the beginning: the Son is the Beginning, from the Beginning, that is, from the Father, who worketh all things by the Son, for He is the Right Hand, Strength, Wisdom, and Word of the Father.” But the Greek ἀξχὴ means also the Chief Rule (principatus), meaning that to Christ belongs the dominion and rule over all things. (See Ps. cx. 3, Vulg., and Prov. viii. 22, sec. lxx. See also S. Augustine, contra Max. cap. xviii., and S. Thomas, part 1, Quest, xxxvi., art. 4, who show that the Father and Son are not two, but the one principle of the Holy Spirit.)
Morally: learn that Christ, as God and man, must be regarded as the beginning and the end of all our doings; after the example of S. Paul and the other Apostles both in the beginning and end of their Epistles. S. Gregory Nazianzen begins his acrostics in this way, and Paulinus, “In Thee my only hopes of life depend, Thou my beginning, Thou my goal and end.” As all numbers start from unity, and all lines run from the centre to the circumference, so should all the actions of a Christian begin and end in Christ (see Col. iii.17).
Nonnus and others explain, I am the same as I said to you at first; that is, that I am the Messiah, the Light and the Salvation of the world, but ye believe Me not. But this is a strange interpretation.
Some others refer to what comes afterwards, Because ye do not believe Me, I have more to say to you, and to judge of you. But this is a mere evading of the question. As if Christ said, Ye are unworthy of an answer, but yet deserve My condemnation.
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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.
The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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