I have called you friends. St John Chapter xv. 13-15

St John Chapter xv : Verses 13-15

Contents

• St John Chapter xv : Verses 13-15. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

St John Chapter xv : Verses 13-15

I have called you friends. Victor. c 1674. 
Hellenic Institute of Venice.

13 Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.  

14 You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you.  

15 I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends: because all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you.

13 μείζονα ταύτης ἀγάπην οὐδεὶς ἔχει, ἵνα τις τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ θῇ ὑπὲρ τῶν φίλων αὐτοῦ.

13 Majorem hac dilectionem nemo habet, ut animam suam ponat qui pro amicis suis.  

14 ὑμεῖς φίλοι μού ἐστε ἐὰν ποιῆτε ⸀ἃ ἐγὼ ἐντέλλομαι ὑμῖν.

14 Vos amici mei estis, si feceritis quae ego praecipio vobis.  

15 οὐκέτι ⸂λέγω ὑμᾶς⸃ δούλους, ὅτι ὁ δοῦλος οὐκ οἶδεν τί ποιεῖ αὐτοῦ ὁ κύριος· ὑμᾶς δὲ εἴρηκα φίλους, ὅτι πάντα ἃ ἤκουσα παρὰ τοῦ πατρός μου ἐγνώρισα ὑμῖν.

15 Jam non dicam vos servos : quia servus nescit quid faciat dominus ejus. Vos autem dixi amicos : quia omnia quaecumque audivi a Patre meo, nota feci vobis.

Annotations

    13. Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Christ here sets forth the manner and terminus or extremity of His love wherewith He loves us, and of that wherewith He wills that we should love one another. As though He said, I have supremely loved you, therefore I require the same of you, and have a right to ask it, that ye should supremely love one another. For the highest and supreme love is that in which a man not only gives his substance, but his life, that is, freely offers and lays it down for his friends. This I do for you, i.e. I will presently lay down My life for you. Do you therefore in like manner give your lives for your friends and neighbours in such a manner that ye do not refuse, but welcome, all labours, perils, persecutions, and every kind of torment and death for their salvation.

    You may say, it is greater charity if any one lay down his life for his enemies than that he lay it down for his friends. Some reply to this by saying that the meaning is, There cannot be among men a greater love than to die for a friend, but Mine is a greater love for you, because I die for My enemies. To say for enemies was unnecessary, for it is never done among men. Whereas the friendship of Pylades and Orestes in being willing to die for one another is the theme of every one’s praise, as something exceeding rare. And this is S. Paul’s argument (Rom. v. 7): “For scarce for a just man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man some one would dare to die.” &c.

    1st. And better Ribera and Toletus explain: The comparison here is not between friends and enemies, but between the acts of friendship, thus: Among all the acts and offices of friendship, none is greater than this, that any one should lay down his life for his friend. This I am about to do for you, who are My friends if ye keep My commandments.

    2d. And most fully: friends are here called not those who love, but those who are loved, such as may even be enemies. It means, greater love there cannot be than his who dies for his friends, i.e. for those whom he loves and accounts his friends, even though they in fact be not his friends but his enemies. Thus Christ laid down His life upon the Cross for all men, who at the first were sinners and therefore his enemies. But many of them, through that death of His, and the grace which floweth from it, have been justified, and so become His friends and disciples. The Apostles and Apostolic men following Christ have done the same. And all Christians whatsoever ought to do the like, namely, when the salvation of a neighbour’s soul is in peril, to expose their lives to rescue it, even though the neighbour be an enemy.

    You may urge, Why then does Christ call them friends rather than enemies? I reply, 1st, Because He was speaking to the Apostles, who by His vocation and grace were His friends, although they had before been sinners and enemies. 2d, Rupert answers, “that by the sweetness of His manner of speaking He might instil into His hearers the sweetness of the love which He commanded them.” 3d, To teach us that so far as Christ and we are concerned all men must be loved as friends, even though they on their part are hostile to us. For the love of Christ extends itself to all, enemies as well as friends. Wherefore He accounts His enemies friends and beloved, and by this means gains them to be friends instead of enemies to God and Himself. For love is the magnet of love. Nor can there be anything more mighty than love, for love forces enemies to win back love to him who loves them.

    Lastly, there are some who understand this saying of Christ not only concerning spiritual and eternal salvation, but also concerning what is corporeal and temporal. They say that it is an act of heroic charity if any one gives his temporal life for the temporal life of his neighbour. For this is permitted, indeed sometimes persuaded, in the order of charity. Wherefore S. Gregory (Dial. l. 3. c. 37) praises a certain presbyter named Sanctulus who offered to die instead of a certain deacon who had been condemned to death by the Lombards. But God held the hand of the executioner, so that he could not bring down his uplifted sword upon his neck. The Lombards were struck with amazement, and began to reverence him as a Saint. And at his request they set all their captives free. Such was the power of charity that a man by the offer of his own life redeemed the lives of many.

    14. You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you. This sentence refers to what precedes, Thus, I lay down My life for you as My friends. Do you in return render love for love, loving Me as My friends who have loved you. And this ye will do if ye keep My commandments, amongst which the chief, and embracing all the rest, is, that ye love one another.hh

    15. I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. i.e. what he intends and proposes to do.

    But I have called you friends:  S. Augustine (Tract. 85) inquires in what way this is true: for the Apostles really continued to be servants of Christ, and in the day of judgment He will say to them, as well as others, Well done, good and faithful servants. He answers, that there is a twofold kind of servitude, the one that which slaves render to their lords through fear, the other free and filial, which children render to their parents. The Apostles were not the servants of Christ according to the former fashion, but the latter. For in this way servants become friends. To this may be added what Rupert says, I will not call you servants, i.e. sinners and enemies, because, by Baptism and My grace, I have made you righteous and My friends.

    The true and genuine meaning then is this: Although by your nature and condition ye are My servants, yet I bestow upon you such honour that I will make you and call you My intimate and most trusted friends, insomuch that all things which I have heard of My Father that I as His ambassador should communicate to men, I will communicate; not to the multitudes nor to the Scribes, but to you alone.

    He saith now, because already when He was going away He revealed to them many things about which He had previously been silent. Other things also, which He had before spoken obscurely in parables, He now clearly and plainly explained to them. Now therefore when He was going away, He manifested, by thus explaining things to them, greater trust in them and confidence towards them. Wherefore He raises them to a higher dignity, condition and title, even that of friends. This then is the reason which Christ Himself here gives. He does not therefore deny that they still continued to be servants, but He asserts that, servants though they were, He raised them up to be His intimate friends, and endowed them with this name and prerogative. So Maldonatus, Ribera, &c., but before all others S. Irenæus, lib. 4. c. 27.

    for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. i.e. ordinarily and usually, for some masters have faithful and prudent servants to whom they entrust their counsels and their secrets. But Christ speaks of what is the ordinary course of things among men.

    because all things whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you. You may say, This seems to compete with what Christ had said a little before in the 12th chapter, I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Leontius answers that Christ now revealed to the Apostles all things which the Father wished Him at that time to reveal to them, that is to say, all things which they were able to receive. 2d, And better, S. Augustine and Bede answer, that I have made known means I will presently make known, i.e. after fifty days, at Pentecost.

    Somewhat differently Maldonatus, I have made known, i.e. I have determined to make known, namely, by the Holy Ghost, whom I am about to send.

    Moraliter: learn from the saying of Christ that holy souls which are full of love to God, which, treading all earthly things under foot, dwell in heaven, and hold familiar converse with God in prayer, such talk frequently with God as His friends, such are illuminated by God, so that they hear and learn of Him His deepest mysteries and secret counsels. These men understand the Holy Scriptures. They learn of Him what He purposes to do in the time to come, as though they were admitted into the inner presence-chamber of God, and were there made members of His Privy Council. Such were Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and the rest of the Prophets. S. Bernard eloquently unfolds this teaching (Tract, de Interior. Dom. c. 69). 

“Wouldst thou know, O soul, whosoever thou art, that the sublimity of the Divine revelations is a manifest proof of the Divine love? Now I will not call you servants, He saith, but friends, because all things which I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you. Labour therefore to love Thy God closely and supremely. Pant every hour with thine utmost longing for the joy of Divine contemplation. Gather thyself into thyself, rest only in the desire for God.” 

    S. Basil, S. Maximus, and others, have the same teaching. S. Francis, S. Catherine of Sienna, S. Francis Xavier, and very many others, by means of this loving friendship and converse with God, obtained the gifts of understanding and prophecy. So too in the olden time did Henoch, Noe, Abraham, Moses, and others, because they walked with God and conversed familiarly with Him, speaking to Him as a friend with his friend.

 

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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. 

Abide in my love. St John Chapter xv. 9-12

St John Chapter xv : Verses 9-12

Contents

• St John Chapter xv : Verses 9-12. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

St John Chapter xv : Verses 9-12

Love one another, as I have loved you. Victor. c 1674. 
Hellenic Institute of Venice.

9 As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love.  

10 If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; as I also have kept my Father's commandments, and do abide in his love.

11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be filled.  

12 This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.

9 καθὼς ἠγάπησέν με ὁ πατήρ, κἀγὼ ⸂ὑμᾶς ἠγάπησα⸃, μείνατε ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ τῇ ἐμῇ.

9 Sicut dilexit me Pater, et ego dilexi vos. Manete in dilectione mea.  

10 ἐὰν τὰς ἐντολάς μου τηρήσητε, μενεῖτε ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ μου, καθὼς ἐγὼ ⸂τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ πατρός μου⸃ τετήρηκα καὶ μένω αὐτοῦ ἐν τῇ ἀγάπῃ.

10 Si praecepta mea servaveritis, manebitis in dilectione mea, sicut et ego Patris mei praecepta servavi, et maneo in ejus dilectione.

11 ταῦτα λελάληκα ὑμῖν ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ἡ ἐμὴ ἐν ὑμῖν ⸀ᾖ καὶ ἡ χαρὰ ὑμῶν πληρωθῇ.

11 Haec locutus sum vobis : ut gaudium meum in vobis sit, et gaudium vestrum impleatur.  

12 Αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ ἐμὴ ἵνα ἀγαπᾶτε ἀλλήλους καθὼς ἠγάπησα ὑμᾶς·

12 Hoc est praeceptum meum, ut diligatis invicem, sicut dilexi vos.

Annotations

    9. As the Father hath loved me, I also have loved you.  —This is the sixth reason by which Christ stirs his disciples up to persevere in Him and in His love and faith. The word as does not imply equality, but similitude of love. For the Father loveth Christ far more than Christ loveth us. The meaning therefore is, As God the Father hath loved Me as man without any merits of mine freely before all others, and hath raised me to the Hypostasis of the Word, that I should be the Son of God, the Saviour and Redeemer of the world, and therefore not a natural vine but a Vine of salvation, so in like manner have I freely chosen you before other men, without any merits of your own, and raised you to the Apostolate, that ye should be made very near to Me as branches to the Vine, and that I through you should work out the salvation of all nations. Take heed therefore that ye abide in this My love. And this ye will do by loving Me and keeping my commandments. For so ye will deserve to be loved in return by Me, and be by Me constantly endowed with the benefits of which I have spoken. So S. Augustine.

    Observe here, that Christ’s predestination, election, love, and grace are the means, the end, and exemplar of our predestination, election, love, and grace. See what I have said on Rom. i. 4.

    Abide in my love; take care that I always love you. For it is a great thing to be loved by Christ. It is the fount and the cause of all graces. This is the active sense of the word My. But Rupertus here takes the love of Christ in a passive sense, meaning, abide in My love, advance in My love. This is an apposite, but not the direct meaning. It is inferential, thus, Take care that I love you. And this ye will be careful about if ye proceed to love Me. For I love those that love Me. Wherefore as the Father greatly loves Me, and so works through Me so many miracles and the salvation of the world, so also do I exceedingly love you, and therefore heap upon you so many benefits, gifts, and apostolic graces. Take heed then that ye continue in this My love and My grace. For so shall ye receive a daily increase of gifts from Me. Perceive from this the excellence and Divine virtue of love and affection. As Climacus says (Gradu 30), “I contemplate faith as a ray of the sun, charity like its orb in its fulness. Charity from its own very nature is likeness to God, so far as mortals can attain unto it. As regards its efficacy it is a sort of intoxication of the soul. Lastly, as regards its properties, it is the fountain of faith, the abyss of a just and patient mind, a sea of humility.”

   10. If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love;  If ye advance in loving Me and keeping my commandments, ye shall abide in My grace, favour, and affection, so that I shall proceed to heap My love and favours upon you.

    as I also have kept my Father's commandments, and do abide in his love. That is, as I proceed to obey the Father’s commandments, and to preserve His grace and love towards Me. Hear St. Augustine: “Love precedes the keeping of commandments. For he who loveth not hath nothing from whence he may keep them. In what therefore He here saith He does not show from whence love is generated, but how it is shown, that no one may deceive himself by saying that he loves Him when he keeps not His commandments. This, however, must be referred to the love wherewith He loves us, thus: By this ye shall know that ye abide in the love with which I love you, if ye keep My precepts, not indeed that we first keep His commandments in order that He may love us, but that unless He loved us we could not keep His commandments. This is the grace which is plain to the humble, but hidden from the proud.”

    Prior therefore is that love of God which is the cause of love in us, and of the keeping His commandments. And this in turn is the cause of God’s love towards us being maintained. So fire kindles and burns wood, and by its ignition is preserved and lasts.

   11. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be filled. This is the seventh and last reason of Christ, by which He persuades them to abide in His love and charity. Because in so doing they would give great joy both to Christ and to themselves.

    You will ask, what is this joy? 1st. Jansen explains thus, These things I have said unto you that your joy may be always like unto mine. My joy is because I am loved of My Father. Do you so keep My commandments that ye may be always loved of My Father and rejoice, and that thus your joy may be full through My Resurrection and the sending of the Holy Spirit.

    2d. S. Cyril explains, These things have I spoken unto you that ye may have joy in those things in which I have joy, namely, in labours and perils endured for the salvation of mankind.

    3d. S. Augustine expounds of the joy which God had from eternity at our salvation, thus, “These things have I spoken unto you that what has been from eternity, a cause of joy to Me, namely, grace and salvation, may be in you. And that your joy which you have in My company may be fulfilled by your gradual advancement to everlasting felicity.” And he again says, “What is that joy of ours which He says is to be full, but to enjoy His company? He indeed had perfect joy over us when He rejoiced in His foreknowledge and predestination of us. But that joy was not our joy, because we were not yet in being. This joy began to be in us when He called us. It begins to be in the faith of those who are born again: it shall be full in the faith of those who rise again.”

    4th. And most plainly, Christ here brings His disciples a twofold joy as a reward. The first joy is His own, the second that of the disciples. The meaning is, These things have I spoken unto you that in doing them ye may give Me joy. For parents and masters rejoice when they see their children and scholars act aright in obedience to their commands. This is the meaning of, that My joy may be in you, namely, that I may rejoice at your conformity to My will. As S. Augustine says, “What is the joy of Christ in us save that wherein He deigns to rejoice concerning us?” The second joy is that of the disciples, concerning which He says, and your joy may be filled. This was the joy which the disciples had in Christ, that they were His disciples. Christ has reference to the explanation which He subjoins to the parable of the vine and its branches, Abide in Me, and I in you. The meaning is, Like as the vine, if it could rejoice, would rejoice because its branches abode in it, and bore fruit, and as the branches for their part would rejoice because they adhered to the vine, and derived sap from it to bring forth grapes, so likewise if ye, O ye disciples, abide in Me, the true Vine, by love, and I also abide in you by the continual influx of the Spirit of grace for the bringing forth of good works, then shall I have joy in you thus cleaving unto Me, and ye shall have joy in Me because ye derive from Me grace and the Holy Spirit for the conversion of all nations. And this joy shall gradually be fulfilled here, but shall have its perfect consummation in eternal glory.

    Lastly, the words in you may be taken simply, just as they stand, thus, These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy with which I rejoice concerning the glory of God and the salvation of the whole world to be accomplished by Me, I may transfuse into you as My Apostles and fellow-workers; and that this joy may increase as your labours and your fruit increase; until it be fulfilled in this life, but yet more completely in the life to come. For My good is your good, as the good of the Vine is the good of its branches.

    This meaning seems the simplest, and is therefore sound. The words, That my joy may be in you, are exactly as if He said, That My joy may flow into you, may be communicated to you, and so be made your own.

    Admirably saith S. Bernard (Epist. 114), “Verily that is the true and only joy which comes not from a creature, but from the Creator, and which no one shall take away from him who possesses it. Compared with this all other gladness is only sorrow; all other pleasantness is pain, all sweetness bitter, all beauty but as ugliness.” And elsewhere he says, “A sure sign of the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the soul is spiritual joy.” For the soul which exults in God exults because God inhabits it.

   12. This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you. The Greek is emphatic with the double art., ἡ ἑντολὴ ἡ ἑμὴ, i.e. My precept, even Mine. This is to be referred partly to the words, if ye keep My commandments, partly to, in My love, which is the scope of the whole parable from the beginning of the chapter to this place. The meaning therefore is, I have commanded you to keep My precepts, among which know ye that the chief is this, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Again, I have bidden you, Abide in My love, i.e. continue and persevere in loving Me. And this ye will do if ye love one another, and bestow your kindnesses and offices of charity upon your neighbours. For ye can bestow nothing upon Me, but whatsoever ye shall bestow upon them, I shall account as bestowed upon Myself as the Parent of all. Wherefore He calls this “My commandment.” There is an allusion to His words in xiii. 34, A new commandment I give unto you, &c. For what He here calls My commandment He there calls a new commandment. For He gives this precept to all Christians. For all were represented by the Apostles. For Christ willed by the Apostles and their successors to convert the whole world. He bids them therefore that out of love to Him they should love and seek the salvation of all nations, should expend all their faculties and labours upon that work, undergo all perils, sustain all persecutions, and lastly, should shed their blood for it. For so He loved them and all other men that He gave His life and endured the death of the Cross for them. Moreover, this precept in the first place concerned the Apostles, because Christ by them was about to accomplish His own work of preaching throughout the world. Wherefore it was the duty of every one to co-operate with and assist every other. For this union and mutual co-operation of many was most efficacious for overcoming all difficulties, and converting all nations however barbarous. And so we see the same thing at the present day in Religious Orders and in Religious and Apostolic men united among themselves. Thus it is said (Eccles. iv.12), “a threefold cord is not easily broken.”

    This example of Christ was followed by S. Elizius, who died in the year 665. This was his last admonition to his people, as Sigobert testifies in his Chronicle: “If ye would pay me back my love for you, keep the commandments of Almighty God. Always breathe after Jesus Christ. Fix firmly His precepts in your minds. Love His name even as I have done.”

 

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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. 

Without me you can do nothing. St John Chapter xv. 5-8

St John Chapter xv : Verses 5-8

Contents

• St John Chapter xv : Verses 5-8. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

St John Chapter xv : Verses 5-8

Without me you can do nothing. Victor. c 1674. 
Hellenic Institute of Venice.

5 I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.

6 If any one abide not in me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth.  

7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you.

8 In this is my Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit, and become my disciples.

5 ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος, ὑμεῖς τὰ κλήματα. ὁ μένων ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ οὗτος φέρει καρπὸν πολύν, ὅτι χωρὶς ἐμοῦ οὐ δύνασθε ποιεῖν οὐδέν.

5 Ego sum vitis, vos palmites : qui manet in me, et ego in eo, hic fert fructum multum, quia sine me nihil potestis facere.

6 ἐὰν μή τις ⸀μένῃ ἐν ἐμοί, ἐβλήθη ἔξω ὡς τὸ κλῆμα καὶ ἐξηράνθη, καὶ συνάγουσιν αὐτὰ καὶ εἰς τὸ πῦρ βάλλουσιν καὶ καίεται.

6 Si quis in me non manserit, mittetur foras sicut palmes, et arescet, et colligent eum, et in ignem mittent, et ardet.

7 ἐὰν μείνητε ἐν ἐμοὶ καὶ τὰ ῥήματά μου ἐν ὑμῖν μείνῃ, ὃ ἐὰν θέλητε ⸀αἰτήσασθε καὶ γενήσεται ὑμῖν·

7 Si manseritis in me, et verba mea in vobis manserint, quodcumque volueritis petetis, et fiet vobis.  

8 ἐν τούτῳ ἐδοξάσθη ὁ πατήρ μου ἵνα καρπὸν πολὺν φέρητε καὶ ⸀γένησθε ἐμοὶ μαθηταί.

8 In hoc clarificatus est Pater meus, ut fructum plurimum afferatis, et efficiamini mei discipuli.

Annotations

    5. I am the vine: you the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: —That is, him who abides in Me by faith formed by love I likewise will love, and imbue with My spirit. This man bears much fruit, i.e. of good works, by which he continually merits an increase of grace and glory. Hence the Councils of Milevis and Orange condemn the Pelagians for saying that we have from God to be men, but from ourselves to be just. Such, S. Augustine (Tract. 21) says, are not the upholders but the destroyers of free-will. He thus sums up against them, “He who thinks that he bears fruit of himself is not in the Vine: he who is not in the Vine is not in Christ: he who is not in Christ is not a Christian.”

    for without me (not only by general and natural, but by special and supernatural prevenient and co-operating grace) you can do nothing, i.e. in the way of fruit, which is the fruit of the Vine, i.e. of Christ, or grace going before. That is, Ye can do nothing worthy of eternal life, or grace, or merits, as the Pelagians held, who supposed that good and meritorious works could be done absolutely by free-will, though more easily by grace. But Christ did not say, without Me ye will have more difficulty in doing good, but, ye can do nothing. Listen to the Council of Orange (cap. 7), 

“Whosoever shall say that we can think or choose any good thing pertaining to everlasting salvation by the force of nature, or can believe the preached Gospel without the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Ghost, is deceived by the spirit of heresy, not understanding the voice of God, speaking in the Gospel, Without Me ye can do nothing.”

    And how this should be understood the Council seems to explain, saying (ch. 9), “It is of the Divine gift both that we have right thoughts, and that we keep our feet from falsehood and unrighteousness. For as often as we do good, God is in us, and with us, since He works that we may work.”

    Moreover, Calvin foolishly thinks that by the expression nothing the co-operation of free-will is taken away. Rather it establishes free-will. For if we can do no good supernatural work without Christ and His grace, it follows that with His grace we can do good works. As the Apostle says, “I have laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I (not by my own power), but the grace of God which was with me.”

    Lastly, some Catholics falsely infer from those words of Christ, without Me, &c., that all the works of unbelievers who have not the faith and grace of Christ are sins. For the expression nothing refers to works of Christ’s grace, not to works of nature. Therefore unbelievers are able to do such natural works as honour parents, feed the hungry, do good to their neighbours, but not such as pertain to the grace of Christ, or those which are fruitful for meriting eternal life. For between grace and sin stands nature, or a natural good deed, which is not sin, nor yet a work of grace.

    you the branches Cyril observes that we are joined to, and inhere in Christ as branches in the vine, as well spiritually, by faith, hope, and charity, as corporeally, in that the vine is Christ’s Humanity, of which we are branches on account of the identity of the human nature, especially in the Eucharist, in which we are joined and commingled with Christ, not only as branches to the vine, but also as melted wax commingled with other melted wax. Wherefore as Christ spoke of the Eucharist (ch. vi.), saying, “Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of man, ye shall not have life in you,” so here He speaks concerning the vine and its branches, If any one abide not in Me, he shall be cast out as a branch, and be withered, &c. And Jeremiah says (ch. ii), “I planted thee an elect vine, a wholly true seed, how then art thou turned for me into a perverse, strange vine?” Christ therefore is called “the true (Hebrew neeman) Vine,” i.e. the faithful, sincere Vine, because He never forsakes His branches, nor leaves them without His inflowing, but continually instils into them the sap of wine, that they may produce true grapes, and the wine of charity, grace, and glory.

    6. If any one abide not in me, he shall be cast forth as a branch, and shall wither, and they shall gather him up, and cast him into the fire, and he burneth. That is, just as the unprofitable branch is cut off from the vine, and cast outside the vineyard, where it altogether dries up, and is gathered into bundles, and cast into the fire, and straightway burned, so in like manner the Christian who does not abide in Me by faith and charity, shall, after death, be cast out of doors, i.e. be separated from the Church of the faithful, who are the members of Christ. And then he shall wholly be withered, i.e. shall be deprived of all the good sap of grace, and shall be gathered by the devils with the rest of the reprobate, that he may be cast into the fire of hell, there to burn everlastingly. Now every word expresses a punishment. They must therefore be considered separately.

    The first punishment is, he shall be cast out of doors, i.e. from Christ, from God, and heaven, from the company of the angels and the saints.

    The second, he shall wither. For in this life sinners often retain faith and hope, often feel the illumination of grace and Divine impulses to repentance, are often warned by preachers and others to amend their lives; and they often do works morally good. For they remain in Christ as the Vine, and do drink from Him some of the sap of goodness. But after this life, being cut off from Christ, they cannot derive any sap of grace, but all God’s gifts will be taken away from them (Luke xix. 26), so that they are fit for nothing but to become the fuel of hell.

    The third is, they shall gather them. By this it is meant that the reprobate are to be gathered together into bundles, that they may be thrown into the fire, from which they will never be able to deliver themselves, according to the parable (Matt. xiii. 41) At the same time it is signified that their reason will be bound, and their freedom of will taken away, so that henceforth they will not be able either to will or to do any good thing.

    Fourthly, they shall cast them into the fire, namely into hell, burning with fire and brimstone, where the smoke of their torment goeth up for ever and ever.

    Fifthly, shall burn, i.e. shall immediately begin to burn everlastingly. This ends the third reason of Christ by which He exhorts His disciples to abide in Him. The fourth derived from the reward comes next.

    7. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you, i.e. if ye shall persevere in My love and grace, and My words in you, in your memory, that you constantly call them to mind, and in your will, that you love them, and in works, that ye always fulfil My commandments, Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done for you; because ye will ask nothing except according to My will. In truth ye will ask nothing except what ye know is pleasing to God, and will be for the advancement of His glory and your own and your neighbours’ salvation. For abiding in Jesus, i.e. the Saviour, they can only wish for what pertains to salvation, as S. Augustine says. For the branch which exists in the vine, if it could ask for anything, would ask for nothing else but to be kept in the vine, and by the influx from it to produce grapes. Thus the righteous ask to be kept in the grace of Christ, and to do good works, and this they obtain. For if they should ask anything carnal, vicious, disgraceful, injurious, or unprofitable, they would ask what would be displeasing to Christ, and forbidden by Him. Therefore they would offend Him, and so could not abide in Him, nor obtain what they asked. Wherefore S. Augustine says, Christ’s words in this place have to do with the prayer which He taught us (Matt. vi. 9). Let us not depart from its spirit in our prayers, and whatsoever we ask shall be done unto us.

    8. In this is my Father glorified; that you bring forth very much fruit, and become my disciples.—That is, is about shortly to be glorified after My death and the coming of the Holy Ghost. This is the fifth reason by which Christ urges His disciples to abide in Him and His love, because, that is, it will conduce to the great glory of God. “Abide in Me and My love, because by so doing God the Father will be glorified, that ye may bear much fruit,” that being used in the sense of if. Abiding in Me, ye will bring forth much fruit, even a mighty harvest of souls, and the conversion of the whole world. And that so ye may be made My disciples, namely, perfect and exemplary disciples. For they were already Christ’s disciples, but novices, and imperfect. He means, Ye shall glorify God the Father if ye abide in Me, and preach My faith to the whole world. For by this means ye shall take away the idolatry of all nations, and bring in everywhere the worship of one God in true holiness. And this will be the greatest ignominy to Satan, and the greatest glory to God. For the conversion of the nations will not be your work, but God’s, who will bring it about by His grace. “For by whom shall we bring forth fruit, except by Him whose mercy preventeth us?” saith S. Augustine.

    Again, and become My disciples, may mean my imitators in zeal and preaching the Gospel. A disciple is put for an imitator, because it is the part of a disciple to imitate his master. And so the disciples did imitate Christ, by giving themselves up even unto death to preach the Gospel.

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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. 

Abide in me, and I in you. St John Chapter xv. 2-4

St John Chapter xv : Verses 2-4

Contents

• St John Chapter xv : Verses 2-4. Douay-Rheims (Challoner) text, Greek (SBLG) & Latin text (Vulgate); 
• Annotations based on the Great Commentary of Cornelius A Lapide (1567-1637)

St John Chapter xv : Verses 2-4

Abide in me, and I in you.  Victor. c 1674. 
Hellenic Institute of Venice.

2 Every branch in me, that beareth not fruit, he will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, he will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit.  

3 Now you are clean by reason of the word, which I have spoken to you.  

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me.

2 πᾶν κλῆμα ἐν ἐμοὶ μὴ φέρον καρπὸν αἴρει αὐτό, καὶ πᾶν τὸ καρπὸν φέρον καθαίρει αὐτὸ ἵνα ⸂καρπὸν πλείονα⸃ φέρῃ.

2 Omnem palmitem in me non ferentem fructum, tollet eum, et omnem qui fert fructum, purgabit eum, ut fructum plus afferat.  

3 ἤδη ὑμεῖς καθαροί ἐστε διὰ τὸν λόγον ὃν λελάληκα ὑμῖν·

3 Jam vos mundi estis propter sermonem quem locutus sum vobis.  

4 μείνατε ἐν ἐμοί, κἀγὼ ἐν ὑμῖν. καθὼς τὸ κλῆμα οὐ δύναται καρπὸν φέρειν ἀφ’ ἑαυτοῦ ἐὰν μὴ ⸀μένῃ ἐν τῇ ἀμπέλῳ, οὕτως οὐδὲ ὑμεῖς ἐὰν μὴ ἐν ἐμοὶ ⸀μένητε.

4 Manete in me, et ego in vobis. Sicut palmes non potest fere fructum a semetipso, nisi manserit in vite, sic nec vos, nisi in me manseritis.

Annotations

    2. Every branch: Christ says nothing about the Vine itself, but only speaks of the branches, because Christ the Vine is self-sufficing. But the disciples have need of much help and culture from God. So Chrysostom.

    Every branch in me, that beareth not fruit, he will take away: and every one that beareth fruit, he will purge it, that it may bring forth more fruit, i.e. every Christian who by faith and baptism has been as it were a vine branch grafted into Me, if he bear not the fruit of good works, God the Father will take him away, i.e. will cut off from the Vine the unfruitful and worthless branch. This He does both by secretly severing him from the communication of the Spirit and grace of Christ, and also by publicly separating him from Christ by means of excommunication, or by permitting him to fall into heresy. And thus in death He separates him from the company of Christ and His saints. But He will purge him who is bearing fruit from too great luxuriance of leaves, from insects, and from every evil thing, i.e. from the love of the vanity and the filth of this world, that he may bring forth more fruit. Christ is speaking primarily of the apostles, then of all the faithful. For so God the Father had just before separated Judas the traitor from Christ and the other apostles, compelling him to depart out of their house and family. But He purged Peter and the other apostles from too great love of this life, and from the fear of the Jews, through which, when Christ was taken, they either denied Him, or fled. He did this when He sent down upon them the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. He cut off that sinful love and fear, and so filled them with the love of God that they did not fear the threats of the Jews.

    Now the pruning-hook or knife by which God purges the vine-branches, i.e. the faithful, is, 

    1st. The word of God, whence He adds, ver. 3, you are clean by reason of the word. For the word of God teaches us, and stirs us up to cleanse our minds from filth. 

    2d. The pruning-hook is tribulation, affliction, persecution, poverty, hunger, and such like. For those things call us away from the love of the world, and constrain us to flee to the love of God. Listen to S. Gregory (lib. 7, epist. 32): “The fruitful branch is said to be purged, because it is pruned by discipline that it may be led to richer grace.”

    3d. Pruning-hooks are illuminations, terrors, rebukes, which God sends into the minds of the faithful, to purge out of them the hindrances of their faults. Thus was S. Jerome rebuked, yea scourged by God, because he applied himself more closely to the study of Cicero than to the Holy Scriptures. Hear what he says in his 22nd. Epist. to Eustochium: 

“I was hurried in spirit before the tribunal of the Judge, where there was such excess of light, and the lightnings so shot from those that stood around, that I fell to the ground, and durst not look upward. Being asked concerning my profession, I replied that I was a Christian. Then spake the Judge, and said, Thou liest: thou art a Ciceronian, not a Christian. For where thy treasure is, there also is thine heart. Immediately I became dumb, and amidst the blows, for he commanded me to be beaten, I was yet more tormented with the fire of my own conscience, remembering the verse, Who will confess to Thee in hell? Thus I began to cry and to howl, saying, Have mercy upon me, O Lord, have mercy upon me. I declare to you that my shoulders were livid, and that I felt the blows after I awoke. And from that time forward I was more zealous in reading the Divine writings than I had been before in reading those of mortal men.”

    From what Christ here says, the necessity together with the power and the integrity of good works, and that faith alone does not suffice for salvation, as the heretics say, is plainly manifest. For Christ here requires the fruit, and unless He find it, He threatens every vine branch, i.e. every professing Christian, with cutting off from the Vine, and everlasting damnation. Wherefore they were in error who said that perfect men were not under obligation to do good works. For Christ’s words in Me are strong against them. As though He said, It is a disgraceful thing that any one believing in Me should not bring forth the fruit of charity and other virtues, but should be lazy and slothful.

    2d. It is plain that Luther is in error when he says that all the works of the faithful are sin, because they emanate from innate concupiscence, and are not done in perfect charity. For if this were true, Christ would not require them, nor call them fruit, but rather condemn them as poison. (See Council of Trent, sess. 6, can. 25).

    3d. It is plain that Luther equally errs when he says that faith is lost by every mortal sin. This, too, the Council of Trent condemns. For Christ here speaks of a believer who abides in Him by faith, and yet has not the fruit of charity. Such a one therefore hath faith, but not charity.

    3. Now you are clean by reason of the word, which I have spoken to you. This is the pruning-hook with which God the Father καθαίρει, i.e. purges and cleanses His apostles, that they may be καθαρὸι, i.e. pure and clean, as the word of Christ. For as S. Paul says (Heb. 4), “For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The meaning then is, My word, i.e. My doctrine which I have taught you, that ye may obey and believe it, is that pruning-hook which has purged you from error and sins, and has made you clean, holy, and pleasing to God.

    Christ is speaking especially of His speech after the Last Supper, which had immediately preceded. For, as Toletus rightly perceived, this discourse inflamed the hearts of the disciples, who were already bearing fruit in Christ, and purged them by grace and love that they should bring forth more fruit.

    For by this discourse of Christ the Apostles were purged from a certain ignorance. For Peter knew not whither Jesus was going. Thomas knew not the way. Judas asked to see the Father. The Lord pruned away this ignorance. They were also purged from vain confidence. For to Peter, their chief, it was said, Thou shalt deny Me thrice. They were purified from a sort of carnal affection. For they were too much addicted to reliance upon the sensible presence of Christ, desiring always to possess it. But now they hear that the Lord is going away to the Father, and that they must remain. They were purged from faint-heartedness, which made them almost despair of their own salvation when Christ should have departed. There were many other imperfections which the Lord pruned from His disciples on this night of the supper.

    4. Abide in me, and I in you. Abide in Me, as branches in the Vine, not dry and fruitless by faith only, but as bearing fruit and living by love with zeal for good works. And I in you. This clause is partly a promise of Christ, meaning, “If ye abide in Me by faith formed by love, I promise you that I will for My part abide in you, as the Vine remains in the vine-branches by a constant influx so as to afford them vital sap and nourishment for the production of grapes. In like manner I will supply you with the Spirit of grace to produce good works of charity and all virtues.” So S. Augustine, Bede, and Euthymius. The clause is partly also a precept, meaning, “Take heed that ye abide in Me, and I then will abide in you, for without Me ye can do nothing. And this ye will take care to do if ye abide in My love. For so ye will bring about that I in like manner shall abide in you by My grace. And I will cause My Spirit continually to flow into you, by which ye shall grow and increase in spiritual life, and make advancement in spiritual works.” So Toletus and others. Hear S. Gregory, in his exposition of the 6th penitential Psalm, on those words, “My soul hath waited on His words:” “Where must we abide except in Christ? Houses will fail, palaces crumble into ruin, cities be destroyed to their foundations, castles fall, heaven and earth pass away, but the Word of the Lord remaineth for ever: let us then abide in Him who abideth eternally.”

    This is Christ’s summing up by which He exhorts His disciples to abide in Him, and persevere in His love and doctrine. This He proceeds to maintain by giving seven reasons. Here is the first:—

    As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me. That is, as a vine-branch draws life and sap from the vine for producing grapes, so also do ye draw life and the spirit of grace from Me to bring forth good works which may deserve eternal life. From this passage then it is plain that a man cannot of himself, nor by his own natural powers, not even externally from human teaching, or personally, draw the power of bringing forth good works. It must flow from the inward grace of Christ. This applies especially to good works beyond the power of nature, and the effect which such works have of meriting increase of grace and glory. For the vine-branch hath nothing of itself, but draws all its sap, efficiency, and power of producing grapes from the vine. Thus the Council of Trent defines, and explains this passage (sess. 6, cap. 16), and adds the reason: 

“For since Christ Jesus is Himself the Head to the members, and as the Vine to the branches, He causes virtue continually to flow into them that are justified, which virtue always precedes their good works, accompanies and follows them, and without it they are not able in any manner to be pleasing to God, and meritorious. It must be believed that nothing more is wanting to those who are justified whereby, in those works which are done in God, they may fully satisfy the Divine law according to their condition in this life; and they should be truly believed to have merited to attain eternal life in its own time, if indeed they have departed in a state of grace.”

    Calvin objects: man has not free will, nor does he by it co-operate with grace, but grace alone does the whole work. For as the vine-branch draws all the juice of its grapes from the vine, and has no juice of itself, so does a man derive all his power of doing good works from grace. And by consequence, he hath nothing of himself wherewith to co-operate with grace, or which he can communicate to the work which is done by grace. I reply, 1st. By denying the consequence. For indeed in similitudes all things are not similar, so that they might or can all be applied to the thing compared, but the similarity must be reserved for what is intended to be the likeness. Christ therefore in this place makes His simile to consist only in this, that as the vine-branch derives all its vigour and sap for producing grapes from the vine, so likewise must a believer draw from the grace of Christ all the nutriment and power needful for producing supernatural works. But there is this distinction to be drawn, that a man, inasmuch as he is a rational being, co-operates with grace, and that freely. This the branch in the vine does not do, because it is but a piece of wood devoid of reason. Now it is the result of man’s free co-operation that a good work is a free and human work, even as it is because of the influx of grace that such a work becomes supernatural, worthy of God, and pleasing to Him.*

    2d. I deny the antecedent: for that a vine-branch, in addition to the vigour and the sap which it derives from the vine, does of its own nature contribute something to the production of grapes is plain from this, that if some other non-fruitbearing branch, or one bearing a different kind of fruit, as apples or cherries, were grafted into the vine, it would either produce nothing, or else would produce apples or cherries, not grapes. That it produces grapes, therefore, comes from its being a vine-branch.

    I confess, however, that the co-operation itself of free-will is also of grace in this sense, that unless free-will were prevented, lifted up, strengthened and stirred up to co-operation by grace, and unless it had auxiliary and co-operating grace, it could not co-operate, or do anything. This is the same reason by which Christ stimulates His Apostles to abide in Him.

+       +        +

 

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.