Lecture 5 — The Jews’ presumption

^8:39^ They answered and said to him: Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them: if you are the sons of Abraham, do the works of Abraham. [n. 1219]

^8:40^ But now you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you, which I have heard from God: Abraham did not do this. [n. 1226]

^8:41^ You do the works of your father. They said therefore to him: we were not born of fornication: we have one God, the Father. [n. 1230]

^8:42^ Jesus therefore said to them: if God were your Father, you would indeed love me, for I proceeded and came forth from God; for I came not of myself, but he sent me. [n. 1233]

^8:43^ Why do you not know my speech? Because you are not able to hear my word. [n. 1238]

1218. After showing that the Jews had a certain spiritual origin, our Lord here rejects certain origins which they had presumptuously attributed to themselves.

First, he rejects the origin they claimed to have from Abraham;

second, the origin they thought they had from God, at they said therefore to him: we were not born of fornication.

As to the first he does two things:

first, he gives the opinion of the Jews about their origin;

second, he rejects it, at if you are the sons of Abraham, do the works of Abraham.

1219. It should be noted with respect to the first, that our Lord had said to them, you do the things that you have seen with your father (John 8:38), and so, glorying in their carnal descent, they aligned themselves with Abraham. Thus they said, Abraham is our father. This is like saying: if we have a spiritual origin we are good, because our father Abraham is good: O offspring of Abraham his servant (Ps 105:6). And as Augustine says, they tried to provoke him to say something against Abraham and so give them an excuse for doing what they had planned, namely, to kill Christ.

1220. Our Lord rejects this opinion of theirs as false, at if you are the sons of Abraham, do the works of Abraham.

First, he gives the true sign of being a child of Abraham;

second, he shows that this sign is not verified in the Jews, at but now you seek to kill me;

third, he draws his conclusion, you do the works of your father.

1221. The sign of anyone being a child is that he is like the one whose child he is; for just as children according to the flesh resemble their parents according to the flesh, so spiritual children (if they are truly children) should imitate their spiritual parents: be imitators of God, as beloved children (Eph 5:1). And as to this he says, if you are the sons of Abraham, do the works of Abraham. This is like saying: if you imitated Abraham, that would be a sign that you are his children: look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you (Isa 51:2).

1222. Here a question arises, for when he says, if you are the sons of Abraham, he seems to be denying that they are the children of Abraham, whereas just previously he had said, I know that you are the sons of Abraham (John 8:37).

There are two ways of answering this. The first, according to Augustine, is that before he said that they were children of Abraham according to the flesh, but here he is denying that they are children in the sense of imitating his works, especially his faith. Therefore, they took their flesh from him, but not their life: it is men of faith who are the sons of Abraham (Gal 3:7).

For Origin, who has another explanation, both statements refer to their spiritual origin. Where our text reads, I know that you are the sons of Abraham, the Greek has, I know that you are the seed of Abraham (John 8:37). But Christ says here, if you are the sons of Abraham, do the works of Abraham, because the Jews, spiritually speaking, were the seed of Abraham, but were not his children. There is a difference between a seed and a child: for a seed is unformed, although it has in it the characteristics of that of which it is a seed. A child, however, has a likeness to the parent after the seed has been modified by the informing power infused by the agent acting upon the matter which has been furnished by the female. In the same way, the Jews were indeed the seed of Abraham, insofar as they had some of the characteristics which God had infused into Abraham; but because they had not reached the perfection of Abraham, they were not his children. This is why he said to them, if you are the sons of Abraham, do the works of Abraham, i.e., strive for a perfect imitation of his works.

1223. Again, because he said, do the works of Abraham, it would seem that whatever he did, we should do. Consequently, we should have a number of wives and approach a maidservant, as Abraham did.

I answer that the chief work of Abraham was faith, by which he was justified before God: he believed the Lord; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness (Gen 15:6). Thus, the meaning is, do the works of Abraham i.e., believe according to the example of Abraham.

1224. One might say against this interpretation that faith should not be called a work, since it is distinguished from works: faith apart from works is dead (Jas 2:26).

I answer that faith can be called a work according to what was said above: this is the work of God: that you believe in him whom he has sent (John 6:29). An interior work is not obvious to man, but only to God, according to, the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart (1 Sam 16:7). This is the reason we are more accustomed to call exterior action works. Thus, faith is not distinguished from all works, but only from external works.

1225. But should we do all the works of Abraham?

I answer that works can be considered in two ways. Either according to the kind of works they are, in which sense we should not imitate all his works; or, according to their root, and in this sense we should imitate the works of Abraham, because whatever he did, he did out of charity. Thus Augustine says that the celibacy of John was not esteemed above the marriage of Abraham, since the root of each was the same. Or, it might be said that all of Abraham’s works should be imitated as to their symbolism, because all these things happen to them in figure (1 Cor 10:11).

1226. Then, at but now you seek to kill me, he shows that they do not have the above mentioned sign of being children.

First, the conduct of the Jews is given;

second, he shows that it does not resemble the conduct of Abraham, at Abraham did not do this.

1227. The conduct of the Jews is shown to be wicked and perverse, because they were murderers; so he says, now you seek to kill me: how the faithful city has become a harlot, she that was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers (Isa 1:21). This murder was an unfathomable sin against the person of the Son of God. But because it is said, if they had understood, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8), our Lord does not say that they sought to kill the Son of God, but a man. For although the Son of God is said to have suffered and died by reason of the oneness of his person, this suffering and death was not insofar as he was the Son of God, but because of his human weakness, as it says: for he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God (2 Cor 13:4).

1228. In order to further elucidate this murder, he shows that they have no reason to put him to death; thus he adds, a man who has spoken the truth to you, which I have heard from God. This truth is that he said that he is equal to God: therefore, the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he did not only break the Sabbath, but also said that God was his Father, making himself equal to God (John 5:18). He heard this truth from God inasmuch as from eternity he received from the Father, through an eternal generation, the same nature that the Father has: for as the Father has life in himself, so he has also given to the Son to have life in himself (John 5:26).

Furthermore, he excludes the two reasons for which the law commanded that prophets were to be killed. First of all, for lying, for Deuteronomy commands that a prophet should be killed for speaking a lie or feigning dreams (Deut 13:5). Our Lord excludes this from himself, saying, a man who has spoken the truth to you: my mouth will utter truth (Prov 8:7). Second, a prophet ought to be killed if he speaks in the name of false gods, or says in the name of God things that God did not command (Deut 13:5). Our Lord excludes this from himself when he says, which I have heard from God.

1229. Then when he says, Abraham did not do this, he shows that their works are not like those of Abraham. He is saying in effect: because you act contrary to Abraham, you show that you are not his children, for it is written about him: he kept the law of the Most High, and was taken into covenant with him (Sir 44:20).

Some frivolously object that Christ did not exist before Abraham and therefore that Abraham did not do this, since one who did not exist could not be killed.

I answer that Abraham is not commended for something he did not do to Christ, but for what he did not do to anyone in like circumstances, i.e., to those who spoke the truth in his day.

Or, it might be answered that although Christ had not come in the flesh during the time of Abraham, he nevertheless had come into his mind, according to: in every generation she passes into souls (Wis 7:27). And Abraham did not kill wisdom by sinning mortally. Concerning this we read: they crucify the Son of God (Heb 6:6).

1230. Then when he says, you do the works of your father, he draws his conclusion. It was like saying: from the fact that you do not do the works of Abraham, it follows that you have some other father whose works you are doing. A similar statement is made: fill up, then, the measure of your fathers (Matt 23:32).

1231. Then when he says, they said to him: we were not born of fornication, he shows that they do not take their origin from God, for since they knew from our Lord’s words that he was not speaking of carnal descent, they turn to spiritual descent, saying, we were not born of fornication, saying, we were not born of fornication.

First, they give their own opinion;

second, our Lord rejects it, at Jesus therefore said to them: if God were your Father.

1232. According to some, the Jews are denying one thing and affirming another. They are denying that they were born of fornication. According to Origin, they said this tauntingly to Christ, with the unspoken suggestion that he was the product of adultery. It was like saying: we were not born of fornication as you were.

But it is better to say that the spiritual spouse of the soul is God: I will betroth you to me forever (Hos 2:19), and just as a bride is guilty of fornication when she admits a man other than her husband, so in Scripture Judea was said to be fornicating when she abandoned the true God and turned to idols: for the land commits great harlotry by forsaking the Lord (Hos 1:2). And so the Jews said: we were not born of fornication. It was like saying: although our mother, the synagogue, may now and then have departed from God and fornicated with idols, yet we have not departed or fornicated with idols: we have not forgotten thee, or been false to thy covenant. Our heart has not turned back (Ps 44:17); but you, draw near hither, sons of the sorceress, offspring of the adulterer and the harlot (Isa 57:3).

Further, they affirm that they are children of God; and this seems to follow from the fact that they did not believe that they were born of fornication. Thus they say, we have one God, the Father: have we not all one father? (Mal 2:10); and I thought you would call me, my Father (Jer 3:19).

1233. Next, at Jesus therefore said to them: if God were your Father, our Lord refutes their opinion:

first we see the sign of being a child of God;

second, the reason for this sign is given, at for I proceeded and came forth from God; and

third, we see that the Jews lack this sign, at why do you not know my speech?

1234. With respect to the first it should be noted that above he had said that the sign of being a child according to the flesh was in the exterior actions that a person performs; but here he places the sign of being a child of God in one’s interior affections. For we become children of God by sharing in the Holy Spirit: you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship (Rom 8:15). Now the Holy Spirit is the cause of our loving God, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us (Rom 5:5). Therefore, the special sign of being a child of God is love: be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love (Eph 5:1). Therefore he says, if God were your Father, you would indeed love me: the innocent and the right in heart, who are the children of God, have clung to me (Ps 21:4).

1235. Then, at for I proceeded and came forth from God, he gives the reason for this sign.

First, he states the truth;

second, he rejects an error, at for I came not of myself.

1236. The truth he asserts is that he proceeded and came forth from God.

It should be noted that all friendship is based on union, and so brothers love one another inasmuch as they take their origin from the same parents. Thus our Lord says: you say that you are the children of God; but if this were so***, you would indeed love me, for I proceeded and came forth from God***. Therefore, any one who does not love me is not a child of God. I say I proceeded from God from eternity as the Only Begotten, of the substance of the Father: from the womb before the daystar I begot you (Ps 109:4); in the beginning was the Word (John 1:1). And I came forth as the Word who was made flesh, sent by God through incarnation. I came forth from the Father, from eternity, as the Word, and have come into the world when I was made flesh in time (John 16:28).

1237. He rejects an error when he says, I came not of myself. And first, he rejects the error of Sabellius, who said that Christ did not have his origin from another, for he said that the Father and the Son were the same in person. In regard to this he says, I came not of myself, i.e., according to Hilary, I came, not existing of myself, but in a way as sent by another, that is, the Father. Thus he adds, but he sent me: God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law (Gal 4:4).

Second, he rejects an error of the Jews who said that Christ was not sent by God, but was a false prophet, of whom we read: I did not send the prophets, yet they ran (Jer 23:21). And in regard to this he says, according to Origen, I came not of myself, but he sent me. Indeed, this is what Moses prayed for: *I beseech thee, Lord send whom thou wilt send (*Exod 4:13).

1238. He shows that they lack this sign when he says, why do you not know my speech? For as was stated above, to love Christ is the sign of being a child of God; but they did not love Christ; therefore it is obvious that they did not have this sign. That they do not love Christ is shown by the effect of love: for the effect of loving someone is that the lover joyfully hears the words of the beloved; thus we read: let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet (Song 2:14). And again, my companions are listening for your voice; let me hear it (Song 8:13). Therefore, because they did not love Christ, it seemed tedious to them even to hear his voice: this saying is hard, and who is able to accept it? (John 6:61); the very sight of him is a burden to us (Wis 2:15).

It sometimes happens that a person is not glad to hear the words of another because he cannot weigh them and for that reason does not understand them, and so he contradicts them: answer, I beseech you, without contention . . . and you shall not find iniquity on my tongue (Job 6:29). Therefore he says, why do you not know my speech? For you asked earlier, what is this that he said, where I go, you cannot come? (John 8:21). I say that you do not understand because you cannot bear to hear my word, i.e., your heart is so hardened against me that you do not even want to hear me.