Homilies on the First Epistle of John preface–1.11

Your Holiness remembers that we are accustomed to expound the Gospel according to John in the order of the readings. But since the festival of the holy days has now come in between, in which certain readings from the Gospel must be read in the Church, which are so fixed each year that there can be no others, the order we had undertaken has been interrupted for a little by necessity, not abandoned. And as I was considering what I should treat with you from the Scriptures during this week, in keeping with the joy of these present days, as far as the Lord deigns to grant, something that could be finished in these seven or eight days, the Epistle of blessed John came to mind: so that, by expounding the epistle of him whose Gospel we have briefly interrupted, we may not depart from him; especially since in that Epistle, which is sweet enough to all whose palate of the heart is healthy, so that the bread of God has savour for it, and memorable enough in the holy Church of God, love above all is commended. He has said many things, and almost all of them about love. Whoever has in himself the means of hearing must rejoice at what he hears. For to him this reading will be like oil on a flame: if there is something there to be fed, it is fed, and grows, and lasts. Again, for some it ought to be like a flame to kindling: if it was not burning, it may be kindled when the sermon comes to it. For in some what is there is fed, in others it is kindled if it is lacking; so that we may all rejoice in one love. And where there is love, there is peace; and where there is humility, there is love. Now let us hear him; and on his words let us speak to you what the Lord suggests, so that you too may understand them well.

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, and which we have seen with our eyes, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life." Who is it that handles the Word with his hands, unless because "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us"? Now this Word, which became flesh so as to be handled with hands, began to be flesh from the Virgin Mary; but the Word did not begin then, for he said, "that which was from the beginning". See whether his Epistle does not bear witness to his Gospel, where you have just heard, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God." Perhaps someone may take "concerning the Word of life" as a kind of speech about Christ, not the very body of Christ which was handled with hands. See what follows: "And the life itself was manifested." So Christ is the Word of life. And how was it manifested? For it was from the beginning, but it had not been manifested to men; it had been manifested to the angels, who saw it and fed on it as their bread. But what does Scripture say? "Man ate the bread of angels." So the life itself was manifested in the flesh; because it was set in manifestation, so that a thing which can be seen by the heart alone might be seen by the eyes too, in order to heal hearts. For the Word is seen by the heart alone, but flesh is seen by the bodily eyes too. We had the means to see the flesh, but we did not have the means to see the Word: the Word became flesh, which we could see, so that in us that might be healed by which we might see the Word.

"And we have seen, and are witnesses." Perhaps some of the brothers who do not know Greek do not know what "witnesses" is in Greek; yet it is a name familiar to all and held sacred: for those whom we call testes in Latin are martyres in Greek. And who has not heard of martyrs, or in which Christian's mouth does the name of martyrs not dwell every day? And would that it dwelt so in the heart too, that we might imitate the sufferings of the martyrs, not persecute them with our cups! So he said, "We have seen, and are witnesses", that is, "We have seen, and are martyrs." For by bearing witness to what they saw, and bearing witness to what they heard from those who saw, since that very witness displeased the men against whom it was given, they suffered all that the martyrs suffered. The martyrs are God's witnesses. God willed to have men as witnesses, so that men too might have God as witness. "We have seen," he says, "and are witnesses." Where did they see? In the manifestation. What does "in the manifestation" mean? In the sun, that is, in this light. And how could he who made the sun be seen in the sun, unless because "he set his tabernacle in the sun, and himself, like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, rejoiced as a giant to run his course"? He who was before the sun, who made the sun, he who was before the morning star, before all the stars, before all the angels, the true creator (for all things were made through him, and without him nothing was made), in order to be seen by fleshly eyes which see the sun, set his very tabernacle in the sun, that is, showed his flesh in the manifestation of this light. And the bridal chamber of that bridegroom was the Virgin's womb, because in that virginal womb two were joined, bridegroom and bride, the bridegroom the Word and the bride the flesh; for it is written, "And the two shall be in one flesh"; and the Lord says in the Gospel, "So they are no longer two, but one flesh." And Isaiah very well remembered that the two are one; for he speaks in the person of Christ and says, "He has put a crown on me as on a bridegroom, and adorned me with ornament as a bride." One seems to speak, and has made himself both bridegroom and bride; because they are not two but one flesh, because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. To that flesh the Church is joined, and the whole Christ comes to be, head and body.

"And we are witnesses," he says, "and we announce to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested in us": that is, was manifested among us; which would be said more plainly, "was manifested to us". "What, then, we have seen and heard, we announce to you." Let your Love attend: "What, then, we have seen and heard, we announce to you." They saw the Lord himself present in the flesh, and heard the words from the Lord's mouth, and announced them to us. So we too have heard, but we have not seen. Are we, then, less happy than those who saw and heard? And how does he add, "that you too may have fellowship with us"? They saw, we have not seen, and yet we are fellows, because we hold a common faith. For one even did not believe by seeing, and wanted to touch, and so to believe, and said, "I will not believe unless I put my fingers into the place of the nails and touch his scars." And he who always offers himself to be seen by the gaze of angels offered himself for a time to be handled by the hands of men; and that disciple handled him and cried out, "My Lord and my God." Because he touched the man, he confessed God. And the Lord, consoling us, who cannot handle him with the hand now that he sits in heaven, but can touch him by faith, said to him, "Because you have seen, you have believed; blessed are those who do not see and believe." It is we who were described, we who were designated. So let the blessedness which the Lord foretold come to be in us: let us hold firmly what we do not see, because those who saw announce it. "That you too," he says, "may have fellowship with us." And what great thing is it to have fellowship with men? Do not despise it; see what he adds: "And that our fellowship may be with God the Father and with Jesus Christ his Son. And these things," he says, "we write to you, that your joy may be full." He speaks of full joy in that fellowship, in that love, in that unity.

"And this is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you." What is this? They saw, they handled with their hands the Word of life; he was from the beginning; the only Son of God was made visible and touchable for a time. For what purpose did he come, or what new thing did he announce to us? What did he wish to teach? Why did he do what he did, that the Word should become flesh, that God above all should suffer unworthy things from men, that he should endure their blows from hands which he himself had formed? What did he wish to teach? What did he wish to show? What did he wish to announce? Let us hear: for without the fruit of a precept, hearing of something that was done (that Christ was born, and that Christ suffered) is a distraction of the mind, not a strengthening of it. What great thing do you hear? See with what fruit you hear it. What did he wish to teach? What to announce? Hear: "That God is light," he says, "and in him there is no darkness at all." He has named light, but the words are obscure: it is good for us that the very light he named should enlighten our hearts, and that we may see what he said. "This is what we announce, that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all." For who would dare to say that there is darkness in God? Or what is that light? Or what is darkness? Lest perhaps he is saying such things as belong to these eyes of ours. "God is light": someone says, "The sun too is light, and the moon is light, and a lamp is light." It must be something far greater than these, far more excellent, far more surpassing. As far as God is from the creature, as far as the maker from the thing made, as far as wisdom from what was made through wisdom, so far beyond all things must this light be. And perhaps we shall be near it if we come to know what this light is and apply ourselves to it, so as to be enlightened by it; for in ourselves we are darkness, and enlightened by it we can be light, and not be put to shame by it, since we are put to shame by ourselves. Who is put to shame by himself? He who knows himself to be a sinner. Who is not put to shame by it? He who is enlightened by it. What is it to be enlightened by it? He who already sees that he is darkened by sins, and desires to be enlightened by it, approaches it; hence the Psalm says, "Approach him and be enlightened, and your faces will not be ashamed." But you will not be ashamed by it if, when it shows you to yourself as foul, your foulness displeases you, so that you may perceive its beauty. This is what he wishes to teach.

And perhaps we are saying this too hastily? Let him himself make it plain in what follows. Remember that at the beginning of our sermon I said that this Epistle commends love. "God is light," he says, "and in him there is no darkness at all." And what had he said above? "That you may have fellowship with us, and that our fellowship may be with God the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ." Now if God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all, and we ought to have fellowship with him, then darkness must be driven from us too, so that light may come to be in us; for darkness cannot have fellowship with light. So see what follows: "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie." You have the apostle Paul too saying, "Or what fellowship has light with darkness?" You say you have fellowship with God, and you walk in darkness; and God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all: how, then, is there fellowship of light and darkness? Now, then, let a man say to himself, "What shall I do? How shall I become light? I live in sins and iniquities." A kind of despair and sadness creeps in. There is no salvation except in fellowship with God. God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. But sins are darkness, as the apostle says that the devil and his angels are the rulers of this darkness. He would not say rulers of darkness unless he meant rulers of sins, lords of the wicked. What, then, are we to do, my brothers? We must have fellowship with God; there is no other hope of eternal life. But God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all; and iniquities are darkness; we are weighed down by iniquities, so that we cannot have fellowship with God: what hope, then? Did I not promise to say something in these days that would bring joy? If I do not deliver it, this is sadness. God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all; sins are darkness: what will become of us? Let us hear whether perhaps he consoles, raises up, gives hope, lest we faint on the way. For we are running, and running to our homeland; and if we despair of arriving, we faint from that very despair. But he who wishes us to arrive, so as to keep us in the homeland, feeds us on the way. Let us hear, then: "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not do the truth." Let us not say that we have fellowship with him if we walk in darkness. "But if we walk in the light, as he too is in the light, we have fellowship with one another." Let us walk in the light, as he too is in the light, so that we may be able to have fellowship with him. And what are we to do about our sins? Hear what follows: "And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son will cleanse us from every sin." God has given great security. Rightly do we celebrate the Pasch, at which the Lord's blood was shed, by which we are cleansed from every sin. Let us be secure: the devil held a bond of slavery against us, but it has been blotted out by the blood of Christ. "The blood of his Son," he says, "will cleanse us from every sin." What does "from every sin" mean? Pay attention: see, now, in the name of Christ, through his blood, which those who are called infants have now confessed, all their sins have been cleansed. They went in old, they came out new. What does "they went in old, they came out new" mean? They went in as old men, they came out as infants. For old age is decrepit, the old life; but the infancy of regeneration is the new life. But what are we to do? Past sins have been forgiven, not only to them but to us too; and after the forgiveness and abolition of all sins, by living in this world amid temptations, some perhaps have been contracted. So let a man do what he can: let him confess what he is, that he may be healed by him who always is what he is; for he always was and is, while we were not, and are.

For see what he says: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." So if you have confessed yourself a sinner, the truth is in you; for the truth itself is light. Your life has not yet shone perfectly, because there are sins in it; but you have already begun to be enlightened, because there is confession of sins in it. For see what follows: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity." Not only past ones, but any that we may perhaps have contracted from this life; because a man, as long as he bears the flesh, cannot but have at least light sins. But do not despise these that we call light. If you despise them when you weigh them, be terrified when you count them. Many light ones make one great one; many drops fill a river; many grains make a heap. And what hope is there? Above all, confession: let no one think himself righteous, and let not a man, who was not and now is, lift up his neck before the eyes of God, who sees what is. Above all, then, confession; then love. For what has been said of love? "Love covers a multitude of sins." Now let us see whether he commends love itself, because of the sins that creep in; for love alone extinguishes sins. Pride extinguishes love; so humility strengthens love; love extinguishes sins. Humility belongs to confession, by which we confess that we are sinners. That is humility; not to say it with the tongue, as though to avoid displeasing men by arrogance if we said we were righteous. The ungodly and senseless do this: "I know indeed that I am righteous, but what shall I say before men? If I call myself righteous, who will bear it, who will tolerate it? Let my righteousness be known to God; yet I will call myself a sinner, not because I am one, but lest I be found hateful for arrogance." Tell men what you are; tell God what you are. For if you do not tell God what you are, God condemns what he finds in you. Do you not want him to condemn? Condemn it yourself. Do you want him to forgive? Acknowledge it yourself, so that you can say to God, "Turn your face from my sins." Say to him also those words in the same Psalm: "For I acknowledge my iniquity." "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, who will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all iniquity. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." If you say, "I have not sinned", you make him a liar while you want to make yourself truthful. How can it be that God is a liar and man truthful, when Scripture says the contrary: "Every man is a liar; God alone is truthful"? So God is truthful through himself; you are truthful through God, for through yourself you are a liar.

And lest he should seem to have granted impunity to sins, because he said, "He is faithful and just, who cleanses us from all iniquity", and men should now say to themselves, "Let us sin; let us do what we like without care; Christ cleanses us; he is faithful and just; he cleanses us from all iniquity", he takes away from you a bad security and puts in a useful fear. You wish to be secure in a bad way; be anxious. For "he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins", if you are always displeased with yourself and are changed until you are perfected. So what follows? "My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin." But perhaps sin creeps in from human life: what then will happen? What? Will there now be despair? Hear: "And if anyone sins," he says, "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins." He, then, is the advocate. Do your utmost not to sin; if sin creeps in from the weakness of life, at once see it, at once let it displease you, at once condemn it; and when you have condemned it, you will come secure to the judge. There you have an advocate; do not fear that you will lose the case of your confession. For if sometimes in this life a man entrusts himself to an eloquent tongue and does not perish, will you entrust yourself to the Word and perish? Cry out: "We have an advocate with the Father."

See John himself keeping humility. Certainly he was a righteous and great man, who drank the secrets of the mysteries from the Lord's breast; he, he who by drinking from the Lord's breast poured forth divinity: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God." Such a man did not say, "You have an advocate with the Father", but, "If anyone sins, we have," he says, "an advocate." He did not say "you have"; nor did he say "you have me"; nor did he say "you have Christ himself"; but he put forward Christ, not himself, and said "we have", not "you have". He preferred to put himself in the number of sinners, so as to have Christ as advocate, rather than to put himself forward as advocate in place of Christ and be found among the proud who are to be condemned. Brothers, Jesus Christ the righteous is the one we have as advocate with the Father; he is the propitiation for our sins. Whoever has held to this has made no heresy; whoever has held to this has made no schism. For where have schisms come from? When men say, "We are righteous"; when men say, "We sanctify the unclean, we justify the ungodly, we ask, we obtain." But what did John say? "And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." But someone will say, "Do the saints, then, not ask for us? Do the bishops and leaders, then, not ask for the people?" But attend to the Scriptures, and see that leaders too commend themselves to the people. For the apostle says to the people, "Praying at the same time for us too." The apostle prays for the people, the people prays for the apostle. We pray for you, brothers; but you too pray for us. Let all the members pray for one another; let the head intercede for all. Therefore it is no wonder that here there follows what shuts the mouths of those who divide the Church of God. For he who said, "We have Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins", because of those who were going to divide themselves and say, "See, here is Christ; see, there", and who would wish to show him in a part, who bought the whole and possesses the whole, at once went on: "Not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." What is this, brothers? Certainly "we have found it in the fields of the forest": we have found the Church in all nations. See, Christ is the propitiation for our sins; not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. See, you have the Church throughout the whole world; do not follow false justifiers and true cutters-off. Be on that mountain which has filled the whole earth; because Christ is the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world, which he bought with his blood.

"And by this," he says, "we know him, if we keep his commandments." What commandments? "He who says that he knows him and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him." But you still ask, What commandments? "But whoever keeps his word," he says, "in him truly the love of God is perfected." Let us see whether the commandment itself is called love. For we were asking what commandments, and he says, "But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected." Look at the Gospel, whether this is not the commandment: "A new commandment," he says, "I give you, that you love one another." "By this we know that we are in him, if we are perfected in him." He calls them perfected in love. What is the perfection of love? To love even enemies, and to love them so that they may become brothers. For our love ought not to be carnal. To wish someone temporal well-being is good; but even if that is lacking, let the soul be safe. Do you wish a friend of yours life? You do well. Do you rejoice at the death of your enemy? You do ill. But perhaps the life you wish your friend is of no use to him, and the death of your enemy at which you rejoice was of use to him. It is uncertain whether this life is of use to anyone or of no use; but the life that is with God is without doubt of use. So love your enemies, in such a way that you wish them to be brothers; so love your enemies, that they may be called into your fellowship. For so he loved who, hanging on the cross, said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." For he did not say, "Father, let these live a long time; they are killing me, but let them live." But what did he say? "Forgive them, for they do not know what they do." He was driving eternal death away from them by a most merciful prayer and a most surpassing power. Many of them believed, and the blood of Christ which they had shed was forgiven them. First they shed it in their rage; now they drank it in believing. "By this we know that we are in him, if we are perfected in him." Admonishing us about this very perfection of loving enemies, the Lord says, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." "So whoever says that he abides in him ought himself to walk as he walked." How, brothers? What does he admonish us? "Whoever says that he abides in him", that is, in Christ, "ought himself to walk as he walked." Does he perhaps admonish us to walk on the sea? Far from it. This, then: that we walk in the way of righteousness. In what way? I have already mentioned it. He was fixed on the cross, and was walking in that very way: that is the way of love: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." So if you have learned to pray for your enemy, you are walking the way of the Lord.

"Beloved, I am not writing you a new commandment, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning." What commandment did he call old? "Which you had," he says, "from the beginning." It is old, then, because you have already heard it; otherwise he will be contrary to the Lord, where he says, "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another." But why old? Not because it belongs to the old man. Then why? "Which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard." It is old, then, because you have already heard it. And he shows that the same is new, saying, "Again, I am writing you a new commandment." Not another, but the very same one which he called old is also new. Why? "Which is true in him and in you." Why it is old you have already heard: because you already knew it. But why new? "Because the darkness has passed, and the true light is now shining." See why it is new: because darkness belongs to the old man, but light to the new. What does the apostle Paul say? "Put off the old man and put on the new." And again what does he say? "You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord."

"He who says that he is in the light": now he makes plain all that he said: "He who says that he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness even until now." Come, my brothers, how long shall we keep saying to you, "Love your enemies"? See that you do not, what is worse, still hate your brothers. If you loved only your brothers, you would not yet be perfect; but if you hate your brothers, what are you? Where are you? Let each one look into his own heart: let him not hold hatred against a brother for some harsh word; through a dispute over earth, let him not become earth. For whoever hates his brother, let him not say that he walks in the light. What did I say? Let him not say that he walks in Christ. "He who says that he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness even until now." Someone, say, has become a Christian from a pagan; attend: see, he was in darkness when he was a pagan; now he has become a Christian. Thanks be to God, all congratulate him; the apostle is read congratulating: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord." He used to worship idols; he worships God. He used to worship what he had made; he worships him who made him. He has been changed; thanks be to God, all Christians congratulate him. Why? Because he is now a worshipper of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and one who detests demons and idols. Still John is anxious about this man; while many congratulate him, he is still suspect. Brothers, let us gladly embrace a mother's anxiety. Not without cause is the mother anxious about us when others rejoice: I mean love as our mother; for she dwelt in John's heart when he said these things. Why, unless because she fears something in us even when men already congratulate us? What is it she fears? "He who says that he is in the light." What is this? He who now says that he is a Christian. "And hates his brother is in darkness even until now." This needs no exposition: only rejoicing if it does not happen, or lamenting if it does.