Homilies on the First Epistle of John 6.13–8.1

What, then, are we to do? How do we discern? Attend: let us go together in heart and knock. Love itself is watchful, because it is love that will knock and love that will open: now you will understand, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. You have already heard above that it was said, "He who denies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is the antichrist." And there we asked who denies it, since neither we deny it nor do they. And we found that some deny it by their deeds; and we brought forward the testimony of the apostle, who says, "For they confess that they know God, but deny him by their deeds." So now too let us look in deeds, not in the tongue. What spirit is not of God? One that denies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. And what spirit is of God? One that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Who is it that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh? Come, brothers, let us attend to works, not to the noise of the tongue. Let us ask why Christ came in the flesh, and we find those who deny that he came in the flesh. For if you attend to tongues, you will hear many heresies confessing that Christ came in the flesh; but the truth convicts them. Why did Christ come in the flesh? Was he not God? Is it not written of him, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"? Did he not feed the angels, and does he not feed the angels? Did he not come here in such a way as not to withdraw from there? Did he not ascend in such a way as not to leave us? Why, then, did he come in the flesh? Because the hope of resurrection had to be shown to us. He was God, and he came in the flesh; for God could not die, the flesh could die; so he came in the flesh for this, to die for us. And how did he die for us? "No one has greater love than this, to lay down his life for his friends." So love brought him to the flesh. Whoever, then, does not have love denies that Christ has come in the flesh. Now here question all the heretics: "Has Christ come in the flesh?" "He has come; this I believe, this I confess." "No, this you deny." "How do I deny it? You hear that I say it." "No, I convict you of denying it. You say it with your voice, you deny it with your heart; you say it in words, you deny it in deeds." "How," you say, "do I deny it in deeds?" Because Christ came in the flesh for this, to die for us. He died for us because he taught great love: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down his life for his friends." You do not have love, because for the sake of your own honour you divide unity. So understand from this the spirit that is of God. Knock, tap the earthen vessels, to see whether they are cracked and sound badly; see whether they ring true, see whether there is love there. You take yourself away from the unity of the whole world, you divide the Church by schisms, you tear the body of Christ apart. He came in the flesh to gather together; you shout to scatter. So that is the Spirit of God which says that Jesus has come in the flesh: which says it not with the tongue but in deeds; which says it not by sounding but by loving. But that is not the spirit of God which denies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; and it too denies it not with the tongue but with its life, not in words but in deeds. It is plain, then, how we may know the brothers. Many inside are only as if inside; but no one is outside unless he is truly outside.

So that you may know that he referred it to deeds, "And every spirit," he says, "that dissolves Christ, as having come in the flesh, is not of God." To "dissolve" is understood of deeds. What does he show you? One who denies; for he said "dissolves". He came to gather, you come to dissolve. You want to tear apart the members of Christ. How do you not deny that Christ came in the flesh, you who break up the Church of God which he gathered? So you come against Christ; you are an antichrist. Whether you are inside or outside, you are an antichrist; but when you are inside, you are hidden; when you are outside, you are made manifest. You dissolve Jesus and deny that he came in the flesh; you are not of God. That is why he says in the Gospel, "Whoever dissolves one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven." What is "dissolved"? What is "taught"? It is dissolved by deeds and taught, as it were, by words. You who preach that one must not steal, steal. So the one who steals dissolves in deed, and as it were teaches so; he will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, that is, in the Church of this time. Of him it was said, "Do what they say, but do not do what they do." "But whoever does and teaches so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Because he said here "does", against this he said there "dissolves", that is, does not do, and teaches so. So the one who does not do, dissolves. What does he teach us but to question deeds, not to believe words? The obscurity of the matters compels us to say much, above all so that what the Lord deigns to reveal may reach the slower brothers too, since all have been bought by the blood of Christ. And I fear that the Epistle itself will not be finished in these days, as I had promised; but as it pleases the Lord, it is better to keep the remainder than to burden hearts with too much food.

This world is to all the faithful who seek their homeland what the desert was to the people of Israel. They were wandering still, and seeking their homeland; but with God as their guide they could not go astray. Their way was the command of God. For the journey on which they went round for forty years is completed in very few stages, and is known to all. They were delayed because they were being trained, not because they were abandoned. What God promises us, then, is an ineffable sweetness, and a good, as Scripture says and as you have often heard us recall, "which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man." But we are trained by temporal labours and taught by the temptations of the present life. But if you do not want to die of thirst in this desert, drink love. It is the spring which the Lord willed to put here, so that we may not faint on the way; and we shall drink of it more abundantly when we have come to our homeland. The Gospel has just been read: to speak of the very words with which the reading ended, what else did you hear about but love? For we have made a pact with our God in prayer, that if we want him to forgive us our sins, we too should forgive the sins that have been committed against us. And only love forgives. Take love out of the heart: hatred holds it; it does not know how to pardon. Let love be there, and it pardons without care, for it is not hemmed in. And see whether this whole Epistle, which we have undertaken to expound to you, commends anything else than this one love. Nor is there any fear that by being spoken of often it will come to be hated. For what is loved, if love comes to be hated? How ought love itself to be loved, by which it comes about that other things are loved well? So let the thing that ought never to depart from the heart not depart from the mouth either.

"You are of God, little children," he says, "and you have overcome him": whom, but the Antichrist? For above he had said, "Every one who dissolves Jesus Christ and denies that he has come in the flesh is not of God." And we explained, if you remember, that all who violate love deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. For there was no need for Jesus to come except for love. For that love is commended to us which he himself commends in the Gospel: "No one can have greater love than this, to lay down his life for his friends." How could the Son of God lay down his life for us unless he were clothed in flesh, in which he could die? Whoever, then, violates love, whatever he says with his tongue, his life denies that Christ has come in the flesh; and he is the antichrist, wherever he is, wherever he has entered. But what does he say to those who are citizens of that homeland for which we sigh? "You have overcome him." And how did they overcome? "Because he who is in you is greater than he who is in this world." Lest they should attribute the victory to their own strength and be overcome by the arrogance of pride (for whomever the devil has made proud, he overcomes), wishing to keep them humble, what does he say? "You have overcome him." Now every man who hears "You have overcome" lifts up his head, lifts up his neck, wants to be praised. Do not exalt yourself; see who overcame in you. Why did you overcome? "Because he who is in you is greater than he who is in this world." Be humble, carry your Lord; be the beast of burden of your rider. It is good for you that he should guide and lead. For if you do not have him as your rider, you can lift up your neck, you can kick; but woe to you without a guide, for that freedom sends you among the beasts to be devoured.

"They are of the world." Who? The antichrists. You have already heard who they are. And if you are not such, you recognise them; but whoever is such does not recognise them. "They are of the world; therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them." Who are those who speak of the world? Attend: those who are against love. See, you have heard the Lord saying, "If you forgive men their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your sins; but if you do not forgive, neither will your Father forgive you your sins." It is the sentence of the Truth; or, if it is not the Truth that speaks, contradict it. If you are a Christian and believe Christ, he said, "I am the truth." This sentence is true, it is firm. Now hear men who speak of the world: "And are you not going to avenge yourself? And is he going to say that he did this to you? No, let him feel that he is dealing with a man." These things are said every day. Those who say these things speak of the world; and the world hears them. Nor does anyone say these things except those who love the world, nor are these things listened to except by those who love the world. And whoever loves the world and neglects love, you have heard, denies that Jesus has come in the flesh. Or did the Lord himself strike back in the flesh? When he was struck with the palm of the hand, did he want to be avenged? When he hung on the cross, did he not say, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do"? But if he who had power did not threaten, why do you threaten, why do you puff yourself up, you who are set under another's power? He died because he willed it, and did not threaten; you do not know when you will die, and do you threaten?

"We are of God." Let us see why: see whether for any other reason than love. "We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not of God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." For whoever listens to us has the spirit of truth; whoever does not listen to us has the spirit of error. Let us see what he admonishes, and let us listen to him rather as one admonishing in the spirit of truth; not to the antichrists, not to the lovers of the world, not to the world. If we are born of God, "Beloved", it follows above (see what): "We are of God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not of God does not listen to us. By this the spirit of truth and the spirit of error is known." Now he has made us attentive: because whoever knows God listens; but whoever does not know him does not listen; and this is the distinction between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Let us see what he is going to admonish, in which we ought to listen to him. "Beloved, let us love one another." Why? Because a man admonishes? "Because love is of God." He has commended love greatly, because he said, "is of God"; he is going to say more; let us listen attentively. Now he said, "Love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God." Why? "Because God is love." What more could be said, brothers? If nothing were said in praise of love through all these pages of this Epistle, if nothing at all through the other pages of the Scriptures, and we heard only this one thing from the voice of the Spirit of God, "Because God is love", we ought to seek nothing more.

Now see that to act against love is to act against God. Let no one say, "I sin against man when I do not love my brother (attend), and sin against man is a light thing; only let me not sin against God." How do you not sin against God when you sin against love? God is love. Is it we who say it? If we said, "God is love", perhaps one of you would take offence and say, "What did he say? What did he mean by saying that God is love? God gave love, God bestowed love. Love is from God; God is love." See, brothers, you have the Scriptures of God: this Epistle is canonical; it is read among all nations; it is held by the authority of the whole world; it has built up the whole world. Here you hear from the Spirit of God, "God is love." Now, if you dare, act against God, and do not love your brother.

How, then, did he say a little while ago, "Love is of God", and now, "Love is God"? For God is Father and Son and Holy Spirit: the Son, God from God; the Holy Spirit, God from God; and these three one God, not three gods. If the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God, and he loves in whom the Holy Spirit dwells: then love is God, but God because from God. For you have both in the Epistle: both "Love is of God" and "Love is God." Of the Father alone Scripture does not know how to say that he is "from God". But when you hear "from God", either the Son or the Holy Spirit is understood. But since the apostle says, "The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us", let us understand that the Holy Spirit is in love. For he is the Holy Spirit, whom the wicked cannot receive; he is that spring of which Scripture says, "Let the spring of your water be your own, and let no stranger share it with you." For all who do not love God are strangers, are antichrists. And though they enter basilicas, they cannot be counted among the children of God; that spring of life does not belong to them. Even a bad man can have baptism; even a bad man can have prophecy. We find that King Saul had prophecy: he was persecuting holy David, and he was filled with the spirit of prophecy and began to prophesy. Even a bad man can receive the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord; for of such it was said, "Whoever eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself." Even a bad man can have the name of Christ, that is, even a bad man can be called a Christian; of whom it was said, "They polluted the name of their God." So even a bad man can have all these sacraments; but to have love and be bad is not possible. This, then, is the proper gift; this is the singular spring. The Spirit of God urges you to drink of this; the Spirit of God urges you to drink of himself.

"In this the love of God has been made manifest among us." See, we have an exhortation to love God. Could we love him unless he loved first? If we were slow to love, let us not be slow to love in return. He loved us first; not even so do we love him. He loved the wicked, but he dissolved their wickedness; he loved the wicked, but he did not gather them for wickedness. He loved the sick, but he visited them to heal them. So God is love. "In this the love of God has been made manifest among us, that he sent his only-begotten Son into this world, that we might live through him." As the Lord himself says, "No one can have greater love than this, to lay down his life for his friends"; and there Christ's love toward us was proved, because he died for us. How was the Father's love toward us proved? Because he sent his only Son to die for us; as the apostle Paul too says, "He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how has he not also given us all things with him?" See, the Father delivered up Christ, Judas delivered him up: does not the deed seem, as it were, alike? Judas is a betrayer: is God the Father, then, a betrayer too? "Far from it," you say. I do not say it, but the apostle says: "He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all." Both the Father delivered him up, and he delivered himself up. The same apostle says: "Who loved me and delivered himself up for me." If the Father delivered up the Son, and the Son delivered up himself, what did Judas do? A delivering up was done by the Father, a delivering up was done by the Son, a delivering up was done by Judas; one thing was done. But what distinguishes the Father delivering up the Son, the Son delivering up himself, and the disciple Judas delivering up his master? That the Father and the Son did this in love, but Judas did it in betrayal. You see that what a man does is not what is to be considered, but with what mind and will he does it. In the same deed in which we find Judas, we find God the Father: we bless the Father, we detest Judas. Why do we bless the Father and detest Judas? We bless love, we detest iniquity. For how much has been granted to the human race through the delivering up of Christ? Did Judas have this in mind when he delivered him up? God had in mind our salvation, by which we have been redeemed; Judas had in mind the price for which he sold the Lord. The Son himself had in mind the price which he gave for us; Judas had in mind the price which he received for selling him. So a different intention made the deeds different. Though it is one thing, if we measure it by the different intentions, we find one to be loved, the other to be condemned; one to be glorified, the other to be detested. So great is the power of love. See that it alone discerns, see that it alone distinguishes the deeds of men.

We have said this of like deeds. In different deeds we find a man made fierce by love, and one made gentle by iniquity. A father beats his boy, and a slave-dealer caresses him. If you set out the two things, blows and caresses, who would not choose the caresses and flee the blows? If you look at the persons, love beats, iniquity caresses. See what we are urging: that the deeds of men are not distinguished except by the root of love. For many things can be done that have a good appearance and do not proceed from the root of love. For thorns too have flowers; but some things seem harsh, seem savage, yet are done for discipline at the bidding of love. So once for all a short precept is given you: Love, and do what you will. If you keep silent, keep silent out of love; if you cry out, cry out out of love; if you correct, correct out of love; if you spare, spare out of love. Let the root of love be within; from this root nothing but good can come forth.

"In this is love." "In this the love of God has been made manifest among us, that God sent his only-begotten Son into this world, that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved, but that he loved us." We did not love him first; for he loved us for this, that we might love him. "And he sent his Son as a propitiator for our sins": a propitiator, a sacrificer. He sacrificed for our sins. Where did he find an offering? Where did he find a victim that he wanted to offer pure? He found no other; he offered himself. "Beloved, if God so loved us, we too ought to love one another." "Peter," he says, "do you love me?" And he said, "I love you." "Feed my sheep."

"No one has ever seen God": he is an invisible thing; he is to be sought not with the eye but with the heart. But just as, if we wanted to see this sun, we would cleanse the eye of the body, by which light can be seen, so, wanting to see God, let us cleanse the eye by which God can be seen. Where is that eye? Hear the Gospel: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." But let no one think of God according to the desire of the eyes. For such a one makes for himself either a huge form, or stretches out some immeasurable magnitude through places, enlarging this light which he sees with these eyes over the fields as far as he can; or he makes for himself an old man of venerable form, as it were. Think none of these things. There is something to think if you want to see God: God is love. What face has love? What form has it? What stature has it? What feet has it? What hands has it? No one can say. Yet it has feet, for they lead to the church; it has hands, for they reach out to the poor; it has eyes, for by them the one in need is noticed: "Blessed," he says, "is he who considers the needy and the poor." It has ears, of which the Lord says, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." They are not members separated by places; but whoever has love sees the whole at once by understanding. Dwell, and you will be dwelt in; abide, and it will abide in you. For what, my brothers: does anyone love what he does not see? Why, then, when love is praised, do you rouse yourselves, cry out, applaud? What have I shown you? Have I brought out some colours? Have I set out gold and silver? Have I dug jewels out of treasuries? What of this kind have I shown to your eyes? Has my face changed while I speak? I bear flesh; I am in the same form in which I came out; you are in the same form in which you came; love is praised, and you cry out. Certainly you see nothing. But as it pleases you when you praise it, so let it please you to keep it in your heart. For attend to what I say, brothers: I am exhorting you, as far as the Lord grants, to a great treasure. If some little vessel were shown you, embossed, gilded, elaborately made, and it attracted your eyes and drew the attention of your heart to itself, and the craftsman's hand pleased you, and the weight of the silver and the gleam of the metal, would not each of you say, "Oh, if I had that vessel!"? And you would say it in vain, for it was not in your power. Or if anyone wanted to have it, he would think of stealing it from another's house. Love is praised to you: if it pleases you, have it, possess it; there is no need to steal from anyone, no need to think of buying it; it costs nothing. Hold it, embrace it; nothing is sweeter than it. If it is such when it is spoken of, what is it when it is possessed?

If any of you wish to keep love, brothers, above all do not think it abject and slothful; nor that love is kept by a kind of gentleness, or rather not gentleness but laxity and negligence. It is not kept so. Do not think that you love your servant when you do not beat him, or that you love your son when you do not discipline him, or that you love your neighbour when you do not rebuke him: that is not love but feebleness. Let love be fervent to correct, to amend; but if conduct is good, let it delight you; if bad, let it be amended, corrected. Do not love the error in the man, but the man; for God made the man, the man himself made the error. Love what God made; do not love what the man himself made. When you love the one, you take away the other; when you love the one, you amend the other. But even if you are sometimes fierce, let it be for love of correction. That is why the brightness that came upon the Lord was shown in the form of a dove: that form of a dove, in which the Holy Spirit came, by whom love was to be poured into us. Why this? The dove has no gall; yet it fights for its nest with beak and wings; it is fierce without bitterness. A father does this too: when he chastises his son, he chastises him for discipline. As I said, the seducer caresses with bitterness in order to sell; the father chastises without gall in order to correct. Be such toward all. See, brothers, a great lesson, a great rule. Each one has children, or wants to have them; or if he has altogether decided not to have children according to the flesh, he desires to have them spiritually: who is there who does not correct his son? Who is there to whom a father does not give discipline? And yet he seems to be fierce. Love is fierce, charity is fierce: fierce, in a way, without gall, in the manner of the dove, not of the raven. Hence it came to my mind, my brothers, to tell you that those violators of love have made a schism: just as they hate love itself, so they hate the dove too. But the dove convicts them: it comes from heaven, the heavens are opened, and it abides on the Lord's head. Why this? So that John may hear, "This is he who baptizes." Away, you robbers; away, you invaders of Christ's possession! On your possessions, where you wish to be lords, you have dared to fix the title-marks of the Mighty One. He recognises his marks; he claims his possession for himself: he does not erase the marks, but enters and possesses. So for one who comes to the Catholic Church, baptism is not erased, lest the emperor's title-mark be erased. But what happens in the Catholic Church? The mark is recognised; the owner enters under his own marks, where the robber was entering under marks not his own.

Love is a sweet word, but a sweeter deed. We cannot always speak of it. For we do many things, and various activities draw us in different directions, so that our tongue is not free always to speak of love; for our tongue could do nothing better. But what we may not always speak of we may always keep. Just as now, when we sing Alleluia, do we always do this? For hardly the whole space of one hour, but a small part of it, do we sing Alleluia; and then we turn to something else. Now Alleluia, as you already know, is "Praise God." Whoever praises God with the tongue cannot always do it; whoever praises God with his conduct can always do it. Works of mercy, the affection of love, the holiness of godliness, the incorruption of chastity, the modesty of sobriety: these must always be kept, whether we are in public or at home, whether before men or in our chamber, whether speaking or silent, whether doing something or at leisure: these must always be kept, because all these virtues that I have named are within. But who is able to name them all? They are like the army of an emperor who sits within in your mind. For just as an emperor does what he pleases through his army, so the Lord Jesus Christ, beginning to dwell in our inner man, that is, in the mind through faith, uses these virtues as his ministers. And through these virtues, which cannot be seen with the eyes and yet are praised when they are named (and they would not be praised unless they were loved, nor loved unless they were seen; and if they would certainly not be loved unless they were seen, they are seen with another eye, that is, with the inner sight of the heart): through these invisible virtues the members are moved visibly: the feet to walk; but where? Where the good will moves them, which serves as a soldier under a good emperor. The hands to work; but what? What love commands, which has been breathed in within by the Holy Spirit. So the members are seen when they move; he who commands within is not seen. And who it is that commands within, almost only he knows who commands, and he within who is commanded.