Tractates on the Gospel of John 9.1–9.17

Augustine of Hippo · Tractates on the Gospel of John · ca. 406–420 · Hippo Regius · 17 passages

Latin text: Migne, PL 35 (Latin text: Migne, Patrologia Latina, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (patrologia_latina-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0). Compare: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888).

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Chapter 9

9.1PL 35:1457

Adsit Dominus Deus noster, ut donet nobis red dere quod promisimus. Hesterno enim die, si memi nit Sanctitas vestra, cum temporis excluderemur an gustia, ne sermonem inchoatum impleremus, in ho diernum distulimus, ut ea quæ in hoc facto evangelicae lectionis mystice in sacramentis posita essent, ipso adjuvante aperirentur. Non itaque opus est jam immorari diutius in commendando Dei miraculo. Ipse est enim Deus qui per universam creaturam quotidiana miracula facit, quæ hominibus non facilitate, sed as siduitate viluerunt: rara autem quae facta sunt ab eodem Domino, id est a Verbo propter nos incarnato, majorem stuporem hominibus attulerunt: non quia majora erant, quam sunt ea quae quotidie in creatura facit, sed quia ista quae quotidie fiunt, tanquam naturali cursu peraguntur; illa vero efficacia potentiae tanquam præsentis exhibita videntur oculis hominum. Diximus, sicut meministis, resurrexit unus mortuus, obstupuerunt homines; cum quotidie nasci qui non erant, nemo miretur. Sic aquam in vinum conversam quis non miretur, cum hoc annis omnibus Deus in vitibus faciat? Sed quia omnia quae fecit Dominus Jesus, non solum valent ad excitanda corda nostra mi raculis, sed etiam ad ædificanda in doctrina fidei; scrutari nos oportet quid sibi velint illa omnia, id est, quid significent. Horum enim omnium significationes, sicut recordamini, in hodiernum distulimus.

May the Lord our God be present, to grant us to pay what we promised. For yesterday, if your Holiness remembers, when we were shut out by the shortness of time from completing the sermon we had begun, we put off to today the opening up, with his help, of what was mystically set in sacraments in this deed of the Gospel reading. So there is no need now to linger longer in commending God's miracle. For he is the God who through the whole creation does daily miracles, which have become cheap to men not through their ease but through their regularity; but the rare things done by the same Lord, that is, by the Word incarnate for our sake, brought men greater amazement: not because they were greater than the things he does daily in creation, but because the things that happen daily are carried out as if by a natural course, while those seem to men's eyes to be displayed by the efficacy of a power, as it were, present. We said, as you remember, that one dead man rose again and men were astonished, while no one marvels that every day those are born who did not exist. So who does not marvel at water turned into wine, though God does this every year in the vines? But because all that the Lord Jesus did serves not only to rouse our hearts by miracles but also to build them up in the teaching of faith, we must search out what all those things mean, that is, what they signify. For, as you recall, we put off the meanings of all these things until today.

John 2:9 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Augustine resumes the sermon on Cana to explain what the miracle signifies, since Christ's deeds instruct faith as well as rousing wonder.

Allusion: John 2:1-11.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text (Dens → Deus); OCR slip in the digital text (Jc sus → Jesus); OCR slip in the digital text (ab co dem → ab eodem); OCR slip in the digital text (evangelica → evangelicae); OCR slip in the digital text (id cst → id est); OCR slip in the digital text (imp morari → immorari); OCR slip in the digital text (na turali → naturali); OCR slip in the digital text (nou erant → non erant); OCR slip in the digital text (potentio → potentiae); OCR slip in the digital text (qune → quae); OCR slip in the digital text (quotidiana. miracula → quotidiana miracula)): Dens → Deus; evangelica → evangelicae; imp morari → immorari; quotidiana. miracula → quotidiana miracula; ab co dem → ab eodem; qune → quae; na turali → naturali; potentio → potentiae; nou erant → non erant; Jc sus → Jesus; id cst → id est.

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 9.1 (PL 35:1457; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/9-1/#p-9-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne PL 35 (digital text, Open Greek and Latin), then compared batch by batch with the public-domain English of NPNF¹ 7 (Gibb and Innes, 1888); differences checked against the Latin.

9.2PL 35:1457–1459

Quod Dominus invitatus venit ad nuptias, etiam excepta mystica significatione, confirmare voluit quod ipse fecit nuptias. Futuri enim erant, de quibus dixit Apostolus, prohibentes nubere, et di centes quod malum essent nuptiæ, et quod diabolus eas fecisset: cum idem Dominus dicat in Evangelio, in terrogatus utrum liceat homini dimittere uxorem suam ex qualibet causa, non licere excepta causa fornicationis. In qua responsione, si meministis, hoc ait: Quod Deus conjunxit, homo non separet. Et qui bene eruditi sunt in fide catholica, noverunt quod Deus fecerit nuptias, et sicut conjunctio a Deo, ita divortium a diabolo sit. Sed propterea in causa fornicationis licet uxorem dimittere, quia ipsa esse uxor prior noluit, quæ fidem conjugalem marito non servavit. Nec illae quæ virginitatem Deo vovent, quan quam ampliorem gradum honoris et sanctitatis in Ec clesia teneant, sine nuptiis sunt: nam et ipsæ pertinent ad nuptias cum tota Ecclesia, in quibus nuptiis spon sus est Christus. Ac per hoc ergo Dominus invitatus venit ad nuptias, ut conjugalis castitas firmaretur, et ostenderetur sacramentum nuptiarum: quia et illa rum nuptiarum sponsus personam Domini figurabat, cui dictum est, Servasti vinum bonum usque adhuc. Bonum enim vinum Christus servavit usque adhuc, id est, Evangelium suum.

That the Lord, when invited, came to the wedding, even apart from its mystical meaning, he wished to confirm that he himself made marriage. For there were to be those of whom the apostle spoke, forbidding marriage and saying that marriage was evil and that the devil had made it; whereas the same Lord says in the Gospel, when asked whether it is lawful for a man to dismiss his wife for any cause, that it is not lawful, except for the cause of sexual immorality. In that answer, if you remember, he says this: "What God has joined, let man not separate." And those who are well instructed in the Catholic faith know that God made marriage, and that as the joining is from God, so divorce is from the devil. But it is lawful to dismiss a wife for the cause of sexual immorality for this reason: that she herself first refused to be a wife, by not keeping conjugal faith with her husband. Nor are those women who vow virginity to God, though they hold a higher rank of honor and holiness in the Church, without a marriage: for they too belong to the marriage together with the whole Church, a marriage in which the bridegroom is Christ. And for this reason, then, the Lord came to the wedding when invited, so that conjugal chastity might be confirmed and the sacrament of marriage shown: because the bridegroom of that wedding too figured the person of the Lord, to whom it was said, "You have kept the good wine until now." For Christ kept the good wine until now, that is, his Gospel.

Matt 19:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 19:9 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 5:32 (allusion, medium confidence) · Matt 19:6 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Tim 4:3 (allusion, high confidence) · John 2:10 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: By attending the wedding Christ confirmed that God made marriage, against those who would call it evil; as joining is from God, divorce is from the devil, dismissal being allowed only for sexual immorality, and consecrated virgins too share in the Church's marriage to Christ.

Quotations: Matt 19:3, 6, 9 (cf. Matt 5:32); John 2:10; allusion to 1 Tim 4:3. Those who forbade marriage and said the devil made it are the Manichees and similar groups. Augustine speaks here of dismissing (dimittere) a wife for sexual immorality (fornicatio); he does not address remarriage in this passage. Translated as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text (Do. num enim → Bonum enim); OCR slip in the digital text (Dominusdicat → Dominus dicat); OCR slip in the digital text (Donnini → Domini); OCR slip in the digital text (Ocus → Deus); OCR slip in the digital text (boc ait → hoc ait); OCR slip in the digital text (erodili → eruditi); OCR slip in the digital text (foruicatio nis → fornicationis); OCR slip in the digital text (nuptias Futuri → nuptias. Futuri)): nuptias Futuri → nuptias. Futuri; Dominusdicat → Dominus dicat; foruicatio nis → fornicationis; boc ait → hoc ait; erodili → eruditi; Ocus → Deus; Donnini → Domini; Do. num enim → Bonum enim.

Topics: Marriage, Divorce, Divorce and remarriage

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 9.2 (PL 35:1457–1459; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/9-1/#p-9-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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9.3PL 35:1459

Jam enim incipiamus ipsa sacramentorum operta detegere, quantum ille donat in cujus nomine vobis promisimus. Erat prophetia antiquis temporibus, et a prophetiae dispensatione nulla tempora cessaverunt: sed illa prophetia, quando in illa Christus non intelli gebatur, aqua erat. In aqua enim vinum quodammo do latet. Dicit Apostolus quid intelligamus in ista aqua: Usque ad hodiernum, inquit, diem, quamdiu legitur Moyses, idipsum velamen super cor eorum positum est; quod non revelatur, quia in Christo evacuatur. Et cum transieris, inquit, ad Dominum, auferetur velamen. Velamen dicit adopertionem prophetiæ, ut non intelligeretur. Tolli tur velamen, cum transieris ad Dominum: sic tolli tur insipientia, cum transieris ad Dominum, et quod aqua erat, vinum tibi fit. Lege libros omnes prophe ticos, non intellecto Christo, quid tam insipidum et fatuum invenies? Intellige ibi Christum, non solum sapit quod legis, sed etiam inebriat; mutans mentem a corpore, ut praeterita obliviscens, in ea quae ante sunt extendaris.

Now let us begin to uncover the hidden things of the sacraments themselves, as far as he grants in whose name we made you the promise. There was prophecy in ancient times, and no times have been without the dispensation of prophecy; but that prophecy, when Christ was not understood in it, was water. For in water wine is in a sense hidden. The apostle tells us what we should understand in this water: "To this very day," he says, "whenever Moses is read, the same veil lies upon their heart; it is not lifted, because in Christ it is done away. And when you have passed over," he says, "to the Lord, the veil will be taken away." By the veil he means the covering of prophecy, so that it was not understood. The veil is taken away when you have passed over to the Lord: so foolishness is taken away when you have passed over to the Lord, and what was water becomes wine for you. Read all the prophetic books without understanding Christ: what will you find so insipid and flat? Understand Christ there, and what you read not only has taste but even makes you drunk, changing your mind from the body, so that, forgetting what lies behind, you stretch out to what lies ahead.

2 Cor 3:14 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 3:15 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 3:16 (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 3:13 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The water at Cana signifies Old Testament prophecy read without Christ, insipid as water; when Christ is understood in it, the veil is removed and it becomes intoxicating wine.

Quotations: 2 Cor 3:14-16 (in a form close to the Old Latin); allusion to Phil 3:13. Augustine's reading of the veil 'upon their heart' (the Jews reading Moses) follows Paul; translated as written. A stray 'I' in the digital text is removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text (< Usque → Usque); OCR slip in the digital text (adoperlionem → adopertionem); OCR slip in the digital text (aute sunt → ante sunt); OCR slip in the digital text (revelatur I, → revelatur,); OCR slip in the digital text (velamen >, → velamen.)): < Usque → Usque; revelatur I, → revelatur,; velamen >, → velamen.; adoperlionem → adopertionem; aute sunt → ante sunt.

Topics: Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 9.3 (PL 35:1459; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/9-1/#p-9-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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9.4PL 35:1459

Ergo prophetia ab antiquis temporibus, ex quo prorsus currit ordo nascentium in genere humano, de Christo non tacuit: sed occultum ibi erat; adhuc enim erat aqua. Unde probamus quod omnibus temporibus superioribus usque ad aetatem qua Dominus venit, prophetia de illo non defuit? Ipso Domino dicente. Cum enim resurrexisset a mortuis, invenit discipulos dubi tantes de ipso quem secuti erant. Viderunt enim eum mortuum, et non speraverunt resurrecturum, et tota spes eorum concidit. Unde ille latro laudatus, ipso die meruit esse in paradiso? Quia in cruce fixus tunc confessus est Christum, quando de illo discipuli dubitaverunt. Ergo invenit eos nutantes, et quodammodo arguentes seipsos quod in illo redemptio nem speraverant. Dolebant tamen eum sine culpa oc cisum, quia noverant innocentem. Et hoc ipsi post resurrectionem dixerunt, cum quosdam eorum tristes invenisset in via: Tu solus peregrinaris in Jerusa lem, et non cognovisti quae facta sunt in illa istis diebus? Ille autem dixit eis: Quae? Illi autem dixerunt: De Jesu Nazareno, qui fuit vir propheta, potens in fa ctis et dictis in conspectu Dei et universi populi, quo modo hunc tradiderunt sacerdotes et principes nostri in damnationem mortis, et cruci eum fixerunt. Nos autem sperabamus, quia ipse erat qui redempturus esset Israel; et nunc tertius dies agitur hodie, ex quo haec facta sunt. Haec atque alia cum dixisset unus ex duobus quos invenit in via euntes ad propinquum castellum; respondit ipse et ait: O insensati et tar di corde ad credendum super omnia quae locuti sunt Prophetae! nonne haec omnia oportebat pati Christum, et introire in claritatem suam? Et fuit incipiens a Moyse et omnibus Prophetis, interpretans illis in om nibus Scripturis, quae de ipso erant. Item alio loco, cum etiam palpari se manibus discipulorum voluit, ut crederent quia in corpore resurrexerat: Hi sunt, inquit, sermones, quos locutus sum ad vos, cum adhuc essem vobiscum, quia oporteret impleri omnia quae scripta sunt in Lege Moysi, et Prophetis; et Psalmis de me. Tunc adaperuit illis sensum, ut intelligerent Scripturas, et dixit illis: Quia sic scriptum est, pati Christum, et resurgere a mortuis tertia die, et prædi cari in nomine ejus pœnitentiam et remissionem pec catorum in omnes gentes, incipiens ab Jerusalem.

So prophecy, from ancient times, from the moment the succession of births in the human race began to run, has not been silent about Christ; but it was hidden there, for it was still water. How do we prove that in all the earlier times up to the age in which the Lord came, prophecy about him was not lacking? From the Lord's own words. For when he had risen from the dead, he found his disciples doubting about him whom they had followed. For they had seen him dead and did not hope that he would rise again, and all their hope collapsed. Why did that praised thief merit to be in paradise on that very day? Because, fixed on the cross, he confessed Christ then, when the disciples doubted about him. So he found them wavering, and in a way reproaching themselves for having hoped for redemption in him. Yet they grieved that he had been killed without guilt, because they knew him to be innocent. And they themselves said this after the resurrection, when he found some of them sad on the road: "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who has not known the things that have happened there in these days? And he said to them, What things? And they said, About Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people; how our priests and rulers handed him over to be condemned to death, and fixed him to the cross. But we hoped that he was the one who would redeem Israel; and now today is the third day since these things happened." When one of the two whom he found on the road going to the nearby village had said this and more, he himself answered and said: "O foolish and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer all these things and enter into his glory? And beginning from Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." Again in another place, when he also wished to be touched by the disciples' hands, so that they might believe that he had risen in the body, he said: "These are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem."

Luke 24:18 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 24:19 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 24:20 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 24:21 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 24:25 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 24:26 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 24:27 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 24:44 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 24:45 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 24:46 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 24:47 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 23:43 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 24:39 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Prophecy about Christ has run through all ages but was hidden like water, as the risen Christ showed when he opened the Scriptures to the disciples on the road to Emmaus and in Jerusalem.

Quotations: Luke 24:18-21, 25-27, 44-47; allusions to Luke 23:42-43; Luke 24:39. Stray quotation marks and letters in the digital text are removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text (Ergoinveniteos → Ergo invenit eos); OCR slip in the digital text (Jerusalem. > → Jerusalem.); OCR slip in the digital text (PsalJnis → Psalmis); OCR slip in the digital text (adbuc enim crat → adhuc enim erat); OCR slip in the digital text (c Tu solus → Tu solus); OCR slip in the digital text (ct non speraverunt → et non speraverunt); OCR slip in the digital text (de. illo → de illo); OCR slip in the digital text (dic bus → diebus); OCR slip in the digital text (erant. i Item → erant. Item); OCR slip in the digital text (hodie t, → hodie,); OCR slip in the digital text (resurrexerat: < Hi → resurrexerat: Hi); OCR slip in the digital text (schsum → sensum); OCR slip in the digital text (secuLi → secuti); OCR slip in the digital text (« Oinsensati → O insensati)): adbuc enim crat → adhuc enim erat; secuLi → secuti; ct non speraverunt → et non speraverunt; de. illo → de illo; Ergoinveniteos → Ergo invenit eos; c Tu solus → Tu solus; dic bus → diebus; hodie t, → hodie,; « Oinsensati → O insensati; erant. i Item → erant. Item; resurrexerat: < Hi → resurrexerat: Hi; PsalJnis → Psalmis; schsum → sensum; Jerusalem. > → Jerusalem..

Topics: Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 9.4 (PL 35:1459; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/9-1/#p-9-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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9.5PL 35:1459–1461

His ex Evangelio, quae certe manifesta sunt, intel lectis, patebunt illa omnia mysteria quæ in isto miracu lo Domini latent. Videte quid ait, quia oportebat imple ri in Christo quae de illo scripta sunt. Ubi scripta sunt? In Lege, inquit, et Prophetis, et Psalmis. Nihil Scriptu rarum veterum prætermisit. Illa erat aqua; et ideo di cti sunt illi a Domino insensati, quia eis adhuc aqua sapiebat, non vinum. Quomodo autem fecit de aqua vinum? Cum aperuit eis sensum, et exposuit eis Scri pturas, incipiens a Moyse per omnes Prophetas. Unde jam inebriati dicebant, Nonne cor nostrum erat ardens in via, cum aperiret nobis Scripturas? Intellexerunt enim Christum in his Libris in quibus eum non noverant. Mutavit ergo aquam in vinum Dominus noster Jesus Christus, et sapit quod non sapiebat, inebriat quod non inebriabat. Si enim jussisset inde aquam effundi, et sic ipse mitteret vinum ex occultis creaturæ sinibus, unde fecit et panem quando saturavit tot millia: non enim quinque panes habebant quinque millium hominum saturitatem, aut saltem duodecim cophinos plenos, sed omnipotentia Domini quasi fons panis erat; sic posset et effusa aqua vinum infundere: quod si fecisset, videretur Scripturas ve teres improbasse. Cum autem ipsam aquam convertit in vinum, ostendit nobis quod et Scriptura vetus ab ipso est: nam jussu ipsius impletae sunt hydriae. A Domino quidem et illa Scriptura; sed nihil sapit, si non ibi Christus intelligatur.

When these things from the Gospel, which are certainly plain, have been understood, all those mysteries that lie hidden in this miracle of the Lord will be open. See what he says: that what was written about Christ had to be fulfilled in him. Where was it written? "In the law," he says, "and the prophets and the psalms." He left out nothing of the old Scriptures. That was the water; and that is why they were called foolish by the Lord, because to them it still tasted of water, not wine. And how did he make wine from the water? When he opened their minds and explained the Scriptures to them, beginning from Moses through all the prophets. Hence, now made drunk, they said, "Was not our heart burning on the road, when he opened the Scriptures to us?" For they understood Christ in those books in which they had not known him. So our Lord Jesus Christ changed the water into wine, and what had no taste has taste, what did not make drunk makes drunk. For if he had ordered the water to be poured out from there, and had himself put in wine from the hidden recesses of creation, as he made bread when he fed so many thousands (for five loaves did not contain the fill of five thousand men, or even the twelve full baskets, but the Lord's omnipotence was as it were a fountain of bread), so he could also have poured in wine once the water was poured out: if he had done that, he would have seemed to reject the old Scriptures. But when he turned the water itself into wine, he showed us that the old Scripture too is from him: for the jars were filled at his command. That Scripture too is indeed from the Lord; but it has no taste unless Christ is understood there.

Luke 24:44 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 24:32 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 24:25 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 24:27 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 24:45 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 14:20 (allusion, high confidence) · John 2:7 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ turned the water itself into wine, rather than pouring it out, to show that the Old Testament is from him but has its savor only when he is understood in it, as on the road to Emmaus.

Quotations: Luke 24:44; Luke 24:32; allusions to Luke 24:25, 27, 45; Matt 14:17-21; John 2:7.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text (Libri,s → Libris); OCR slip in the digital text (ardenp → ardens); OCR slip in the digital text (in ebriatquodnoninebriabat → inebriat quod non inebriabat); OCR slip in the digital text (manifestasunt → manifesta sunt); OCR slip in the digital text (node fecit → unde fecit); OCR slip in the digital text (patcbuntilla → patebunt illa); OCR slip in the digital text (si r non → si non); OCR slip in the digital text (sunt! In Lege → sunt? In Lege)): manifestasunt → manifesta sunt; patcbuntilla → patebunt illa; sunt! In Lege → sunt? In Lege; ardenp → ardens; Libri,s → Libris; in ebriatquodnoninebriabat → inebriat quod non inebriabat; node fecit → unde fecit; si r non → si non.

Topics: Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 9.5 (PL 35:1459–1461; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/9-1/#p-9-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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9.6PL 35:1461

Intendite autem quod ipse ait, Quœ scripta sunt in Lege, et Prophetis, et Psalmis de me. Novimus autem Legem ex quibus temporibus narret, id est, ab exordio mundi: In principio fecit Deus coelum et terram. Inde usque ad hoc tempus quod nunc agi mus, sexta aetas est, ut saepe audistis et nostis. Nam prima aetas computatur ab Adam usque ad Noe: se cunda a Noe usque ad Abraham: et sicut Matthaeus Evangelista per ordinem sequitur et distinguit, tertia ab Abraham usque ad David: quarta a David usque ad transmigrationem in Babyloniam: quinta a trans migratione in Babyloniam usque ad Joannem Bapti stam: sexta inde usque ad finem sae culi. Propterea et sexta die fecit Deus hominem ad imaginem suam: quia sexta ista aetate manifestatur per Evangelium reformatio mentis no strae, secundum imaginem ejus qui creavit nos; et convertitur aqua in vinum; ut jam mani festatum Christum in Lege et Prophetis sapiamus. Ideo erant ibi sex hydriae, quas jussit impleri aqua. Sex ergo illæ hydriae, sex aetates significant, quibus non defuit prophetia. Illa ergo tempora sex, quasi articulis distributa atque distincta, quasi vasa essent ina nia, nisi a Christo implerentur. Quid dixi, tempora quae inaniter currerent, nisi in eis Dominus Jesus præ dicaretur? Impletae sunt prophetiae, plenae sunt hy driæ: sed ut aqua in vinum convertatur, in illa tota prophetia Christus intelligatur.

But note what he says: "The things that are written in the law and the prophets and the psalms about me." Now we know from what times the law narrates, that is, from the beginning of the world: "In the beginning God made heaven and earth." From then up to this time in which we now live is the sixth age, as you have often heard and know. For the first age is counted from Adam to Noah; the second from Noah to Abraham; and, as Matthew the evangelist follows and distinguishes them in order, the third from Abraham to David; the fourth from David to the deportation to Babylon; the fifth from the deportation to Babylon to John the Baptist; the sixth from then to the end of the world. That is why God also made man in his image on the sixth day: because in this sixth age the renewal of our mind according to the image of him who created us is made manifest through the Gospel, and water is turned into wine, so that we may now taste Christ made manifest in the law and the prophets. That is why there were six jars there, which he ordered to be filled with water. So those six jars signify six ages, in which prophecy was not lacking. Those six periods, then, divided and distinguished as by joints, would be like empty vessels unless they were filled by Christ. Why did I say "periods that would run on emptily" unless the Lord Jesus were preached in them? The prophecies have been fulfilled, the jars are full; but for the water to be turned into wine, Christ must be understood in that whole prophecy.

Luke 24:44 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 1:1 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 1:17 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 1:27 (allusion, high confidence) · Col 3:10 (allusion, high confidence) · John 2:6 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The six jars signify the six ages of the world, from Adam to the present age that began with John the Baptist, all filled with prophecy that becomes wine when Christ is understood in it; in the sixth age, as on the sixth day, man is renewed in God's image.

Quotations: Luke 24:44; Gen 1:1; allusions to Matt 1:17; Gen 1:26-27; Col 3:10; John 2:6-7. Migne's inline reference '(Gen I, i)' is removed. The scheme of six ages of the world is Augustine's.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text (Abrabam → Abraham); OCR slip in the digital text (CUrrerent → currerent); OCR slip in the digital text (Cbristum → Christum); OCR slip in the digital text (Ilia ergo → Illa ergo); OCR slip in the digital text (ar tjculis → articulis); OCR slip in the digital text (boc tempus → hoc tempus); OCR slip in the digital text (bydriae → hydriae); OCR slip in the digital text (hydrice → hydriae); OCR slip in the digital text (in ilia tota → in illa tota); OCR slip in the digital text (qdibus → quibus); OCR slip in the digital text (seita die feeit Deus bominem → sexta die fecit Deus hominem); OCR slip in the digital text (terram (Gen I, i). → terram.)): terram (Gen I, i). → terram.; boc tempus → hoc tempus; Abrabam → Abraham; seita die feeit Deus bominem → sexta die fecit Deus hominem; Cbristum → Christum; hydrice → hydriae; bydriae → hydriae; qdibus → quibus; Ilia ergo → Illa ergo; ar tjculis → articulis; CUrrerent → currerent; in ilia tota → in illa tota.

Topics: Scripture and canon, Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 9.6 (PL 35:1461; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/9-1/#p-9-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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9.7PL 35:1461

Quid est ergo, Capiebant metretas binas vel ter nas? Mysterium nobis maxime ista locutio commendat. Metretas enim dicit mensuras quasdam, tanquam si diceret urnas, amphoras, vel si quid hujusmodi. No men mensuræ est metreta, et a mensura accepit nomen ista mensura. Μέτρον enim mensuram dicunt Græci: inde appellatae metretæ. Capiebant ergo metretas binas vel ternas. Quid dicimus, fratres? Si ternas tantum di ceret, non curreret animus noster nisi ad mysterium Trinitatis. Sed forte nec sic debemus inde cito jam sensum avertere, quia dixit binas vel ternas: quia nominato Patre et Filio, consequenter et Spiritus san ctus intelligendus est. Spiritus enim sanctus non est Patris tantummodo, aut Filii tantummodo Spiritus; sed Patris et Filii Spiritus: Scriptum est enim, Si quis dilexerit mundum, non est Spiritus Patris in illo: item scriptum est, Quisquis autem Spiritum Christi non habet, hic non est ejus. Idem autem Spiritus Patris et Filii. Nominato itaque Patre et Filio, intelligitur et Spiritus sanctus; quia Spiritus est Patris et Filii. Cum autem nominatur Pater et Filius, tanquam duae metretae nominantur, cum autem ibi intelligitur Spiritus sanctus, tres metretae. Ideo non dictum est, capientes metretas aliae binas, aliae ternas: sed ipsae sex hydriae capiebant metretas binas vel ternas. Tanquam diceret, Et quando dico binas; etiam Spiri tum Patris et Filii cum his intelligi volo: et quando dico ternas, ipsam Trinitatem manifestius enuntio.

What, then, does "they held two or three measures each" mean? This expression commends a mystery to us especially. For by "measures" (metretas) he means certain measures, as if he said urns, amphoras, or something of that sort. The word metreta is the name of a measure, and this measure took its name from measuring. For the Greeks call a measure metron; hence they are called metretae. "So they held two or three measures each." What do we say, brothers? If he had said "three" only, our mind would run only to the mystery of the Trinity. But perhaps not even so ought we to turn our understanding quickly away from it because he said "two or three": because when the Father and the Son have been named, the Holy Spirit too is consequently to be understood. For the Holy Spirit is not the Spirit of the Father only, or the Spirit of the Son only, but the Spirit of the Father and of the Son. For it is written, "If anyone loves the world, the Spirit of the Father is not in him"; again it is written, "But whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him." And the same is the Spirit of the Father and of the Son. So when the Father and the Son are named, the Holy Spirit is understood too, because he is the Spirit of the Father and of the Son. And when the Father and the Son are named, it is as if two measures are named; but when the Holy Spirit is understood there, three measures. That is why it was not said, "holding measures, some two, others three"; but the six jars themselves held "two or three measures each." As if he said: "And when I say two, I want the Spirit of the Father and of the Son to be understood with them; and when I say three, I state the Trinity itself more plainly."

John 2:6 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 John 2:15 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 8:9 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The jars holding 'two or three measures' signify the Trinity: naming the Father and the Son implies the Spirit, who is the Spirit of both, and 'three' states the Trinity openly.

Quotations: John 2:6; 1 John 2:15 (in a form reading 'Spirit of the Father' where the Vulgate has 'love of the Father'); Rom 8:9. The Greek metron is printed by Augustine. His teaching that the Spirit is the Spirit of both Father and Son is translated as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text (F'i. lius → Filius); OCR slip in the digital text (alae ternas → aliae ternas); OCR slip in the digital text (binas vel ternas Quid → binas vel ternas. Quid); OCR slip in the digital text (eat Spiritus Patritin → est Spiritus Patris in); OCR slip in the digital text (eliam → etiam); OCR slip in the digital text (eriim → enim); OCR slip in the digital text (etFiHi → et Filii); OCR slip in the digital text (hie non eat → hic non est); OCR slip in the digital text (intellgitur → intelligitur); OCR slip in the digital text (metrcia → metreta); OCR slip in the digital text (mysterium' Trinitatis → mysterium Trinitatis); OCR slip in the digital text (non' dictum → non dictum); OCR slip in the digital text (qtiia do minato → quia nominato); OCR slip in the digital text (sf diceret → si diceret); OCR slip in the digital text (tocutio → locutio)): tocutio → locutio; sf diceret → si diceret; metrcia → metreta; binas vel ternas Quid → binas vel ternas. Quid; mysterium' Trinitatis → mysterium Trinitatis; qtiia do minato → quia nominato; eriim → enim; eat Spiritus Patritin → est Spiritus Patris in; hie non eat → hic non est; etFiHi → et Filii; F'i. lius → Filius; intellgitur → intelligitur; non' dictum → non dictum; alae ternas → aliae ternas; eliam → etiam.

Topics: Trinity

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 9.7 (PL 35:1461; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/9-1/#p-9-7). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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9.8PL 35:1461

Quisquis itaque nominat Patrem et Filium, opor tet ibi intelligat tanquam charitatem invicem Patris et Filii, quod est Spiritus sanctus. Fortassis enim dis cussæ Scripturae: quod non sic dico, ut hodie docere possim, aut quasi aliud inveniri non possit: sed ta men fortasse scrutatae Scripturæ indicant quod Spiri tus sanctus charitas est. Et ne putetis vilem esse charitatem. Quomodo autem vilis est, quando omnia quae dicuntur non vilia, chara dicuntur? Si ergo quae non sunt vilia, chara sunt; quid est charius ipsa charitate? Sic autem commendatur charitas ab Apostolo, ut dicat: Supereminentiorem viam vobis demon stro. Si linguis hominum loquar et Angelorum, charitatem autem non habeam, factus sum aeramentum sonans, aut cymbalum tinniens: et si sciero omnia sacramenta et omnem scientiam, et habuero prophe tiam et omnem fidem, ita ut montes transferam, cha ritatem autem non habeam, nihil sum: et si distri buero omnia mea pauperibus, et tradidero corpus meum ut ardeam, charitatem autem non habeam, ni hil mihi prodest. Quanta est ergo charitas, quae si desit, frustra habentur caetera; si adsit, recte habentur omnia? Tamen charita tem laudans apostolus Paulus copiosissime atque uber rime, minus de illa dixit quam quod ait breviter apo stolus Joannes, cujus est hoc Evangelium. Neque enim dubitavit dicere, Deus charitas est. Scriptum est etiam, Quia charitas Dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris per Spiritum sanctum qui datus est nobis. Quis ergo nominet Patrem et Filium, et non ibi intelligat charitatem Patris et Filii? Quam cum habere coeperit, Spiritum sanctum habebit: quam si non habuerit, sine Spiritu sancto erit. Et quomodo corpus tuum sine spiritu, quod est anima tua, si fuerit, mortuum est; sic anima tua sine Spiritu sancto, id est, sine charitate si fuerit, mortua dèputabitur. Ergo me tretas binas capiebant hydriœ, quia in omnium tempo rum prophetia Pater et Filius praedicatur: sed ibi est et Spiritus sanctus; ideoque adjunctum est, vel ternas. Ego et Pater, inquit, unum sumus: sed absit ut desit Spiritus sanctus, ubi audimus, Ego et Pater unum sumus. Tamen quia Patrem et Filium nominavit, capiant hydriœ binas metretas; sed audi, vel ternas: Ite, baptizate gentes in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti. Itaque in eo quod binæ, non exprimitur, sed intelligitur; in eo vero quod dicuntur vel ternæ, etiam expri mitur Trinitas.

So whoever names the Father and the Son ought to understand there, as it were, the mutual love of the Father and the Son, which is the Holy Spirit. For perhaps the Scriptures, when examined (I do not say this as if I could teach it today, or as if nothing else could be found; but still, perhaps the Scriptures, when searched), indicate that the Holy Spirit is love. And do not think love a cheap thing. But how is it cheap, when all things that are called not cheap are called dear (chara)? If, then, things that are not cheap are dear, what is dearer than dearness (charitas) itself? And love is so commended by the apostle that he says: "I show you a still more excellent way. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal; and if I know all sacraments and all knowledge, and have prophecy and all faith, so that I could move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing; and if I distribute all my goods to the poor, and deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing." How great, then, is love, without which all other things are had in vain, and with which all things are rightly had! Yet the apostle Paul, praising love most copiously and abundantly, said less of it than what the apostle John, whose Gospel this is, said briefly. For he did not hesitate to say, "God is love." It is also written, "Because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Who, then, would name the Father and the Son and not understand there the love of the Father and the Son? When one begins to have it, he will have the Holy Spirit; if he does not have it, he will be without the Holy Spirit. And just as your body, if it is without the spirit, which is your soul, is dead, so your soul, if it is without the Holy Spirit, that is, without love, will be reckoned dead. So the jars held two measures each, because in the prophecy of all the ages the Father and the Son are preached; but the Holy Spirit is there too, and therefore it is added, "or three." "I and the Father," he says, "are one": but far be it that the Holy Spirit should be absent where we hear, "I and the Father are one." Yet because he named the Father and the Son, let the jars hold two measures; but hear, "or three": "Go, baptize the nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." So in their being "two," the Trinity is not expressed but understood; but in their being said to be "or three," the Trinity is also expressed.

1 Cor 12:31 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 13:1 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 13:2 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 13:3 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 John 4:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 5:5 (quotation, high confidence) · John 10:30 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 28:19 (quotation, high confidence) · John 2:6 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The Holy Spirit is the mutual love of the Father and the Son, so 'two measures' implies the Spirit and 'three' expresses the Trinity; without this love, poured out by the Spirit, the soul is dead.

Quotations: 1 Cor 12:31-13:3; 1 John 4:8, 16; Rom 5:5; John 10:30; Matt 28:19; John 2:6. Augustine plays on charus ('dear') and charitas ('love'). His identification of the Holy Spirit with the love of Father and Son is translated as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text (Patris ei Filii et Spirilus → Patris et Filii et Spiritus); OCR slip in the digital text (bominum → hominum); OCR slip in the digital text (cbaritatem → charitatem); OCR slip in the digital text (cba ritate → charitate); OCR slip in the digital text (charilatem → charitatem); OCR slip in the digital text (cha ritatcm → charitatem); OCR slip in the digital text (cor. dibus → cordibus); OCR slip in the digital text (crit → erit); OCR slip in the digital text (eas tera → caetera); OCR slip in the digital text (eat nobis → est nobis); OCR slip in the digital text (habcam → habeam); OCR slip in the digital text (habuerlt → habuerit); OCR slip in the digital text (intelligi tor → intelligitur); OCR slip in the digital text (lie, baptizate → Ite, baptizate); OCR slip in the digital text (prodest >. → prodest.); OCR slip in the digital text (quomodo ' corpus → quomodo corpus); OCR slip in the digital text (vet ternas → vel ternas); OCR slip in the digital text (« Supereminentiorem → Supereminentiorem)): charilatem → charitatem; cba ritate → charitate; « Supereminentiorem → Supereminentiorem; bominum → hominum; cha ritatcm → charitatem; habcam → habeam; cbaritatem → charitatem; prodest >. → prodest.; eas tera → caetera; cor. dibus → cordibus; eat nobis → est nobis; habuerlt → habuerit; crit → erit; quomodo ' corpus → quomodo corpus; vet ternas → vel ternas; lie, baptizate → Ite, baptizate; Patris ei Filii et Spirilus → Patris et Filii et Spiritus; intelligi tor → intelligitur.

Topics: Trinity

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 9.8 (PL 35:1461; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/9-1/#p-9-8). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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9.9PL 35:1461–1463

Sed est et alius intellectus non prætermittendus, et ipsum dicam: eligat quisque quod placet; nos quod suggeritur non subtrahimus. Mensa enim Do mini est, et non oportet ministrum fraudare convivas, praesertim sic esurientes, ut appareat aviditas vestra. Prophetia quae ab antiquis temporibus dispensatur, ad salutem omnium gentium pertinet. Ad solum qui dem populum Israel missus est Moyses, et ei soli populo per eum Lex data est, et ipsi Prophetæ ex illo populo fuerunt, et ipsa distributio temporum secun dum eumdem populum distincta est; unde et hydriae dicuntur secundum purificationem Judaeorum: sed ta men quod illa prophetia etiam caeteris gentibus annun tiabatur, manifestum est; quandoquidem Christus in eo occultus erat, in quo benedicuntur omnes gentes, sicut promissum est Abrahae dicente Domino, In se mine tuo benedicentur omnes gentes. Nondum autem intelligebatur, quia nondum aqua conversa erat in vinum. Ergo omnibus gentibus dis pensabatur prophetia. Quod ut emineat jucundius, de singulis aetatibus, tanquam de singulis hydriis, pro tempore quaedam commemoremus.

But there is also another interpretation that must not be passed over, and I will state it: let each choose what he pleases; we do not withhold what is suggested to us. For it is the table of the Lord, and the minister ought not to cheat the guests, especially those so hungry that your eagerness is apparent. The prophecy that has been dispensed from ancient times concerns the salvation of all nations. Moses, indeed, was sent to the people of Israel alone, and to that people alone was the law given through him; and the prophets themselves were from that people, and the very division of the ages was marked out according to that same people; hence also the jars are said to be "for the purification of the Jews." But still, that this prophecy was announced to the other nations too is plain, since Christ was hidden in him in whom all nations are blessed, as was promised to Abraham when the Lord said, "In your seed shall all nations be blessed." But it was not yet understood, because the water had not yet been turned into wine. So prophecy was dispensed to all nations. And so that this may stand out more pleasantly, let us mention, as time allows, some things about the individual ages, as about the individual jars.

John 2:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 22:18 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: In another interpretation, the prophecy signified by the jars, though given through Israel, concerns the salvation of all nations, as promised to Abraham; Augustine will go through the ages as six jars.

Quotations: John 2:6; Gen 22:18. Stray marks in the digital text are removed.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text (Judceorum → Judaeorum); OCR slip in the digital text (Quod at emineat → Quod ut emineat); OCR slip in the digital text (apparcat aviditas vestra I. → appareat aviditas vestra.); OCR slip in the digital text (atius → alius); OCR slip in the digital text (cumdem → eumdem); OCR slip in the digital text (ficiunt → fuerunt); OCR slip in the digital text (p0- pulo per cum → populo per eum); OCR slip in the digital text (£entibus → gentibus)): atius → alius; apparcat aviditas vestra I. → appareat aviditas vestra.; p0- pulo per cum → populo per eum; ficiunt → fuerunt; cumdem → eumdem; Judceorum → Judaeorum; £entibus → gentibus; Quod at emineat → Quod ut emineat.

Topics: Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 9.9 (PL 35:1461–1463; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/9-1/#p-9-9). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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9.10PL 35:1463

In ipso exordio Adam et Eva parentes omnium gentium erant, non tantummodo Judæorum; et quid quid figurabatur in Adam de Christo, ad omnes utique gentes pertinebat, quibus salus est in Christo. Quid ergo potissimum dicam de aqua primae hydriae, nisi quod Apostolus ait de Adam et Eva? Nemo enim me dicet prave intellexisse, quando intellectum non meum, sed Apostoli profero. Illud ergo unum quan tum mysterium de Christo continet, quod commemo rat Apostolus, dicens, Et erunt duo in carne una: sa cramentum hoc magnum est? Et ne quis magnitudinem istam sacramenti in singulis quibusque hominibus uxores habentibus intelligeret, Ego autem, inquit, dico in Christo et in Ecclesia. Quod est hoc sacramentum magnum, Erunt duo in carne una? Cum de Adam et Eva Scriptura Geneseos lo queretur, unde ventum est ad haec verba, Propterea relinquet homo patrem et matrem, et adhærebit uxori suæ; et erunt duo in carne una. Si ergo Christus adhaesit Ecclesiae, ut essent duo in carne una, quomodo reliquit Patrem? quomodo matrem? Reliquit Patrem, quia cum in forma Dei esset, non rapinam arbitratus est esse aequalis Deo, sed semet ipsum exinanivit, formam servi accipiens. Hoc est enim, reliquit Patrem, non quia deseruit et recessit a Patre; sed quia non ea in forma apparuit hominibus in qua aequalis est Patri. Quomodo reliquit matrem? Relinquendo synagogam Judæorum, de qua secundum carnem natus est; et inhaerendo Ecclesiæ, quam ex omnibus gentibus congregavit. Ergo et prima hydria habebat prophetiam de Christo: sed quando ista quae loquor non praedicabantur in po pulis, adhuc aqua erat, in vinum mutata nondum erat. Et quia illuminavit nos per Apostolum Domi nus, ut ostenderet nobis quid ibi quaereremus in ipsa una sententia, Erunt duo in carne una; sacramentum magnum in Christo et in Ecclesia; jam licet nobis ubique Christum quaerere, et de omnibus hydriis vinum po tare. Dormit Adam ut fiat Eva: moritur Christus ut fiat Ecclesia. Dormienti Adae fit Eva de latere: mortuo Christo lancea percutitur latus, ut profluant sacramenta, quibus formetur Ecclesia. Cui non appareat quia in illis tunc factis fu tura figurata sunt, quandoquidem dicit Apostolus ipsum Adam formam futuri esse? Qui est, inquit, forma futuri. Præfigurabantur omnia mystice. Neque enim vere non poterat Deus vigilanti costam educere, feminamque formare. An forte ne doleret latus quando costa detracta est, propter hoc oportebat ut ille dormiret? Quis est qui sic dormiat, ut ei ossa non evigilanti evellantur? An quia Deus evellebat, propterea homo non sentiebat? Poterat ergo et vigilanti sine dolore evellere, qui potuit dor mienti. Sed procul dubio hydria prima implebatur: prophetia illius temporis de futuro isto tempore dis pensabatur.

At the very beginning Adam and Eve were the parents of all nations, not only of the Jews; and whatever was figured in Adam concerning Christ certainly concerned all nations, whose salvation is in Christ. What, then, should I say above all about the water of the first jar, if not what the apostle says about Adam and Eve? For no one will say that I have understood wrongly, when I put forward an understanding not mine but the apostle's. How great a mystery about Christ, then, is contained in that one thing which the apostle recalls, saying, "And the two shall be in one flesh: this is a great sacrament"! And lest anyone should understand the greatness of this sacrament in each and every man who has a wife, "But I speak," he says, "of Christ and the Church." What is this great sacrament, "The two shall be in one flesh"? When the Scripture of Genesis was speaking of Adam and Eve, it came to these words: "Therefore a man shall leave father and mother and cling to his wife, and the two shall be in one flesh." If, then, Christ clung to the Church so that the two should be in one flesh, how did he leave his Father? How his mother? He left his Father because, "though he was in the form of God, he did not count it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant." For this is how he left his Father: not that he deserted and withdrew from the Father, but that he did not appear to men in the form in which he is equal to the Father. How did he leave his mother? By leaving the synagogue of the Jews, from which he was born according to the flesh, and by clinging to the Church, which he gathered from all nations. So the first jar too held a prophecy of Christ; but when these things I am saying were not preached among the peoples, it was still water; it had not yet been changed into wine. And since the Lord has enlightened us through the apostle, to show us what we should look for there in that one sentence, "The two shall be in one flesh; a great sacrament in Christ and the Church," we may now look for Christ everywhere and drink wine from all the jars. Adam sleeps so that Eve may be made; Christ dies so that the Church may be made. From the side of the sleeping Adam Eve is made; when Christ is dead, his side is pierced with a lance, so that the sacraments may flow out by which the Church is formed. To whom is it not clear that in those deeds then the things to come were figured, since the apostle says that Adam himself was a figure of the one to come? "Who is," he says, "a figure of the one to come." All things were prefigured mystically. For it is not that God could not truly have taken a rib from a man awake and formed the woman. Or was it perhaps so that his side should not hurt when the rib was taken out that he had to sleep? Who sleeps so soundly that his bones can be torn out without his waking? Or was it because God was tearing it out that the man did not feel it? Then he who could do it to a sleeper without pain could do it to one awake. But without doubt the first jar was being filled: the prophecy of that time concerning this time to come was being dispensed.

Eph 5:31 (quotation, high confidence) · Eph 5:32 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 2:24 (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 2:6 (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 2:7 (quotation, high confidence) · Rom 5:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 2:21 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 2:22 (allusion, high confidence) · John 19:34 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The first jar is the age of Adam: as Eve was formed from the side of the sleeping Adam, so the Church was formed from the sacraments flowing from the side of the dead Christ, who left his Father by taking the form of a servant and his mother, the synagogue, to cling to the Church.

Quotations: Eph 5:31-32; Gen 2:24; Phil 2:6-7; Rom 5:14; allusions to Gen 2:21-22; John 19:34. 'Sacrament' renders sacramentum (Greek mystērion, 'mystery'). The water and blood from Christ's side are read as the sacraments of the Church (baptism and the Eucharist). 'Leaving the synagogue of the Jews' is Augustine's figurative reading; translated as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text (ApostoH → Apostoli); OCR slip in the digital text (Quod cst → Quod est); OCR slip in the digital text (aequatis → aequalis); OCR slip in the digital text (cengregavil → congregavit); OCR slip in the digital text (csse → esse); OCR slip in the digital text (de-. seruit → deseruit); OCR slip in the digital text (inhaerendo- → inhaerendo); OCR slip in the digital text (poteM → poterat)): ApostoH → Apostoli; Quod cst → Quod est; aequatis → aequalis; de-. seruit → deseruit; inhaerendo- → inhaerendo; cengregavil → congregavit; csse → esse; poteM → poterat.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 9.10 (PL 35:1463; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/9-1/#p-9-10). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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9.11PL 35:1463

Christus etiam figuratus est in Noe, et in illa arca orbis terrarum. Quare enim in arca inclusa sunt omnia animalia, nisi ut significaren tur omnes gentes? Non enim deerat Deo rursus creare omne genus animalium. Quando enim omnia non erant, nonne dixit, Producat terra, et produxit terra? Unde ergo tunc fecit, inde reficeret; verbo fecit, verbo reficeret: nisi quia mysterium commen dabat, et secundam hydriam propheticae dispensatio nis implebat, ut per lignum liberaretur figura orbis terrarum; quia in ligno figenda erat vita orbis terra rum?

Christ was figured also in Noah, and the whole world in that ark. For why were all the animals shut in the ark, except to signify all nations? For God was not lacking the means to create every kind of animal again. For when all things did not exist, did he not say, "Let the earth bring forth," and the earth brought forth? From where he made them then, from there he could have remade them; by a word he made, by a word he could have remade: except that he was commending a mystery and filling the second jar of the prophetic dispensation, so that a figure of the whole world might be freed through wood, because on wood the life of the whole world was to be fixed.

Gen 1:24 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 6:19 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The second jar is the age of Noah: the ark holding all the animals figured all nations, saved through wood, because the life of the world was to be fixed on the wood of the cross.

Quotation: Gen 1:24; allusions to Gen 6:19-20; Gen 7:1-3.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text (crearo → creare); OCR slip in the digital text (ilia arca → illa arca); OCR slip in the digital text (nor' erant → non erant)): ilia arca → illa arca; crearo → creare; nor' erant → non erant.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 9.11 (PL 35:1463; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/9-1/#p-9-11). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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9.12PL 35:1463

Jam in tertia hydria, ipsi Abrahæ, quod jam commemoravi, dictum est, In semine tuo benedicentur omnes gentes. Et quis non videat cujus habebat figu ram unicus ejus, qui sibi ad sacrificium, quo ipse immolandus ducebatur, ligna portabat? Portavit enim Dominus crucem suam, sicut Evangelium loquitur. Hoc de tertia hydria commemorasse suffecerit.

Now in the third jar, to Abraham himself, as I have already mentioned, it was said, "In your seed shall all nations be blessed." And who does not see whose figure his only son bore, who carried the wood for himself to the sacrifice in which he himself was being led to be offered? For the Lord carried his cross, as the Gospel says. Let it be enough to have mentioned this about the third jar.

Gen 22:18 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 22:6 (allusion, high confidence) · John 19:17 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The third jar is the age of Abraham, whose only son carrying the wood for his own sacrifice figured Christ carrying his cross.

Quotation: Gen 22:18; allusions to Gen 22:6; John 19:17.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 9.12 (PL 35:1463; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/9-1/#p-9-12). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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9.13PL 35:1463

De David autem, quid dicam quod ad omnes gentes pertinebat prophetia ejus; quando modo audi vimus Psalmum, et difficile est ut dicatur psalmus ubi hoc non sonet? Sed certe, ut dixi, modo cantavi mus, Surge, Deus, judica terram; quoniam tu hæredi tabis in omnibus gentibus. Et ideo Do natistae tanquam projecti de nuptiis: sicut ille homo qui non habebat vestem nuptialem, invitatus est et ve nit, sed projectus est de numero vocatorum, quia non habebat vestem ad sponsi gloriam; qui enim suam gloriam quaerit, non Christi, non habet vestem nu ptialem: non enim volunt consonare voci illius qui amicus erat sponsi, et ait, Hic est qui baptizat. Nec immerito illi qui non habebat vestem nu ptialem, hoc per increpationem objectum est, quod non erat: Amice, Quid huc venisti? Et sicut ille obmu tuit, ita et isti. Quid enim prodest strepitus oris, muto corde? Noverunt quippe intus apud semetipsos non se habere quod dicant. Intus obmutuerunt, foris perstrepunt. Audiunt, velint no lint, etiam apud se cantari, Surge, Deus, judica ter ram; quoniam tu hæreditabis in omnibus gentibus: et non communicando omnibus gentibus, quid aliud quam se exhæredatos esse cognoscunt?

As for David, why should I say that his prophecy concerned all nations, when we have just heard the Psalm, and it is hard to name a psalm where this does not sound? But certainly, as I said, we have just sung, "Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you will inherit among all nations." And that is why the Donatists are, as it were, thrown out of the wedding: like that man who did not have a wedding garment; he was invited and came, but was thrown out of the number of the guests, because he did not have the garment for the bridegroom's glory. For he who seeks his own glory, not Christ's, does not have the wedding garment: for they will not agree with the voice of him who was the friend of the bridegroom and said, "This is he who baptizes." And not without reason was he who did not have the wedding garment reproached with what he was not: "Friend, why have you come here?" And as he was struck dumb, so are these. For what use is the din of the mouth when the heart is dumb? For they know inwardly, within themselves, that they have nothing to say. Within they are dumb; outside they make a din. Whether they will or not, they hear it sung even among themselves: "Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you will inherit among all nations"; and by not being in communion with all nations, what else do they acknowledge but that they are disinherited?

Ps 82:8 (81:8 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 22:12 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 22:11 (allusion, high confidence) · John 1:33 (quotation, high confidence) · John 3:29 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The fourth jar is the age of David, whose psalm proclaims God's inheritance among all nations; the Donatists, out of communion with the nations, are like the guest without a wedding garment, thrown out and speechless.

Quotations: Ps 82:8 (81:8 LXX/Vulg.); John 1:33; Matt 22:12; allusions to Matt 22:11-13; John 3:29. Augustine's polemic against the Donatists is translated as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text (Litus obmutuerunt → Intus obmutuerunt); OCR slip in the digital text (gentibus r quid → gentibus, quid)): Litus obmutuerunt → Intus obmutuerunt; gentibus r quid → gentibus, quid.

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 9.13 (PL 35:1463; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/9-1/#p-9-13). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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9.14PL 35:1463–1465

Quod ergo dicebam, fratres, quia ad omnes gentes pertinet prophetia: volo enim alium sensum ostendere in eo quod dictum est, Capientes metretas binas vel ternas: ad omnes, inquam, gentes pertinet prophetia; modo commemoravimus demonstratum in Adam, qui est forma futuri. Quis autem nesciat quod de illo exortae sunt omnes gentes: et in ejus vocabulo quatuor litteris, quatuor orbis terrarum partes per græcas appellationes demonstrantur? Si enim græce dicantur, Oriens, Occidens, Aquilo, Meridies, sicut eas plerisque locis sancta Scriptura commemorat; in capitibus verborum invenis Adam: dicuntur enim græce quatuor memoratae mundi partes άνατολὴ, δύσις, ἄρκτος, μεσημβρία. Ista quatuor nomina si tanquam versus quatuor sub invicem scribas, in eorum capitibus Adam legitur. Hoc in Noe propter arcam figuratum est, in qua erant omnia animalia, quae significabant omnes gentes: hoc in Abraham, cui apertius dictum est, In semine tuo benedicentur omnes gentes: hoc in David, de cujus Psalmis, ut alia omittam, modo can tavimus, Surge, Deus, judica terram; quoniam tu hæ reditabis in omnibus gentibus. Cui enim Deo dicitur, Surge, nisi ei qui dormivit? Surge, Deus, judica ter ram. Tanquam diceretur, Dormisti, judicatus a terra; surge, ut judices terram. Et quo pertinet illa pro phetia, Quoniam tu hæreditabis in omnibus gentibus?

As I was saying, then, brothers, that the prophecy concerns all nations (for I want to show another meaning in what was said, "holding two or three measures each"): the prophecy, I say, concerns all nations; we have just mentioned that this was shown in Adam, "who is a figure of the one to come." Who does not know that all nations sprang from him, and that in the four letters of his name the four parts of the world are indicated by their Greek names? For if East, West, North, and South are said in Greek, as Holy Scripture mentions them in many places, you find Adam in the first letters of the words: for the four aforesaid parts of the world are called in Greek anatolē, dysis, arktos, mesēmbria. If you write these four names one under another like four lines, Adam is read in their first letters. This was figured in Noah because of the ark, in which were all the animals, which signified all nations; this in Abraham, to whom it was said more openly, "In your seed shall all nations be blessed"; this in David, from whose Psalms, to pass over others, we have just sung, "Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you will inherit among all nations." To what God is it said, "Arise," except to him who slept? "Arise, O God, judge the earth." As if it were said, "You slept, judged by the earth; arise, so that you may judge the earth." And to what does that prophecy refer, "For you will inherit among all nations"?

Rom 5:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 22:18 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 82:8 (81:8 LXX) (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The prophecy concerning all nations was figured in Adam, whose name spells the initials of the Greek words for the four quarters of the world, and in Noah, Abraham, and David, who calls on the God who 'slept' in death to arise and judge.

Quotations: Rom 5:14; Gen 22:18; Ps 82:8 (81:8 LXX/Vulg.). The Greek words are printed by Augustine (badly garbled in the digital text: ἀνατολή, δύσις, ἄρκτος, μεσημβρία); the acrostic ADAM is a traditional observation, also found in earlier writers. 'We have just mentioned' reads modo for the garbled 'muro'.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text (boc in Abraham, eui → hoc in Abraham, cui); OCR slip in the digital text (eat forma → est forma); OCR slip in the digital text (garbled Greek ἄρκτος, μεσημβρία); OCR slip in the digital text (metreta binas vel ter'las → metretas binas vel ternas); OCR slip in the digital text (muro commemoravimus → modo commemoravimus); OCR slip in the digital text (ver eris → versus); OCR slip in the digital text (voeabulo quatuor liueris → vocabulo quatuor litteris)): metreta binas vel ter'las → metretas binas vel ternas; muro commemoravimus → modo commemoravimus; eat forma → est forma; voeabulo quatuor liueris → vocabulo quatuor litteris; ver eris → versus; boc in Abraham, eui → hoc in Abraham, cui; δύσις, ϰ̓́ρϰτος, μεσημρlα → δύσις, ἄρκτος, μεσημβρία.

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 9.14 (PL 35:1463–1465; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/9-1/#p-9-14). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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9.15PL 35:1465

Jam vero in quinta aetate, tanquam in quinta hydria, Daniel vidit lapidem praecisum de monte sine manibus, et fregisse omnia regna terrarum; et cre visse illum lapidem, et factum esse montem magnum, ita ut impleret universam faciem terræ. Quid apertius, fratres mei? Lapis de monte prae ciditur: ipse est lapis quem reprobaverunt aedifi cantes, et factus est in caput anguli. De quo monte praeciditur, nisi de regno Judaeorum, unde Dominus noster Jesus Christus secundum car nem natus est? Et præciditur sine manibus, sine opere humano; quia sine amplexu maritali de vir gine exortus est. Mons ille unde præcisus est, non impleverat universam faciem terrae: non enim tenu erat regnum Judaeorum omnes gentes. At vero re gnum Christi, universum orbem terrarum cernimus occupare.

Now in the fifth age, as in the fifth jar, Daniel saw a stone cut from the mountain without hands, and it broke all the kingdoms of the earth; and that stone grew and became a great mountain, so as to fill the whole face of the earth. What is plainer, my brothers? A stone is cut from the mountain: this is the stone that the builders rejected, and it has become the head of the corner. From what mountain is it cut, if not from the kingdom of the Jews, from which our Lord Jesus Christ was born according to the flesh? And it is cut without hands, without human work, because he was born of a virgin without a husband's embrace. That mountain from which it was cut had not filled the whole face of the earth: for the kingdom of the Jews had not held all nations. But the kingdom of Christ we see occupying the whole world.

Dan 2:34 (allusion, high confidence) · Dan 2:35 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 118:22 (117:22 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 21:42 (quotation, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The fifth jar is the age of Daniel, who saw the stone cut from the mountain without hands, Christ born of the virgin from the Jewish kingdom, growing into a mountain that fills the earth.

Allusions: Dan 2:34-35; quotation: Ps 118:22 (117:22 LXX/Vulg.; cf. Matt 21:42).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text (reprobavcrunt → reprobaverunt)): reprobavcrunt → reprobaverunt.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 9.15 (PL 35:1465; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/9-1/#p-9-15). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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9.16PL 35:1465

Jam ad sextam aetatem pertinet Joannes Baptista, quo nemo exsurrexit major in natis mulierum: de quo dictum est, Major quam propheta. Quomodo et ipse ostendit, quia omnibus gen tibus missus est Christus? Quando Judaei venerunt ad eum ut baptizarentur, et ne superbirent de nomine Abraham, Generatio, inquit, viperarum, quis ostendit vobis fugere ab ira ventura? facite ergo fructum dignum pœnitentiæ; id est, humiles estote: superbis enim loquebatur. Unde autem erant superbi? De genere carnis, non de fructu imitationis patris Abraham. Quid eis ait? Nolite dicere, Patrem habemus Abraham: potens est enim Deus de lapidibus istis suscitare filios Abrahae. Lapides dicens omnes gentes, non propter firmitatem, sicut lapis dictus est quem reprobaverunt aedificantes; sed propter stoliditatem et duritiam stultitiae, quia eis quos adorabant similes facti erant: adorabant enim insensata simulacra, pa riter insensati. Unde insensati? Quoniam in Psalmo dicitur, Similes illis fiant qui faciunt ea, et omnes qui confidunt in eis. Ideo cum cœperint homines Deum adorare, quid audiunt? Ut sitis filii Patris vestri qui in caelis est, qui solem suum facit oriri super bonos et malos, et pluit super justos et injustos. Quapropter si ei fit homo similis quem adorat; quid est, Potens est Deus de lapidibus istis suscitare filios Abrahæ? Nos ipsos interrogemus, et vi demus quia factum est. Nos enim de gentibus venimus; de gentibus autem non veniremus, nisi Deus de lapi dibus suscitasset filios Abrahae. Facti sumus filii Abra hae imitando fidem, non nascendo per carnem. Sicut enim illi degenerando exhaeredati; sic nos imitando adoptati. Ergo, fratres, ad omnes gentes pertinebat etiam ista sextae hydriae prophetia; et ideo de omnibus dictum est, Capientes metretas binas vel ternas.

To the sixth age belongs John the Baptist, than whom no greater has arisen among those born of women; of whom it was said, "More than a prophet." How did he too show that Christ was sent to all nations? When the Jews came to him to be baptized, so that they might not be proud of the name of Abraham, he said, "Brood of vipers, who showed you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear, then, fruit worthy of repentance": that is, be humble; for he was speaking to the proud. And why were they proud? Because of their descent by the flesh, not because of the fruit of imitating their father Abraham. What does he say to them? "Do not say, We have Abraham as our father; for God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham." Calling all nations stones, not because of firmness, as that stone was called which the builders rejected, but because of the stolidity and hardness of their folly, because they had become like those they worshiped: for they worshiped senseless images, being equally senseless themselves. How senseless? Because it is said in the Psalm, "Let those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them." That is why, when men begin to worship God, what do they hear? "That you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, who makes his sun rise on the good and the bad, and sends rain on the just and the unjust." Therefore, if a man becomes like what he worships, what does "God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham" mean? Let us question ourselves, and we see that it has happened. For we came from the nations; and we would not have come from the nations unless God had raised up children to Abraham from stones. We have become children of Abraham by imitating his faith, not by being born of his flesh. For just as they, by degenerating, were disinherited, so we, by imitating, have been adopted. So, brothers, this prophecy of the sixth jar too concerned all nations; and therefore it was said of all, "holding two or three measures each."

Matt 11:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 11:11 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 3:7 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 3:8 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 3:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 118:22 (117:22 LXX) (allusion, medium confidence) · Ps 115:8 (113:16 LXX) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 5:45 (quotation, high confidence) · John 2:6 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The sixth jar is the age of John the Baptist, who warned the Jews not to boast of Abraham, since God could raise children to Abraham from 'stones', the Gentiles, who become his children by imitating his faith.

Quotations: Matt 11:9; Matt 3:7-9 (cf. Luke 3:7-8); Ps 115:8 (113:16 LXX/Vulg.); Matt 5:45; John 2:6; allusions to Matt 11:11; Ps 118:22. Augustine's contrast between the Jews who boasted of descent and the Gentiles adopted by faith is translated as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text (Abrahæ.Lapides → Abrahae. Lapides); OCR slip in the digital text (Ba p'ista, quo Demo exsurrexit major ill natis → Baptista, quo nemo exsurrexit major in natis); OCR slip in the digital text (Potens eat → Potens est); OCR slip in the digital text (ad eam ut → ad eum ut); OCR slip in the digital text (adorabaut similes iacti → adorabant similes facti); OCR slip in the digital text (aediOcantes → aedificantes); OCR slip in the digital text (aotem → autem); OCR slip in the digital text (ct ne superbirent → et ne superbirent); OCR slip in the digital text (cæli, est → caelis est); OCR slip in the digital text (eat enim → est enim); OCR slip in the digital text (exhaeredali → exhaeredati); OCR slip in the digital text (fil homo → fit homo); OCR slip in the digital text (gentibGs → gentibus); OCR slip in the digital text (omni. bus → omnibus); OCR slip in the digital text (stultiliae → stultitiae)): Ba p'ista, quo Demo exsurrexit major ill natis → Baptista, quo nemo exsurrexit major in natis; ad eam ut → ad eum ut; ct ne superbirent → et ne superbirent; aotem → autem; eat enim → est enim; Abrahæ.Lapides → Abrahae. Lapides; aediOcantes → aedificantes; stultiliae → stultitiae; adorabaut similes iacti → adorabant similes facti; cæli, est → caelis est; fil homo → fit homo; Potens eat → Potens est; gentibGs → gentibus; exhaeredali → exhaeredati; omni. bus → omnibus.

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 9.16 (PL 35:1465; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/9-1/#p-9-16). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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9.17PL 35:1465

Sed quomodo ostendimus omnes gentes perti nere ad binas vel ternas metretas? Æstimantis enim fuit quodammodo, ut ipsas diceret binas, quas dixe rat ternas, ad commendandum scilicet sacramentum. Quomodo sunt binae metretae? Circumcisio et praepu tium. Hos duos populos Scriptura commemorat, et nullum praetermittit hominum genus, quando dicit, Circumcisio et prœputium; in duobus istis nominibus habes omnes gentes: binae metretae sunt. His duobus parietibus de diverso venientibus ad pacem in seipso faciendam, lapis angularis factus est Christus. Ostendamus et ternas metretas in eisdem ipsis omnibus gentibus. Tres erant filii Noe, per quos reparatum est genus humanum. Unde Dominus ait: Simile est regnum cæ lorum fermento, quod accepit mulier et abscondit in farinae mensuris tribus, quoadusque fermentaretur totum. Quae est ista mulier, nisi caro Do mini? Quod est fermentum, nisi Evangelium? Quae sunt tres mensurae, nisi omnes gentes, propter tres filios Noe? Ergo sex hydriæ capientes binas vel ternas metretas, sex sunt aetates temporum, capientes pro phetiam pertinentem ad omnes gentes, sive in duobus generibus hominum, id est, Judæis et Graecis, sicut saepe Apostolus commemorat; sive in tribus, propter Noe tres filios, significatas. Figurata est enim prophetia pertingens usque ad omnes gentes. Nam in eo quod pertingit, dicta est metreta, sicut dicit Apostolus, Accepimus mensuram pertingendi usque ad vos. Gen tibus enim evangelizans, hoc ait: mensuram pertingendi usque ad vos.

But how do we show that all nations belong to the two or three measures? It was, in a way, a matter of estimation to call "two" the very ones he had called "three," namely to commend a sacrament. How are there two measures? Circumcision and uncircumcision. Scripture mentions these two peoples, and passes over no kind of men, when it says, "Circumcision and uncircumcision": in these two names you have all nations; they are the two measures. For these two walls coming from different directions, to make peace in himself, Christ became the cornerstone. Let us show the three measures as well in these same all nations. Noah had three sons, through whom the human race was restored. Hence the Lord says, "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until the whole was leavened." Who is this woman, if not the flesh of the Lord? What is the leaven, if not the Gospel? What are the three measures, if not all nations, because of the three sons of Noah? So the six jars holding two or three measures each are the six ages of time, holding the prophecy that concerns all nations, signified either in two kinds of men, that is, Jews and Greeks, as the apostle often mentions, or in three, because of the three sons of Noah. For the prophecy is figured as reaching to all nations. For because it reaches, it is called a measure (metreta), as the apostle says, "We have received a measure of reaching even to you." For, preaching the Gospel to the nations, he says this: "a measure of reaching even to you."

Matt 13:33 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 10:13 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 10:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Col 3:11 (allusion, medium confidence) · Eph 2:14 (allusion, high confidence) · Eph 2:20 (allusion, high confidence) · Gen 9:19 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 1:16 (allusion, medium confidence) · John 2:6 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The 'two measures' are the circumcised and uncircumcised, joined in Christ the cornerstone, and the 'three measures' are the nations descended from Noah's three sons, like the three measures of flour leavened by the Gospel: all nations are reached by the prophecy.

Quotations: Matt 13:33; 2 Cor 10:13-14 (in a form close to the Old Latin); allusions to Gal 5:6; Col 3:11; Eph 2:14, 20; Gen 9:18-19; Rom 1:16. 'A matter of estimation' renders aestimantis fuit (uncertain), the evangelist's 'two or three' being an estimate.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip in the digital text ((a-, rinæ → farinae); OCR slip in the digital text (Qaae est → Quae est); OCR slip in the digital text (bominum → hominum); OCR slip in the digital text (duo bas → duobus); OCR slip in the digital text (eat regnum → est regnum); OCR slip in the digital text (hoc ait r mensuram per'ill gend; → hoc ait: mensuram pertingendi)): bominum → hominum; eat regnum → est regnum; (a-, rinæ → farinae; Qaae est → Quae est; duo bas → duobus; hoc ait r mensuram per'ill gend; → hoc ait: mensuram pertingendi.

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Tract. Ev. Jo. 9.17 (PL 35:1465; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-tractatus-ioannem/9-1/#p-9-17). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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