Homilies on the First Epistle of John

Contents

Reading pages: 0–1.11 · 1.12–2.10 · 2.11–2.14 · 3.1–3.13 · 4.1–4.12 · 5.1–6.1 · 6.2–6.12 · 6.13–8.1 · 8.2–8.14 · 9.1–9.10 · 9.11 · 10.1–10.10

1. 0Augustine explains that during the Easter week he will interrupt the Gospel of John to expound John's First Epistle, which speaks above all of love.
2. 1.1The Word who was from the beginning became flesh, so that what could be seen only by the heart might be seen and handled, to heal our hearts.
3. 1.2The apostles were witnesses (martyrs) of the Word made visible in the flesh, the bridegroom joined to his bride in the Virgin's womb, to which the Church is joined as the whole Christ.
4. 1.3Those who believe without seeing share the apostles' fellowship, which is fellowship with the Father and the Son.
5. 1.4The message of the incarnate Word is that God is light, far beyond all created light; we, being darkness, are enlightened by approaching him and confessing our sin.
6. 1.5Since God is light and sins are darkness, we can have fellowship with him only because Christ's blood cleanses from all sin, as in baptism; later sins must be confessed.
7. 1.6Confessing our sins, even the many light ones, is the beginning of light in us; love then covers sins, while claiming to be sinless makes God a liar.
8. 1.7Forgiveness is no licence to sin; but if we sin, we have Christ as our advocate with the Father, to whom we can confess with confidence.
9. 1.8John humbly counts himself among sinners who need Christ as advocate; those who claim to sanctify others make schisms, but Christ's propitiation and his Church extend to the whole world.
10. 1.9The commandment by which we know God is love, and its perfection is to love even our enemies so that they may become brothers, as Christ prayed for those who crucified him.
11. 1.10The commandment of love is old because it was heard from the beginning, and new because it belongs to the new man, now that the darkness has passed.
12. 1.11Whoever claims to be in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness; love, like a mother, remains anxious even over a new convert.
13. 1.12Love for the brothers keeps one from stumbling at Christ or at the Church; schismatics who left the worldwide Church over charges against Africans lack this love.
14. 1.13Those who hate their brothers are blind, stumbling at the Church, which like the mountain of Daniel and Isaiah fills the whole earth; so the Donatists separate from the world.
15. 2.1The risen Christ strengthened his disciples' faith from the Scriptures, which all speak of him and are our sure defence against heretics, since we cannot touch him as they did.
16. 2.2Scripture foretells both Christ's suffering and rising (the bridegroom) and the Church preached to all nations from Jerusalem (the bride); those cut off should be grafted in again.
17. 2.3The Donatists refuse communion with the Church that began at Jerusalem and speaks in all languages, while their own party has only Latin and Punic; their hatred of the brothers blinds them.
18. 2.4Sins are forgiven through Christ's name alone, not through the name of any minister, as Paul told the Corinthians who were dividing into parties.
19. 2.5The 'fathers' are those who know the eternal Christ, who existed before his mother, Abraham, and all creation, and who in his divinity simply 'is'.
20. 2.6The 'young men' have overcome the evil one by the strength of Christ, who was weak in his passion and lives by God's power.
21. 2.7John repeats his words to children, fathers, and young men, urging them to keep their knowledge and to fight humbly.
22. 2.8Knowledge without love does not save; love of the world must be rooted out of the heart so that love of God can be planted there.
23. 2.9Love of the world excludes the love of the Father; the newly baptized and all believers must have the root of love, not only the outward form of the sacraments.
24. 2.10The desires of the world pass away with time; Christ, made temporal without ceasing to be eternal, stands like a tree by the river of time for us to hold.
25. 2.11Created things are good, but to love them in place of their Creator is like a bride who loves the ring more than the bridegroom who gave it.
26. 2.12'The world' also means the lovers of the world; bodily goods are to be used with measure for the Creator's sake, not loved for their own enjoyment or gained by injustice.
27. 2.13The desire of the eyes is curiosity, which may even seek miracles; what matters is that our names are written in heaven. The ambition of the world is pride.
28. 2.14Christ was tempted by the devil in the same three ways and answered each from Scripture; we too must resist them and love God, for each person becomes like what he loves.
29. 3.1The newly born in Christ must grow by drawing milk from the two Testaments of the Church, from Christ humble to Christ equal to the Father.
30. 3.2'Do not touch me' teaches spiritual touching, that is, understanding Christ as coequal with the Father, not only reaching his flesh.
31. 3.3It is the last hour because many antichrists have already come, though the Antichrist is still to come.
32. 3.4Antichrists are those contrary to Christ; heretics and schismatics who leave the Church were never truly of it, and some inside are like bad humours in the body.
33. 3.5Many receive the sacraments without truly belonging to the Church, as their leaving in temptation shows; the anointing of the Holy Spirit teaches believers to know good and evil.
34. 3.6The liar denies that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed; those who stumble at Christ in his humility will be crushed by him when he comes in judgment.
35. 3.7Since the Donatists also confess that Jesus is the Christ, the test of who left whom is communion with the Church spread through all nations, which is Christ's inheritance.
36. 3.8Since all confess Christ with the tongue, the antichrists are those who deny him by their deeds, as Scripture shows.
37. 3.9Many inside the Church are also antichrists by their sinful deeds, which God did not make; all creation praises God, but sin does not.
38. 3.10Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; each person must examine his conscience and become a lover of Christ rather than of the world.
39. 3.11The reward for abiding in what we heard from the beginning is eternal life, a promise of the Truth that cannot fail; the alternative is eternal fire.
40. 3.12Christ's promise of eternal life outweighs whatever the world promises or threatens; the invisible anointing of the Spirit is love, a root that the heat cannot wither.
41. 3.13Human teachers only admonish from outside; Christ, the inner teacher, teaches the heart through his anointing, as God gives the growth.
42. 4.1Teachers speak only from outside; God speaks within those who make room for him and not for the devil, who has been cast out of believers' hearts.
43. 4.2We believe in Christ through the apostles' witness and must abide in him so as not to be shamed at his coming; his promise is sure if we keep faith.
44. 4.3Our righteousness has begun by faith and confession and will be perfected only at the end; we conquer the devil not by ourselves but with God, as Job did where Adam failed.
45. 4.4Christians are called and are children of God; the world, that is, the lovers of the world, does not know them, as it did not know Christ who rebuked its sins.
46. 4.5We are already God's children, but what we shall be is not yet seen; the pure in heart will see Christ as God, while the wicked will see only the form of a servant at the judgment.
47. 4.6The Christian life is holy longing, by which God enlarges the soul to receive what is promised, as Paul stretched toward the prize; we must empty ourselves of evil to be filled with God.
48. 4.7Whoever hopes in Christ purifies himself; God purifies us, but not against our will, so that we too act as he helps us.
49. 4.8Sin is iniquity; Christ, who had no sin, came to take it away; whoever abides in him by faith does not sin, in so far as he believes.
50. 4.9'As he is righteous' means likeness, not equality, as a smaller copy or a mirror image resembles its original; even perfected, our righteousness will never equal God's.
51. 4.10People become children of the devil, or of Abraham, by imitation, not by birth.
52. 4.11All are born sinners from Adam, as infant baptism shows; Christ, the man who is God, came to loose the works of the devil.
53. 4.12Augustine poses the question how those born of God, who 'do not sin', must still confess that they are sinners, and defers the answer to the next homily.
54. 5.1Augustine sets out the problem: John says that whoever is born of God does not sin, yet also that if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves.
55. 5.2Augustine proposes that 'does not sin' refers to one particular sin, the breaking of Christ's commandment of love, which binds all other sins, while love looses them.
56. 5.3The sin that one born of God cannot commit is to act against the new commandment of love; love covers the many other sins.
57. 5.4Perfect love is readiness to die for one's brother, as Christ, Stephen, and Paul showed; such love is born, nourished, strengthened, and perfected.
58. 5.5Christ asked Peter to repay his love not by serving him, as Zacchaeus and the widow served God's servants, but by feeding his sheep and being ready to die for them.
59. 5.6Baptism is a great sacrament, but the baptized must have love to be truly born of God; without it he bears the mark like a deserter.
60. 5.7Love alone distinguishes the children of God from the children of the devil; it is the pearl of great price and the fulfilment of the law, exercised in loving the brother we see.
61. 5.8Cain's envy, which led him to kill Abel, shows that envy is the opposite of love; God accepted Abel's sacrifice because it was offered with love.
62. 5.9Augustine again explains that 'the world' in a bad sense means the lovers of the world, who cannot love their brothers.
63. 5.10Love of the brothers is the sign that we have passed from death to life, though that life is still hidden like a tree in winter; whoever hates his brother is a murderer.
64. 5.11Christ laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down ours for the brothers, as he taught Peter when he told him to feed his sheep and foretold his death.
65. 5.12Love begins with giving one's goods to a needy brother and is perfected in laying down one's life; a Christian must show the name by deeds.
66. 5.13Augustine urges his hearers to remember what they have heard about love and to open their hearts to the good seed.
67. 6.1Love begins with giving from one's abundance to a brother in need and, nourished by God's word and hope, grows to readiness to die for the brothers.
68. 6.2Giving to the poor and even dying can be done without love, as by schismatics seeking glory; the true test is the witness of one's own conscience before God.
69. 6.3We must do good before God, who sees the heart, and not for men's praise; there is no hiding from God, so we should flee to him by confession.
70. 6.4If our heart truly testifies that we love sincerely, we have confidence before God and receive what we ask, because we keep his commandment of love.
71. 6.5Augustine raises the difficulty that Paul, who certainly had love, asked and did not receive, and recalls how 'sin' in John and in John 15:22 refers to particular sins.
72. 6.6Paul's prayer for the removal of the thorn was not granted according to his will but was heard for his salvation; the saints are always heard for their eternal salvation.
73. 6.7Some are heard for their salvation though not according to their will, like Paul; others, like the devil with Job and the demons with the pigs, are heard according to their will to their damnation.
74. 6.8God, like a physician, gives not what we want but what heals; love itself, poured into our hearts by the Spirit, prays in us and is always heard.
75. 6.9God's commandment is to believe in Christ and love one another; the love in us is the sign that God's Spirit abides in us.
76. 6.10Speaking in tongues was a sign for the first times; now the sign of having received the Spirit is love of the brothers and of the Church spread through the whole world.
77. 6.11The Holy Spirit is signified by living water, distinct from the visible water of baptism; heretics and those cut off by iniquity do not have him, so we must not drink from strange springs.
78. 6.12The sign that a spirit confesses Christ come in the flesh seems not to distinguish, since Arians, Eunomians, Macedonians, Montanists, and Novatians all confess it, yet they are antichrists.
79. 6.13To confess that Christ came in the flesh is to have the love for which he came and died; schismatics who divide the Church deny it by their deeds, whatever they say.
80. 6.14Those who 'dissolve' Christ by breaking up his Church deny that he came in the flesh; as in the Gospel, deeds rather than words are the test.
81. 7.1This world is like Israel's desert, and love is the spring God has placed there; it is the theme of the whole Epistle and the condition of forgiveness.
82. 7.2Believers overcome the antichrist, who violates love, not by their own strength but by Christ in them; they must humbly carry the Lord like a beast of burden.
83. 7.3The antichrists speak the language of the world, urging revenge against Christ's command to forgive; Christ, who had power, did not threaten but forgave.
84. 7.4Those who are of God listen to the apostle's call to love one another, for love is of God, and God is love; nothing more need be sought.
85. 7.5Since Scripture says that God is love, to sin against love of the brother is to sin against God.
86. 7.6Love is 'from God' and 'is God' because the Holy Spirit, God from God, is poured out as love; the wicked may have the sacraments but cannot have love, which is the Spirit's own gift.
87. 7.7God loved us first by sending his Son; the Father, the Son, and Judas all 'delivered up' Christ, but love distinguishes the deed of the Father and Son from Judas's betrayal.
88. 7.8Outwardly similar deeds differ by their root: a father's blows from love are good, a slave-dealer's caresses evil; hence the rule, 'Love, and do what you will.'
89. 7.9God's love was first, sending his Son to offer himself as the pure sacrifice for our sins; so we ought to love one another.
90. 7.10God, being love, is to be 'seen' not with bodily images but by having love, whose feet, hands, eyes, and ears are works of mercy; this treasure costs nothing.
91. 7.11Love is not laxity but corrects and disciplines without bitterness, like the gall-less dove; the Donatist schismatics hate both love and the dove, and their baptism, bearing Christ's mark, is recognised, not repeated, in the Catholic Church.
92. 8.1Love cannot always be spoken of but can always be kept; Christ dwelling within commands the invisible virtues, which move the visible members to good works.
93. 8.2Good works should be seen so that God, not the doer, is praised, as the churches glorified God for Paul's conversion; Paul, once proud Saul, became 'small'.
94. 8.3Works of love are done each at its proper time, but love itself within must never cease.
95. 8.4Augustine asks why John commends only brotherly love while the Lord commands love of enemies, love spreading like fire from the nearest to the furthest.
96. 8.5True love is goodwill that wishes the other's good, not to consume him; better that no one needed mercy, for love of an equal is purer than condescending kindness.
97. 8.6Pride is a kind of greed, going beyond measure, as Adam did; man, made in God's image in his rational mind, was given power over beasts, but by deserting God became subject to lower things.
98. 8.7Whoever acknowledges God above him is acknowledged by lower creatures, as the lions acknowledged Daniel; God visibly delivers some and not others, but spiritually delivers all, and at the end creation will be subject to his children.
99. 8.8A Christian should not seek to be above other men but wish them his equals, as Paul did; to want superiority over men is the greed of pride.
100. 8.9Pride can do all the outward works of love, even martyrdom, so the test is the root within; good works should be seen so that God is praised and others imitate them.
101. 8.10To love one's enemy is to wish him to become a brother, as a craftsman loves the timber for what he will make of it; so love of enemies is brotherly love, as Christ showed in praying for his killers.
102. 8.11Love your enemy as a doctor loves a delirious patient, hating the disease but loving the man; the enemy is even God's instrument for healing you.
103. 8.12If we love one another, God dwells in us; the love in our hearts shows that he has given us his Spirit.
104. 8.13The Father sent the Son as Saviour, an almighty physician for incurable ills; we are healed in hope now and will be fully healed at the resurrection.
105. 8.14God is love: whoever abides in love abides in God, who contains us and needs nothing from us, as the true Lord who sought us and adopted us as brothers of his only Son.
106. 9.1Augustine resumes the Epistle after a festal interruption, comparing his hearers to calves eagerly demanding milk, and praises the saying 'God is love'.
107. 9.2Love is perfected when we have confidence on the day of judgment; fear is its beginning, and as love grows, fear of Christ's coming turns into desire for it.
108. 9.3We are 'as he is' by likeness, not equality: as God loves his enemies by sending sun and rain on all, we love ours by praying for them with tears.
109. 9.4Fear is the beginning that prepares the way for love, as a bristle draws in the thread or a surgeon's knife precedes healing; perfect love then casts out fear.
110. 9.5The 'chaste fear' that endures for ever is fear of losing God, which differs from the servile fear of punishment that love casts out; the two Scriptures, inspired by one Spirit, agree.
111. 9.6Two wives both 'fear' their husband, one lest he come and catch her in adultery, the other lest he leave her; so servile fear differs from chaste fear.
112. 9.7Those who fear God only as an adulterous wife fears her husband should be displeased with themselves; God, unlike a husband, sees everything, so we must acknowledge our sins for him to forgive.
113. 9.8The soul with chaste fear longs for Christ's coming like a lily among thorns, fearing only to be deserted by him; thus the two Scriptures about fear agree.
114. 9.9God first loved us when we were foul, to make us beautiful by loving him; Christ is both 'fair beyond the sons of men' in his divinity and 'without form' in his humanity, as Paul's Philippians hymn shows.
115. 9.10Whoever loves his brother loves love itself, and so loves God, who is love; the eye cleansed by love will see God, our whole good, whom we should love for himself.
116. 9.11No one can love God and hate his brother, any more than one can love the emperor and hate his laws; we must hold the unity of the Church and love, with the Spirit as pledge.
117. 10.1To believe that Jesus is the Christ is to believe with love, as Peter did, whose confession is the rock on which the Church is built; the demons confessed the same words without love.
118. 10.2Faith joined to love is Christian faith; faith without love is the demons'; whoever loves the Father who begot loves the Son who is begotten.
119. 10.3The children of God are the members of the one Son, so love of God, of Christ, and of his members in the Church cannot be separated; love fuses them into one like gold in fire.
120. 10.4Avarice demands hard labour for uncertain gain, but God, who asks only to be loved, is always found by those who love him; love is the end and consummation of all our works.
121. 10.5Christ, who is love, is the 'end' of all things in the sense of perfection, not consumption; money, health, honour, and praise are to be passed by on the way to cleaving to God.
122. 10.6All things short of God are stopping-places on the way; the end is seeing God, and the 'broad commandment' is love, which no one can take away and which delights more than worldly pleasures.
123. 10.7All the law hangs on love of God and neighbour; love may rebuke and even punish while hatred flatters, so we must look to the root; we love even enemies so that they may become brothers.
124. 10.8Love of Christ must extend to his body spread through the whole world, not be confined to Africa; to honour the head while trampling the members hurts the whole Christ, as the tongue cries out when the foot is stepped on.
125. 10.9Christ's last words before his ascension commended his body, the Church spread over the whole earth; if heirs keep the last words of a dying father, how much more should Christians keep the last words of the ascending Christ.
126. 10.10The Donatists claim to have suffered persecution but have themselves divided the Church; they should return like Hagar to her mistress and believe Christ's word that forgiveness of sins is preached in the Church throughout all nations.