Homilies on the First Epistle of John 4.1–4.12

You remember, brothers, that yesterday's reading ended at this point: "You have no need that anyone should teach you, but the anointing itself teaches you about all things." And this, as I am sure you recall, we explained to you thus: that we who speak to your ears from outside are like workmen applying cultivation to a tree from outside, but we cannot give the growth or form the fruit; and unless he who created you, and redeemed you, and called you, dwelling in you through faith and his Spirit, speaks to you within, we make a noise in vain. How does this appear? Because, though many hear, what is said does not persuade all, but only those to whom God speaks within. And he speaks within to those who make room for him; and those make room for God who make no room for the devil. For the devil wants to dwell in men's hearts and to speak there all that serves to lead them astray. But what does the Lord Jesus say? "The prince of this world has been cast out." Cast out of where? Outside heaven and earth? Outside the fabric of the world? No, outside the hearts of believers. With the invader cast out, let the Redeemer dwell; for he who created is the one who redeemed. And the devil now attacks from outside; he does not conquer the one who possesses within. He attacks from outside by sending in various temptations; but the one to whom God speaks within does not consent, and the anointing of which you have heard.

"And the same anointing," he says, "is true": that is, the very Spirit of the Lord who teaches men cannot lie. "And it is not a lie. As it has taught you, abide in it. And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence before him and not be put to shame by him at his coming." You see, brothers: we believe in Jesus whom we have not seen. Those who saw him, who handled him, who heard the word from his mouth, announced him; and to persuade the human race of these things they were sent by him; they did not dare to go of themselves. And where were they sent? You heard when the Gospel was read: "Go, preach the Gospel to every creature that is under heaven." So the disciples were sent everywhere, with signs and wonders bearing witness, so that they might be believed, because they spoke what they had seen. And we believe in him whom we have not seen, and we await his coming. All who await him in faith will rejoice when he comes; those who are without faith will be ashamed when what they do not now see comes. And that shame will not be of one day and pass, as those who are found in some fault and are mocked by men are usually put to shame. That shame will carry the shamed off to the left, to hear, "Go into the eternal fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels." Let us abide, then, in his words, so as not to be put to shame when he comes. For he himself says in the Gospel to those who had believed in him: "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples." And as if they asked, "With what fruit?", he says, "And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." For now our salvation is in hope, not yet in reality: we do not yet hold what has been promised, but hope for it to come. But he who promised is faithful; he does not deceive you: only do not faint, but wait for the promise. For the Truth does not know how to deceive. Do not be a liar, professing one thing and doing another: keep faith, and he keeps the promise. But if you do not keep faith, you have cheated yourself, not he who promised.

"If you know that he is righteous, know that everyone who does righteousness is born of him." Our righteousness now is from faith. Perfect righteousness is only in the angels, and hardly in the angels if they are compared with God; yet if there is any perfect righteousness among the souls and spirits which God created, it is in the holy angels, the righteous, the good, who were turned away by no fall, who did not fall through any pride, but abide always in the contemplation of the Word of God and find nothing else sweet but him by whom they were created: in them is perfect righteousness. But in us it has begun to be from faith, according to the Spirit. You heard when the Psalm was read: "Begin to the Lord in confession." "Begin," he says: the beginning of our righteousness is the confession of sins. You have begun not to defend your sin; you have already started on righteousness. But it will be perfected in you when nothing else will delight you to do, when death is swallowed up in victory, when no desire will tickle, when there will be no wrestling with flesh and blood, when there will be the crown of victory, the triumph over the enemy: then there will be perfect righteousness. Now we are still fighting: if we are fighting, we are in the arena; we strike and are struck; but who will win is awaited. And he wins who, even in the blows he strikes, does not rely on his own strength but on God who encourages him. The devil alone fights against us. If we are with God, we conquer the devil; for if you fight the devil alone, you will be conquered. He is an experienced enemy: how many palms of victory has he won? Consider where he cast us down: that we should be born mortal, he first cast our very origin out of paradise. What, then, is to be done, since he is so experienced? Let the Almighty be invoked against the experienced devil. Let him dwell in you who cannot be conquered, and you will securely conquer him who is used to conquering. But whom? Those in whom God does not dwell. For, that you may know, brothers: Adam, set in paradise, despised God's command and lifted up his neck, as though desiring to be in his own power and unwilling to be subject to God's will, and he fell from that immortality, from that blessedness. But a certain man, already experienced, born mortal, sitting on a dunghill and rotting with worms, conquered the devil. Adam himself conquered too, and that in Job; for Job was of his race. So Adam, conquered in paradise, conquered on the dunghill. When he was in paradise, he listened to the persuasion of the woman whom the devil had sent against him; but when he was on the dunghill, he said to Eve, "You have spoken like one of the foolish women." There he lent his ear; here he gave an answer. When he was happy, he listened; when he was scourged, he conquered. So see what follows, brothers, in this Epistle; for it commends this to us, that we conquer the devil indeed, but not of ourselves. "If you know that he is righteous," he says, "know that everyone who does righteousness is born of him": of God, of Christ. And because he said, "is born of him", he encourages us. So now, because we are born of him, we are perfect.

Hear: "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and are." For those who are called so and are not, what good is the name to them when the reality is not there? How many are called doctors who do not know how to heal? How many are called watchmen who sleep all night? So many are called Christians and are not found to be so in reality, because they are not what they are called, that is, in life, in conduct, in faith, in hope, in love. But here what have you heard, brothers? "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and are. Because of this the world does not know us, because it did not know him; and the world does not know us." The whole world is Christian, and the whole world is ungodly; for throughout the whole world there are ungodly, and throughout the whole world there are godly: the former do not know the latter. How do we think they do not know them? They mock those who live well. Attend and see, for perhaps there are such among you too. Each of you who now lives godly, who despises worldly things, who will not go to the shows, who will not get drunk as if by custom and, what is worse, become unclean under the patronage of holy days: whoever has refused to do these things, how is he mocked by those who do them? Would he be mocked if he were known? But why is he not known? The world does not know him. Who is the world? Those inhabitants of the world, as a house is said to be its inhabitants. These things have often been said, and we do not repeat them to weary you. Now when you hear "the world" in a bad sense, understand only the lovers of the world; because they dwell in it by love, and by dwelling in it they have earned the name. "Because of this the world did not know us, because it did not know him." The Lord Jesus Christ himself walked here; he was God in the flesh, hidden in weakness. And why was he not known? Because he rebuked all sins in men. They, loving the pleasures of sins, did not acknowledge God: loving what the fever urged, they did injury to the physician.

What, then, of us? We have already been born of him; but because we are in hope, "Beloved," he says, "now we are children of God." Already now? What, then, do we wait for, if we are already children of God? "And it has not yet appeared," he says, "what we shall be." But what else shall we be than children of God? Hear what follows: "We know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is." Let your Love understand. A great thing: "We know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is." Now attend to what is called "is". You know what is called so. That is called "is" which not only is called so but truly is, is unchangeable; it always abides, it cannot be changed, it is corrupted in no part; nor does it make progress, because it is perfect; nor does it fail, because it is eternal. And what is this? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And what is this? "Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped." In this way the wicked cannot see Christ, in the form of God, the Word of God, the Only-begotten of the Father, equal to the Father. But according to that in which the Word became flesh, the wicked too will be able to see him; for on the day of judgment the wicked too will see him, because he will come to judge in the same way as he had come to be judged. In that same form, man, but God; for "cursed is everyone who puts his hope in man." He came as man to be judged; he will come as man to judge. And if he will not be seen, what is this that is written, "They shall look on him whom they pierced"? For it was said of the ungodly that they will see and be put to shame. How will the ungodly not see, when he places some at the right hand and others at the left? To those placed at the right he will say, "Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom"; to those placed at the left he will say, "Go into the eternal fire." They will see, but the form of a servant; the form of God they will not see. Why? Because they are ungodly; and the Lord himself says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." So we are to see a certain sight, brothers, which "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man": a certain sight, a sight surpassing all earthly beauties, of gold, of silver, of groves and fields, the beauty of sea and air, the beauty of sun and moon, the beauty of the stars, the beauty of the angels; surpassing all things, because from it all things are beautiful.

What, then, shall we be when we see this? What has been promised us? "We shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is." The tongue has sounded it as it could; let the rest be thought in the heart. For what has even John himself said, compared with him who is? Or what can be said by us men, far unequal to his merits? Let us return, then, to that anointing of his; let us return to that anointing which teaches within what we cannot speak; and since you cannot see now, let your task be in longing. The whole life of a good Christian is holy longing. What you long for you do not yet see; but by longing you are made capable, so that when what you are to see comes, you may be filled. For just as, if you want to fill some fold of cloth, and you know how large is what will be given, you stretch the fold of a sack or a wineskin or something else; you know how much you are going to put in, and you see that the fold is narrow; by stretching it you make it more capacious. So God, by deferring, stretches the longing; by longing, he stretches the soul; by stretching, he makes it capable. Let us long, then, brothers, because we are to be filled. See Paul stretching his fold, so as to be able to take in what is to come. For he says, "Not that I have already received, or am already perfect: brothers, I do not consider that I have laid hold of it." What, then, are you doing in this life, if you have not yet laid hold of it? "But one thing: forgetting what lies behind, stretched out to what lies ahead, I press on with intent toward the prize of the upward call." He said he was stretched out, and he said he pressed on with intent. He felt himself too small to take in what "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man". This is our life, to be exercised by longing. And holy longing exercises us in so far as we have cut off our longings from love of the world. We have said already at times: empty what is to be filled. You are to be filled with good; pour out the bad. Suppose God wants to fill you with honey: if you are full of vinegar, where will you put the honey? What the vessel was carrying must be poured out; the vessel itself must be cleaned; it must be cleaned, though with labour, with scouring, so that it may become fit for something. Let us say honey, let us say gold, let us say wine; whatever we say of what cannot be said, whatever we want to say, it is called God. And when we say "God", what have we said? Are these two syllables all that we wait for? Whatever, then, we have been able to say is beneath it: let us stretch ourselves out toward him, so that when he comes he may fill us. "For we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is."

"And everyone who has this hope in him." You see that he has set us in hope. You see how the apostle Paul agrees with his fellow apostle: "We have been saved in hope. But hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience." Patience itself exercises longing. Abide, for he abides; and persevere in walking, so that you may arrive; for where you are going will not move away. See: "And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, as he too is pure." See how he did not take away free choice, so as to say, "purifies himself". Who purifies us but God? But God does not purify you against your will. So in that you join your will to God, you purify yourself. You purify yourself, not from yourself, but from him who comes to dwell in you. Yet because you do something there by your will, something is attributed to you too. And it is attributed to you so that you may say, as in the Psalm, "Be my helper; do not forsake me." If you say, "Be my helper", you are doing something; for if you do nothing, how does he help?

"Everyone who commits sin commits iniquity too." Let no one say, "Sin is one thing, iniquity another"; let no one say, "I am a sinful man, but I am not wicked." "For everyone who commits sin commits iniquity too. Sin is iniquity." What, then, are we to do about our sins and iniquities? Hear what he says: "And you know that he appeared to take away sin; and in him there is no sin." He in whom there is no sin came to take away sin. For if there were sin in him too, it would have to be taken away from him; he would not take it away. "Everyone who abides in him does not sin." In so far as he abides in him, in so far he does not sin. "Everyone who sins has not seen him, nor known him." This is a great question: "Everyone who sins has not seen him, nor known him." It is no wonder. We have not seen him, but we shall see him; we have not known him, but we shall know him: we believe in him whom we have not known. Or perhaps we have known him by faith, and not yet known him by sight? But in faith we have both seen and known. For if faith does not yet see, why are we called enlightened? There is enlightenment by faith, there is enlightenment by sight. Now, while we are on pilgrimage, we walk by faith, not by sight. So our righteousness too is by faith, not by sight. Our righteousness will be perfect when we see by sight. Meanwhile let us not abandon that righteousness which is from faith, since "the righteous lives by faith", as the apostle says. "Whoever abides in him does not sin. For everyone who sins has not seen him, nor known him." This man who sins does not believe; but if he believes, as far as his faith is concerned, he does not sin.

"Little children, let no one lead you astray. Whoever does righteousness is righteous, as he too is righteous." When we hear that we are righteous as he is, ought we to think ourselves equal to God? You ought to know what "as" means; for he said a while ago, "He purifies himself, as he too is pure." So is our purity now on a par with and equal to the purity of God, and our righteousness to the righteousness of God? Who would say this? But "as" is not always said of equality. For example, if someone who has seen this spacious basilica wants to make a smaller one, but in proportion to its measurements, so that, for example, if this one is one measure wide and twice as long, he too makes his one measure wide and twice as long: he seems to have made it as this one is. But this one has, say, a hundred cubits, that one thirty: it is "as" this one, and it is unequal. You see that "as" is not always referred to parity and equality. For example, see how great a difference there is between a man's face and its image in a mirror: a face in the image, a face in the body; an image by imitation, a body in truth. And what do we say? As there are eyes here, so there too; as there are ears here, so there are ears there too. The thing is unlike; but "as" is said of likeness. So we too have the image of God; but not that which the Son, equal to the Father, has. Yet if we too, in our small measure, were not "as" he is, we would be called like him in no respect. So he purifies us as he too is pure; but he is pure by eternity, we are pure by faith. We are righteous as he too is righteous; but he in his unchangeable everlastingness, we righteous by believing in him whom we do not see, so that one day we may see him. And when our righteousness is perfected, when we have been made equal to the angels, not even then will it be made equal to him. How far from him, then, is it now, when not even then will it be on a par?

"Whoever commits sin is of the devil, because the devil sins from the beginning." "Is of the devil": you know what he means: by imitating the devil. For the devil made no one, begot no one, created no one; but whoever has imitated the devil becomes, as though born of him, a child of the devil by imitating, not by being properly born. How are you a child of Abraham? Did Abraham beget you? In the way that the Jews, children of Abraham, by not imitating Abraham's faith, became children of the devil: they were born of Abraham's flesh, and did not imitate Abraham's faith. If, then, those who were born of him were disinherited because they did not imitate him, you who were not born of him are made his child, and you will be his child in this way, by imitating. And if you have imitated the devil, because he stood out proud and ungodly against God, you will be a child of the devil by imitating, not because he created you or begot you.

"For this purpose the Son of God appeared." Come, brothers: all sinners are born of the devil, in so far as they are sinners. Adam was made by God; but when he consented to the devil, he was born of the devil, and he begot all to be such as he was. We were born with that very concupiscence; and before we add our own debts, we are born from that condemnation. For if we are born with no sin, why do people run to baptism with infants, so that they may be released? Attend, brothers, to the two births, Adam and Christ: there are two men; but one of them is a man who is man, the other a man who is God. Through the man who is man we are sinners; through the man who is God we are justified. That birth cast us down to death; this birth raised us up to life. That birth draws sin with it; this birth sets us free from sin. For Christ came as man for this reason, to loose the sins of men. "For this purpose the Son of God appeared, that he might loose the works of the devil."

The rest I commend to your Love, so as not to burden you. For this is the very question we labour to solve: that we call ourselves sinners; for if anyone says he is without sin, he is a liar. And in this same Epistle of John we find: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves." For you ought to remember the earlier words: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." And again in what follows you hear: "Whoever is born of God does not sin." "Whoever commits sin has not seen him, nor known him." "Everyone who commits sin is of the devil." Sin is not from God. Again he terrifies us. How are we born of God, and how do we confess ourselves sinners? Are we going to say that we are not born of God? And what are these sacraments doing in infants? What did John say? "Whoever is born of God does not sin." John himself also said, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." It is a great and difficult question; and I would have your Love intent on solving it. In the name of the Lord, tomorrow we shall discuss what he grants on it.