Homilies on the First Epistle of John 5.1–6.1

Listen attentively, I beg you, because no small matter is before us; and I do not doubt that you were attentive yesterday, since today you have gathered more attentively still. For it is no small question how he says in this Epistle, "Whoever is born of God does not sin", and how in the same Epistle he said earlier, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." What is a man to do who is hemmed in between both sayings of the same Epistle? If he confesses himself a sinner, he fears that it will be said to him, "Then you are not born of God; for it is written, Whoever is born of God does not sin." But if he says that he is righteous and has no sin, he receives a blow from the other side from the same Epistle: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Set in the middle, then, a man does not find what to say, what to confess, or what to profess. To profess that he is without sin is dangerous; and not only dangerous but false: "We deceive ourselves," he says, "and the truth is not in us, if we say that we have no sin." Would that you had none, and said so! For you would be speaking the truth, and in uttering the truth you would not fear even a trace of iniquity. But you do wrong if you say it, because you are telling a lie: "The truth," he says, "is not in us if we say that we have no sin." He did not say, "We have not had"; lest perhaps it should seem to be said of the past life. For this man had sins; but from the time he was born of God he began not to have them. If it were so, no question would hem us in. For we would say, "We were sinners, but now we have been justified; we had sin, but now we do not have it." He does not say this; but what does he say? "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." A little later he says again, "Whoever is born of God does not sin." Was not John himself born of God? If John was not born of God, he of whom you have heard that he reclined on the Lord's breast, does anyone dare to promise himself that regeneration has taken place in him, which he did not attain who was worthy to recline on the Lord's breast? Had the Lord not begotten of the Spirit the one man whom he loved more than the others?

Attend now to these words. I still commend our difficulties to you, so that through your attention, which is prayer both for us and for you, God may enlarge them and give a way out; lest anyone find in his word the occasion of his own ruin, a word which was preached and written only for healing and salvation. "Everyone," he says, "who commits sin commits iniquity too." Lest perhaps you draw a distinction: "Sin is iniquity." Do not say, "I am a sinner, but I am not wicked": "Sin is iniquity." "And you know that he appeared for this, to take away sins; and in him there is no sin." And what good is it to us that he came without sin? "Everyone who does not sin abides in him; and everyone who sins has not seen him, nor known him. Little children, let no one lead you astray. Whoever does righteousness is righteous, as he too is righteous." We have already said that "as" is usually said according to a certain likeness, not according to equality. "Whoever commits sin is of the devil, because the devil sins from the beginning." We have said this too, that the devil created no one and begot no one, but his imitators are born of him, as it were. "For this purpose the Son of God appeared, that he might loose the works of the devil." So he who has no sin came to loose sins. Then there follows: "Everyone who is born of God does not commit sin, because his seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." He has bound it tightly. Perhaps he said "does not sin" with reference to a certain sin, not with reference to every sin: so that by "Whoever is born of God does not sin" you are to understand a certain particular sin, which a man who is born of God cannot commit; and that sin is such that, if anyone commits it, he confirms the others, but if anyone does not commit it, he looses the others. What is this sin? To act against the commandment. What is the commandment? "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another." Attend. This commandment of Christ is called love; through this love sins are loosed. If this is not held, it is both a grave sin and the root of all sins.

Attend, brothers: we have put forward something by which the question has been solved for those who understand well. But are we to walk the road only with the quicker ones? Those who walk more slowly are not to be left behind. Let us turn this over in whatever words we can, so that it may reach all. For I think, brothers, that every man is anxious about his soul who does not enter the church without cause, who does not seek temporal things in the church, who does not enter it in order to transact worldly business, but enters in order to hold fast something eternal promised to him, at which he may arrive: he must consider how to walk on the way, so as not to stay behind, not to go back, not to stray, not to fail to arrive by limping. Whoever is anxious, then, whether he is slow or swift, let him not leave the way. So I said this, that "whoever is born of God does not sin" was perhaps meant to be understood of a certain sin; for otherwise it will contradict that place: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." So the question can be solved in this way. There is a certain sin which one who is born of God cannot commit; and when it is not committed, the others are loosed; when it is committed, the others are confirmed. What is this sin? To act against the commandment of Christ, against the new testament. What is the new commandment? "A new commandment I give you, that you love one another." Whoever acts against love and against brotherly love, let him not dare to boast and say that he is born of God; but whoever is set in brotherly love, there are certain sins which he cannot commit, and above all this, that he should hate his brother. And what does he do about the other sins, of which it was said, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us"? Let him hear security from another place in Scripture: "Love covers a multitude of sins."

So we commend love; this Epistle commends love. After the resurrection, what else did the Lord ask Peter but "Do you love me?" And it was not enough to ask once; and a second time nothing else, and a third time nothing else. Though by the third time Peter was grieved, as though the Lord did not believe him, as if he did not know what was going on in him, yet he asked this a first, a second, and a third time. Three times fear denied, three times love confessed. See, Peter loves the Lord. What will he render to the Lord? For he too was troubled, as in that psalm: "What shall I render to the Lord for all that he has rendered to me?" For the one who said this in the Psalm was considering how much had been granted him by God; and he was seeking what he might render to God, and he did not find it. For whatever you wish to render, you have received from him in order to give it back. And what did he find to render? What, as we said, brothers, he had received from him: this he found to render. "I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord." For who had given him the cup of salvation, but he to whom he wanted to render? But to take the cup of salvation and to call upon the name of the Lord is to be filled with love; and so filled that you not only do not hate your brother, but are ready to die for your brother. This is perfect love, that you are ready to die for your brother. The Lord himself showed it in himself, dying for all, praying for those by whom he was being crucified, and saying, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." But if he alone had done this, he was not a teacher, if he had no disciples. The disciples who followed did this. Stephen was being stoned, and, kneeling, he said, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." He loved those by whom he was being killed, because he was dying for them too. Hear the apostle Paul too: "And I myself," he says, "will be spent for your souls." For he was among those for whom Stephen was praying when he was dying at their hands. This, then, is perfect love. If anyone has so great a love that he is ready to die even for his brothers, love is perfect in him. But is it utterly perfect as soon as it is born? It is born in order to be perfected: when it has been born, it is nourished; when it has been nourished, it is strengthened; when it has been strengthened, it is perfected. When it has come to perfection, what does it say? "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. I desired to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is necessary for your sake." He wanted to live for those for whom he was ready to die.

And that you may know that this is the perfect love which one who is born of God does not violate and against which he does not sin, the Lord says this to Peter: "Peter, do you love me?" And he: "I love you." He does not say, "If you love me, wait on me." For when the Lord was in mortal flesh, he was hungry and thirsty; at that time, when he was hungry and thirsty, he was received as a guest; those who had means ministered to him from their substance, as we read in the Gospel. Zacchaeus received him as a guest: he was saved from his disease when he received the physician. From what disease? From avarice. For he was very rich and the chief of the tax collectors. Attend to the man healed of the disease of avarice: "Half of my goods," he says, "I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone, I will restore fourfold." So he kept the other half, not to enjoy it, but to pay his debts from it. So he then received the physician as a guest, because there was weakness of flesh in the Lord, for which men might offer him this service; and this because he wished to benefit those who served him; for it profited them, not him. For he whom angels served, did he need their service? Not even his servant Elijah ever needed this, to whom he sent bread and meat by a raven; and yet, that a devout widow might be blessed, the servant of God is sent, and he whom God was feeding in secret is fed by a widow. Nevertheless, although those who consider the needs of God's servants do good to themselves by it, because of that reward set down most plainly by the Lord in the Gospel, "Whoever receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward; and whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward; and whoever gives a cup of cold water to one of these least ones only in the name of a disciple, truly I tell you, he will not lose his reward"; although, then, those who do this do good to themselves, yet not even this could be offered to one who was about to ascend into heaven. What could Peter, who loved him, render to him? Hear what: "Feed my sheep"; that is, "Do for the brothers what I have done for you. I have redeemed all with my blood: do not hesitate to die for the confession of the truth, so that the rest may imitate you."

But this, as we have said, brothers, is perfect love; whoever is born of God has it. Let your Love attend; see what I am saying. See, a baptized man has received the sacrament of birth; he has the sacrament, and a great sacrament, divine, holy, ineffable. Consider what kind: that it makes a new man by the forgiveness of all sins. Yet let him look into his heart, whether what has been done in the body has been perfected there: let him see whether he has love, and then let him say, "I am born of God." But if he does not have it, he has indeed the mark set on him, but he wanders as a deserter. Let him have love; otherwise let him not say that he is born of God. "But I have the sacrament," he says. Hear the apostle: "If I know all mysteries, and have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."

This, if you remember, we commended when we began to read this Epistle: that nothing is so commended to us in it as love. And if it seems to say one thing and another, it makes its way back there, and wants to refer to love itself whatever it has said. Let us see whether it does this here too. Attend: "Everyone who is born of God does not commit sin." We ask what sin; because if you understand every sin, it will contradict that place: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." So let him say what sin; let him teach us; lest perhaps I have rashly said that this sin is the violation of love, because above he said, "He who hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes." But perhaps he has said something in what follows, and named love. See that this winding of words has this end, this outcome. "Everyone who is born of God does not sin, because his seed abides in him." The seed of God, that is, the word of God; hence the apostle says, "Through the Gospel I begot you." "And he cannot sin, because he is born of God." Let him say this; let us see in what he cannot sin. "By this the children of God and the children of the devil are made manifest. Everyone who is not righteous is not of God, and he who does not love his brother." Certainly it is now plain of what he is speaking: "And he who does not love," he says, "his brother." So love alone distinguishes between the children of God and the children of the devil. Let all sign themselves with the sign of the cross of Christ; let all answer Amen; let all sing Alleluia; let all be baptized, enter churches, build the walls of basilicas: the children of God are not distinguished from the children of the devil except by love. Those who have love are born of God; those who do not have it are not born of God. A great sign, a great distinction. Have whatever you like; if you do not have this alone, it profits you nothing; if you do not have other things, have this, and you have fulfilled the law. "For whoever loves another has fulfilled the law," says the apostle; and, "Love is the fulfilment of the law." I think this is that pearl which the merchant in the Gospel is described as seeking, who found one pearl and sold all that he had and bought it. This is the precious pearl, love, without which whatever you have profits you nothing; and if you have it alone, it is enough for you. Now you see by faith; then you will see by sight. For if we love when we do not see, how shall we embrace when we have seen? But where ought we to exercise ourselves? In brotherly love. You can say to me, "I have not seen God"; can you say to me, "I have not seen man"? Love your brother. For if you love your brother whom you see, you will see God at the same time; because you will see love itself, and God dwells within.

"Whoever is not righteous is not of God, and he who does not love his brother. For this is the message": see how he confirms it: "For this is the message which we have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." He has made it plain to us that he is speaking of this: whoever acts against this commandment is in that wicked sin into which those fall who are not born of God. "Not as Cain, who was of the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous." So where there is envy, there can be no brotherly love. Let your Love attend. Whoever envies does not love. The sin of the devil is in him; because the devil too cast down by envying. For he fell, and envied the one who stood. He did not want to cast him down so that he himself might stand, but so as not to fall alone. Keep in mind from what he has added that envy cannot exist in love. You have it openly when love itself is being praised: "Love does not envy." There was no love in Cain; and if there had not been love in Abel, God would not have accepted his sacrifice. For when both had offered, the one of the fruits of the earth, the other of the young of the sheep, what do you think, brothers: that God disregarded the fruits of the earth and loved the young of the sheep? God did not look at the hands; he saw into the heart; and whom he saw offering with love, he regarded his sacrifice; whom he saw offering with envy, he turned his eyes away from his sacrifice. So by Abel's good works he means nothing but love; by Cain's evil works nothing but hatred of his brother. It is not enough that he hated his brother and envied his good works: because he would not imitate, he chose to kill. And from this it appeared that he was a child of the devil, and from this the other appeared as God's righteous one. From this, then, men are distinguished, my brothers. Let no one attend to tongues, but to deeds and the heart. If someone does not do good for his brothers, he shows what he has in himself. Men are proved by temptations.

"Do not wonder, brothers, if the world hates us." Must I often tell you what the world is? Not heaven, not earth, nor these works which God made, but the lovers of the world. By saying this often I am burdensome to some; but I say it so far from in vain that some are asked whether I have said it, and they do not answer. So at least by driving it in let something stick in the hearts of the hearers. What is the world? The world, when it is taken in a bad sense, is the lovers of the world; the world, when it is taken in praise, is heaven and earth and the works of God in them; hence it is said, "And the world was made through him." Again, the world is the fullness of the earth, as John himself said, "And he is the propitiation not only for our sins but also for those of the whole world." By "the world" he means all the faithful scattered throughout the earth. But the world in a bad sense is the lovers of the world. Those who love the world cannot love their brother.

"The world hates us"; "we know." What do we know? "That we have passed from death to life." How do we know? "Because we love the brothers." Let no one question another man; let each return to his own heart: if he finds brotherly love there, let him be secure, because he has passed from death to life. He is already on the right hand: let him not mind that his glory is hidden now; when the Lord comes, then he will appear in glory. For he is alive, but still in winter; the root is alive, but the branches seem dry; within is the pith that is alive, within are the leaves of the trees, within the fruits; but they wait for summer. So "we know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brothers. He who does not love abides in death." Lest you think, brothers, that it is a light thing to hate or not to love, hear what follows: "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer." Now, then, if anyone thought little of hating his brother, will he think little of murder in his heart too? He does not move his hands to kill a man, yet he is already held a murderer by the Lord; the other is alive, and this man is already judged a killer. "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."

"By this we know love." He means the perfection of love, that perfection which we have commended. "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." See where "Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep" came from. For, that you may know that he wanted his sheep to be fed by him in such a way that he would lay down his life for the sheep, he said this to him at once: "When you were young, you used to gird yourself and go where you wished; but when you are older, another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish." "And he said this," says the evangelist, "signifying by what death he was to glorify God": so that he might teach the one to whom he had said, "Feed my sheep", to lay down his life for his sheep.

Where does love begin, brothers? Attend a little. You have heard where it is perfected; the Lord too commended its very end and measure in the Gospel: "No one has greater love," he says, "than to lay down his life for his friends." So he showed its perfection in the Gospel, and here too its perfection has been commended. But you ask, and say to yourselves, "When can we have this love?" Do not despair of yourself too quickly: perhaps it has been born, but is not yet perfected; nourish it, lest it be choked. But you will say to me, "And how do I know?" We have heard where it is perfected; let us hear where it begins. He goes on and says: "But whoever has the goods of the world, and sees his brother hungry, and shuts up his heart against him, how can the love of God abide in him?" See where love begins. If you are not yet fit to die for your brother, be fit now to give to your brother from your goods. Let love now strike your heart, so that you do not do it out of boasting, but from the inmost marrow of mercy; so that you consider him set in need. For if you cannot give your superfluous goods to your brother, can you lay down your life for your brother? Money lies in your purse, which thieves can take from you; and if thieves do not take it, you will leave it by dying, even if it does not leave you while you live. What are you going to do with it? Your brother is hungry, he is in need; perhaps he is in suspense, pressed by a creditor; he does not have it, you have it: he is your brother; you were bought together; your price is one; you were both redeemed by the blood of Christ. See whether you have mercy, if you have the goods of the world. "What has it to do with me?" you perhaps say. "Am I to give my money so that he may not suffer trouble?" If your heart has answered you this, "the love of the Father does not abide in you." If the love of the Father does not abide in you, you are not born of God. How do you boast of being a Christian? You have the name, and you do not have the deeds. But if the work has followed the name, let anyone call you a pagan; show by your deeds that you are a Christian. For if you do not show by your deeds that you are a Christian, though all call you a Christian, what does the name profit you, where the reality is not found? "But whoever has the goods of the world, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart against him, how can the love of God abide in him?" And there follows: "Little children, let us not love in word only and with the tongue, but in deed and in truth."

I think, my brothers, that a great and necessary secret and mystery has been made plain to you. All Scripture commends the value of love; but I do not know whether it is commended more fully anywhere than in this Epistle. We ask and beseech you in the Lord both to keep in memory what you have heard, and to come attentive and listen attentively to what is still to be said until the Epistle itself is finished. And open your heart to the good seeds: root out the thorns, lest what is sown in you be choked, but rather let the crop grow; and let the farmer rejoice, and prepare a barn for you as for grain, not fire as for chaff.

If you remember, brothers, we closed yesterday's sermon at this sentence, which beyond doubt ought to have remained, and ought to remain, in your hearts, because it was the last you heard: "Little children, let us not love in word only and with the tongue, but in deed and in truth." Then there follows: "And by this we know that we are of the truth, and we persuade our heart before him; for if our heart thinks ill of us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things." He had said, "Let us not love in word only and with the tongue, but in deed and in truth": we are asked by what deed and in what truth one who loves God, or who loves his brother, is recognised. Earlier he had already said how far love is perfected, which the Lord too says in the Gospel, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down his life for his friends"; and he had said, "As he laid down his life for us, we too ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." This is the perfection of love, and nothing greater at all can be found. But since it is not perfect in all, the one in whom it is not perfect ought not to despair, if it has already been born, so as to be perfected; and certainly, if it has been given, it must be nourished and brought by certain nourishment of its own to its proper perfection. We looked for the beginning of love, where it starts, and we found it there at once: "If anyone has the goods of the world, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart against him, how does the love of the Father abide in him?" So here this love begins, brothers: that a man should give from his superfluity to one in need, set in some distress; that from what he has in abundance for the time, he should free his brother from temporal trouble. This is the start of love. If you nourish it, thus begun, with the word of God and the hope of the life to come, you will come to that perfection of being ready to lay down your life for your brothers.