The elect were given to the Son as Man. 965 XVII. I have made known unto you: which thing He had not yet JOHN done, but spake as if He had done what He knew im- 6-8. moveably fixed beforehand that He should do it. 5. But what meaneth, Which Thou gavest Me from the world? For it is said of them that they were not of the world. Yea, but they had this by regeneration, not by natural generation. What meaneth also that which follows: Thine were they, and to Me gavest Thou them? Were they sometime the Father's, what time they were not His Only-Begotten Son's; and had the Father sometime somewhat without the Son? God forbid. But in truth God the Son had sometime somewhat, which the Selfsame as Son of Man had not yet; because He was not yet made Man of a mother, what time nevertheless He held all things together with the Father. Wherefore in the saying, Thine were they, He hath not from that ownership separated Himself, God the Son, without Whom the Father had nothing at any time; but He is wont to ascribe all that He hath of power, to Him from Whom He which hath the power, hath His being. For, from Whom He hath His being, from the Same hath He His power; and always had them both together, because never had He being and had not power. Wherefore, whatever power the Father had, always together with Him had the Son the same power: since He Who never had being and had not power, had never being without the Father, never the Father had being without Him. And consequently, as the Father is Eternal Almighty, so the Son Co-eternal Almighty; and if Almighty, of course All-possessing'. For so we rather render the omniphrase word for word, if we would strictly express what in tenens Greek is called Tavτоngáτwg: which ours would not have rendered by calling it omnipotens,' Almighty, whereas πаvтоxgάτwg is 'omnitenens,' All-possessing, unless they had felt that the meaning is just the same. Then what could the S. Aug. Eternal All-possessing ever have, that the Co-eternal All- ad litt. possessing had not together with Him? Therefore in saying, iv. 22. cf. And to Me gavest Thou them, He shews that He as Man received this power to have them; since though always Creed, Almighty, He was not always man. Wherefore, though He and vi. seems rather to have ascribed it to the Father that He received them from Him, since He is whatever He is from de Gen. Pearson on the Art i. notes. 19. CVI. 966 The disciples verily knew by verily believing, HOMIL. that Same from Whom He is; He also Himself gave them to Himself, i. e. Christ God with the Father gave the men to Christ Man not with the Father. In fact, He Who saith in this place, Thine were they, and to Me gavest Thou them, ch. 15, had already said above to the same disciples, I have chosen you from the world. Here let all carnal imagining be crushed and perish utterly. From the world the Son saith were given Him by the Father the men, to whom He saith in another place, I chose you from the world. Whom God the Son chose from the world together with the Father, the selfsame Son as Man did from the world receive them of the Father, for the Father would not have given them to the Son, unless He had chosen them. And consequently as the Son when He said, I chose you from the world, did not separate the Father from that choosing; so when He said, Thine were they, He did not separate Himself from that having, because they were equally the Son's also. But now as Man, the selfsame Son received them who were not His, because as God the Same also received the form of a servant which was not His. v. 7. v. 8. 6. He goes on, and saith: And they have kept Thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee; i. e. have known that I am from Thee. For the Father's giving all things was one with His begetting Him that should have all things. For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me; and they have received them: i. e. have understood and held. For then is the Word received, when by the mind perceived. And have known verily that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. Here also is to be understood, verily: for what He meant by, Have known verily, He would expound by joining thereto, And have believed. Therefore, have verily believed this same, which they have verily known: for, I came out from Thee, is the same as, Thou hast sent Me. When therefore He had said, Have verily known, lest any should imagine this knowing to be by sight, not by faith; for the sake of exposition He added, And believed, so that we should understand, verily, and take this, have verily known, to mean the same as, verily believed; not in that manner which He signified a 967 XVII. 31. 32. but not until the Holy Ghost was sent. little before, when He said, Do ye now believe? behold, JOHN the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scat- 6-8. tered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone: ch. 16, but, have verily believed, i. e. as it ought to be believed, unshakenly, firmly, stedfastly, boldly; no more to return unto their own, and leave Christ. As yet therefore, the disciples were not such as He affirms them to be in words of past time, as if they already were such, foretelling what manner of men they would be, namely, when they had received the Holy Ghost, Who, as it was promised, should teach them all things. For before they received the Spirit, how can they be said to have kept Christ's word (the thing that He spake of them as if they had done it); when the foremost of them denied Him thrice, though he had heard Mat. 26, 69-74; from His mouth what should be done to the man who should deny Him before men? Therefore, He hath given them, as He says, the words which the Father gave Him: but when they received those words not outwardly in their ears, but inwardly in their hearts, then they verily received, because they verily knew, and verily knew, because they verily believed. 10, 33. 8. 7. But how to the Son Himself the Father gave these words, in what words shall man be able to unfold? The question does indeed seem easier, if He be supposed to have received those words from the Father as Son of Man. Though even as begotten of the Virgin, at what time and in what manner He learned them, who shall declare: since even His generation, which was of the Virgin, who shall Isa. 53, declare? If however in regard that He is of the Father begotten, and with the Father co-eternal, He be conceived to have received these words of the Father, let no notion of time be conceived there, as if erewhile He had not, and, that He might have what once He had not, therefore did receive; since whatever God the Father has given to God the Son, He gave by begetting. For the Father gave to the Son the things without which He could not be, even as He gave Him to be. For how else should He give any words to the Word, in Whom He ineffably spake all things? But what follows next, must be looked for in another discourse. HOMILY CVII. v. 9. JOHN xvii. 9-13. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine. And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name; those that Thou gavest Me, I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the Scripture may be fulfilled. And now come I to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 1. WHEN the Lord was speaking to the Father concerning these who were already His disciples, among other things He said also this: I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me. By the world He now means those who live after the lust of the world, and are not in that lot of grace to have been by Him chosen out of the world. Not then for the world, but for these whom the Father hath given Him, He saith that He prays: for by the very fact, that the Father has already given them to Him, it comes to pass that they do not belong to that world for which He prayeth not. 2. Then He subjoins, For they are Thine. For the Father did not, because He gave them to the Son, Himself lose whom He gave: seeing the Son still goes on to say, Christ's co-equal ownership of all holy creatures 969 XVII. 31. And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine. Where it JOHN sufficiently appears, how all things that are the Father's are 9, 10. the Only-Begotten Son's; namely, because He also is God, v. 10. and begotten of the Father equal to the Father: not as it is said to one of two sons, the elder namely, Thou Luke15, art ever with Me, and all Mine are thine. For that was meant of all these creatures which are below the holy rational creature, which things, we know, are put in subjection to the Church; which universal Church we understand to be made up of those two sons, the elder and the younger, together with all the holy Angels, to whom we shall be equal in the kingdom of Christ and of God: Mat. 22, whereas what is here said, And all Mine are Thine, and 30. Thine are Mine, is meant of the rational creature itself also, which is subject only to God, while all things beneath it are put in subjection to it. Now this being God the Father's, would not at the same time be the Son's also, were He not equal to the Father: since, in fact, it was on behalf of this same creature that He pleaded, when He said, I pray not v. 9. 10. for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine. And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine. Nor indeed is it pious to conceive that the saints, of whom He spake these words, should be the possession of any, but of Him by Whom they were created and sanctified: a St. Augustine's detailed interpretation of this Parable may be seen in Quæst. Evang. ii. 33. The two sons are the two peoples, or two stocks of mankind the elder, the people which preserved the worship of the true God; the younger, that which lapsed to idolatry....Thou art with Me always: this is said, as allowing and commending the perseverance of the elder son, i. e. of the elect of Israel, in the ways of God. And all Mine are Thine: not that the younger brother is excluded, for in the heavenly inheritance, what one hath, all have. "Made perfect, and throughly purged, and now immortal, the sons in such wise have all things, that each thing is had by all, and all things by each. But in what sense, all things? the Angels, the Virtues and Powers on high, and all God's heavenly Ministries-is it to be thought that God should have put these in subjection to such a son for posses sion? If by possession one understands |