The Gospel of St. John. Joseph MacRory
and believes, that his works may be made manifest as having been (that they have been) done in God. The last is perhaps the simplest and most natural interpretation, but the first also is probable.
But in any of these interpretations, the question arises—how can the works of a man who has not yet believed, be said to have been “done in God.” Various answers have been given. We cannot agree with those commentators who reply that there is question of future works to be performed after the reception of faith; for the whole context, and the Greek text (have been done), show that there is question of past works done before their author has come to the light. Nor do we think that there is question merely of natural works done in the past with the aid of medicinal grace, for such works would scarcely be said to have been “done in God.” We hold, then, that there is reference to the “initium fidei,” that is to say, to all those works that sprang from supernatural grace, were salutary in themselves, and led up to faith. These are the [pg 069] only works of one who has not yet believed, that can be properly said to have been done in God, done according to His will and pleasure. That there are such works antecedent to faith, cannot be denied; for the proposition: “Faith is the first grace,” put forward in the schismatical Council of Pistoia, was condemned by Pius VI., in the Bull Auctorem Fidei. Besides, it is de fide, against the Semipelagians, that supernatural grace is necessary for the “initium fidei,” from which it follows that the works included in the “initium fidei,” are salutary, and “done in God.”
| 22. Post haec venit Iesus, et discipuli eius, in terram Iudaeam: et illic demorabatur cum eis, et baptizabat. | 22. After these things Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea; and there he abode with them and baptized. |
22. After these things; that is to say, after this discourse with Nicodemus. How long our Lord remained in Jerusalem on the occasion of this first Pasch, we know not. By the land of Judea, is meant the country parts of that province, as distinguished from the city of Jerusalem, where the discourse with Nicodemus had taken place. In these country parts, then, Jesus baptized through His disciples (iv. 2), the baptism most probably being sacramental.
| 23. Erat autem et Ioannes baptizans in Aennon, iuxta Salim: quia aquae multae erant illic, et veniebant, et baptizabantur. | 23. And John also was baptizing in Ennon near Salim; because there was much water there, and they came, and were baptized. |
23. Ennon, near Salim. The site of Aennon (Gr. Αἰνών, from a Chaldaic word meaning springs) is difficult to determine. If we compare verse 26 of this chapter with John i. 28, it would seem that Aennon was west of the Jordan. Eusebius and Jerome place it eight miles south of Scythopolis, “juxta Salim et Jordanem;” and the latter states that the ruins of Melchizedek's palace existed in his day at Salim. These statements are so positive that they cannot lightly be set aside. In the Jordan valley, about seven and a-half miles from Beisan (Scythopolis), there is a remarkable group of seven springs, all lying within a radius of a quarter of a mile, which answers well to the description “many waters.”37 According to this view, Aennon was [pg 070] situated in the north-east corner of Samaria. Others, however, think, from the connection between this verse and verse 22, in which Jesus is said to baptize in Judea, that Aennon also was in Judea, and refer to Josue xv. 32, where the cities of Selim and Aen are mentioned as in the tribe of Juda.
| 24. Nondum enim missus fuerat Ioannes in carcerem. | 24. For John was not yet cast into prison. |
24. The Evangelist notes that the Baptist had not yet been imprisoned, probably lest it should be thought, from Matt. iv. 11, 12, that the imprisonment of the Baptist followed at once upon the return of Christ from the forty days' fast in the desert. This verse, therefore, affords a strong proof that our Evangelist was acquainted with the Gospel of St. Matthew.
| 25. Facta est autem quaestio ex discipulis Ioannis cum Iudaeis de purificatione. | 25. And there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews concerning purification: |
| 26. Et venerunt ad Ioannem, et dixerunt ei: Rabbi, qui erat tecum trans Iordanem, cui tu testimonium perhibuisti, ecce hic baptizat, et omnes veniunt ad eum. | 26. And they came to John, and said to him: Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou gavest testimony, behold he baptizeth, and all men come to him. |
25, 26. A question arose between (ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν Ἰωάννου μετα Ἰονδαίου, i.e., “cujus auctores extitere discipuli Joannis,” Beel, Gr. Gram., § 51, B. 2, 8) John's disciples and the Jews, i.e., some leading Jews, perhaps members of the Sanhedrim, concerning the relative merits of John's baptism and Christ's; and John's disciples come to their master, jealous that his fame is being eclipsed by that of Him whom he had been the means of bringing before the public notice. The best supported reading is a Jew, not the Jews.
| 27. Respondit Ioannes, et dixit: Non potest homo accipere quidquam, nisi fuerit ei datum de coelo. | 27. John answered and said: A man cannot receive anything, unless it be given him from heaven. |
| 28. Ipsi vos mihi testimonium perhibetis, quod dixerim: Non sum ego Christus, sed quia missus sum ante illum. | 28. You yourselves do bear me witness, that I said, I am not Christ, but that I am sent before him. |
27, 28. John's answer to his disciples is his last recorded testimony to Christ. It is to the effect that a man may not arrogate to himself power or [pg 071] office unless he have authority from God, and that his own office is merely that of precursor to the Messias.
| 29. Qui habet sponsam, sponsus est: amicus autem sponsi, qui stat, et audit eum, gaudio gaudet propter vocem sponsi. Hoc ergo gaudium meum impletum est. | 29. He that hath the bride, is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth with joy because of the bridegroom's voice. This my joy therefore is fulfilled. |
29. By a familiar example the Baptist illustrates the difference between himself and Christ. On the occasion of a Jewish marriage it was usual for the bridegroom to have a friend (“amicus sponsi,” corresponding to the παράνυμφος of the Greeks), whose duty it was to arrange the preliminaries to the marriage, and at the marriage feast to minister to the bridegroom. The sense of the Baptist's words then is, that though many are present to a wedding, only one, he who hath the bride, is the bridegroom. His friend, who has helped to bring about the marriage, is satisfied to stand and minister to him, rejoicing exceedingly to hear the bridegroom speaking with his bride, nor jealous of the happy relations which subsist between them. This, my joy, therefore, is fulfilled. In these words the Baptist points the application of the comparison to Christ and himself. The Baptist is the “amicus sponsi,” who prepared the disciples for Christ; Christ is the bridegroom, and the disciples flocking to Christ (verse 26) were to constitute the Church, which is His spouse. See 2 Cor. xi. 2; Eph. v. 25, 27.
| 30. Illum oportet crescere, me autem minui. | 30. He must increase, but I must decrease. |
30. John had fulfilled his mission; thenceforward, therefore, whereas Christ, in virtue of His nature, and His office of Messias, should increase, the Baptist himself should decrease, in influence and fame.
| 31. Qui desursum venit, super omnes est. Qui est de terra, de terra est, et de terra loquitur. Qui de coelo venit, super omnes est. | 31. He that cometh from above, is above all. He that is of the earth, of the earth he is, and of the earth he speaketh. He that cometh from heaven, is above all. |
31. He that hath a divine origin is above all men, and so above me; but He that is of the earth by origin, of the earth he is in nature, and of the earth He speaks (compare verse 6). This is true of all men, in comparison with Christ: their thoughts are earthly, [pg 072] weak, and limited; His divine and inexhaustible; but it is also true absolutely, if we consider them apart from faith and grace. “Hoc autem in Joanne verum est primo, si ejus nudam naturam spectes, et seclusa Dei gratia, vocatione, et revelatione: sic enim Joannes non nisi terreus et terrenus erat, nec nisi terrena sapiebat; quia ‘si quid divinum audisti a Joanne illuminantis est, non recipientis,’ ait St. Augustinus, quasi dicat, id accepit a Deo, non habet a se” (A Lap.).
| 32. Et quod vidit, et audivit, hoc testatur: et testimonium, eius nemo accipit. | 32. And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth: and no man receiveth his testimony. |
32.