Homilies on the Gospel of St. John and the Epistle to the Hebrews

NPNF (V1-14)St. Chrysostom87and to persuade him not to deem the thing impossible, and taking pains to move him from hisimagination as to the carnal birth. “I mean,” saith He, “another Birth, O Nicodemus. Why drawestthou down the saying to earth? Why subjectest thou the matter to the necessity of nature? This Birthis too high for such pangs as these; it hath nothing in common with you; it is indeed called ‘birth,’but in name only has it aught in common, in reality it is different. Remove thyself from that whichis common and familiar; a different kind of childbirth bring I into the world; in another mannerwill I have men to be generated: I have come to bring a new manner of Creation. I formed (man)of earth and water; but that which was formed was unprofitable, the vessel was wrenched awry; 649I will no more form them of earth and water, but ‘of water’ and ‘of the Spirit.’”And if any one asks, “How of water? ” I also will ask, How of earth? How was the clay separatedinto different parts? How was the material uniform, (it was earth only,) and the things made fromit, various and of every kind? Whence are the bones, and sinews, and arteries, and veins? Whencethe membranes, and vessels of the organs, the cartilages, the tissues, the liver, spleen, and heart?whence the skin, and blood, and mucus, and bile? whence so great powers, whence such variedcolors? These belong not to earth or clay. How does the earth, when it receives the seeds, causethem to shoot, while the flesh receiving them wastes them? How does the earth nourish what is putinto it, while the flesh is nourished by these things, and does not nourish them? The earth, forinstance, receives water, and makes it wine; the flesh often receives wine, and changes it into water.Whence then is it clear that these things are formed of earth, when the nature of the earth is, accordingto what has been said, 650 contrary to that of the body? I cannot discover by reasoning, I accept itby faith only. If then things which take place daily, and which we handle, require faith, much moredo those which are more mysterious and more spiritual than these. For as the earth, which is soullessand motionless, was empowered by the will of God, and such wonders were worked in it; muchmore when the Spirit is present with the water, do all those things so strange and transcendingreason, easily take place.[2.] Do not then disbelieve these things, because thou seest them not; thou dost not see thy soul,and yet thou believest that thou hast a soul, and that it is a something different besides 651 the body.But Christ led him not in by this example, but by another; the instance of the soul, though it isincorporeal, He did not adduce for that reason, because His hearer’s disposition was as yet too dull.He sets before him another, which has no connection with the density of solid bodies, yet does notreach so high as to the incorporeal natures; that is, the movement of wind. He begins at first withwater, which is lighter than earth, but denser than air. And as in the beginning earth was the subjectmaterial, 652 but the whole 653 was of Him who molded it; so also now water is the subject material,and the whole 654 is of the grace of the Spirit: then, “man became a living soul,” ( Gen. ii. 7 ); nowhe becomes “a quickening Spirit.” But great is the difference between the two. Soul affords not lifeto any other than him in whom it is; Spirit not only lives, but affords life to others also. Thus, forinstance, the Apostles even raised the dead. Then, man was formed last, when the creation had been649διεστράφη .650κατὰ τὰ εἰρημένα . This seems to be the best reading, and is found in Morel. Ben. and mss. Savile reads the passage thus:τὸ σῶμα ; τὰ εἰρημένα λογισμῷ μὲν εὐρεῖν, κ.τ.λ .651παρὰ .652ὑ πεκεῖτο στοιχεῖον .653τὸ πᾶν , i.e. the fabric of the human body.654 i.e. the new man.135