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

NPNF (V1-14)St. ChrysostomHe said “spirit,” instead of “spiritual,” so when He speaketh of “flesh,” He meant not “carnalthings,” but “carnally hearing,” and alluding at the same time to them, because they ever desiredcarnal things when they ought to have desired spiritual. For if a man receives them carnally, heprofits nothing. “What then, is not His flesh, flesh?” Most certainly. “How then saith He, that theflesh profiteth nothing?” He speaketh not of His own flesh, (God forbid!) but of those who receivedHis words in a carnal manner. But what is “understanding carnally”? It is looking merely to whatis before our eyes, without imagining anything beyond. This is understanding carnally. But wemust not judge thus by sight, but must look into all mysteries with the eyes within. This is seeingspiritually. He that eateth not His flesh, and drinketh not His blood, hath no life in him. How thendoth “the flesh profit nothing,” if without it we cannot live? Seest thou that the words, “the fleshprofiteth nothing,” are spoken not of His own flesh, but of carnal hearing?Ver. 64 . “But there are some of you that believe not.”Again, according to His custom, He addeth weight to His words, by foretelling what wouldcome to pass, and by showing that He spake thus not from desire of honor from them, but becauseHe cared for them. And when He said “some,” He excepted the disciples. For at first He said, “Yehave both seen Me, and believe not” ( ver. 36 ); but here, “There are some of you that believenot.”For He “knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betrayHim.”Ver. 65 . “And He said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me except itwere given unto Him from above from My Father.”[3.] Here the Evangelist intimates to us the voluntary character of the Dispensation, and Hisendurance of evil. Nor is the, “from the beginning,” put here without a cause, but that thou mayestbe aware of His foreknowledge from the first, and that before the words were uttered, and not afterthe men had murmured nor after they had been offended, He knew the traitor, but before, whichwas an attribute of Godhead. Then He added, “Except it be given him from above from My Father”;thus persuading them to deem God His Father, not Joseph, and showing them that it is no commonthing to believe in Him. As though He had said, “Unbelievers disturb Me not; trouble Me not,astonish Me not. I know of old before they were created, I know to whom the Father hath given tobelieve;” and do thou, when thou hearest that “He hath given,” imagine not merely an arbitrarydistribution, 1332 but that if any hath rendered himself worthy to receive the gift, he hath receivedit.Ver. 66 . “From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him.”Rightly hath the Evangelist said, not that they “departed,” but that they “went back”; showingthat they cut themselves off from any increase in virtue, and that by separating themselves theylost the faith which they had of old. But this was not the case with the twelve; wherefore He saithto them,Ver. 67 . “Will ye also go away?”Again showing that He needeth not their ministry and service, and proving to them that it wasnot for this that He led them about with Him. For how could He when He used such expressionseven to them? But why did He not praise them? why did He not approve them? Both because Hepreserved the dignity befitting a teacher, and also to show them that they ought rather to be attracted1332ἀ ποκλήρωσιν258