Homily 30 — John 3, verses 31 to 34

“He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth is earthly, and speaks of the earth.” [a]

A dreadful thing is the love of glory — dreadful, and full of many evils. It is a thorn hard to pull out, a wild beast that cannot be tamed, a beast with many heads that arms itself against those who feed it. As the worm eats through the wood it was born from, as rust wastes the iron it came out of, and as moths eat the fleeces, so empty glory destroys the soul that nourishes it. That is why we need great care to root out this passion.

Look here at how long a charm John uses over the disciples who were sick with it, and even so he can hardly calm them. For he softens them with still other words besides those already mentioned. And what are these others? “He who comes from above,” he says, “is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly, and speaks of the earth.” “Since you make so much of my testimony, and in this way say that I am more worthy of belief than he is, you need to know this: it is impossible for one who comes from heaven to have his credibility strengthened by one who lives on the earth.”

And what does “above all” mean? What is the phrase meant to show us? That Christ needs nothing, but is sufficient for himself, and incomparably greater than all. John speaks of himself as being “of the earth, and speaking of the earth.” Not that he spoke from his own mind. But just as Christ said, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe” — calling baptism by that name, not because it was an “earthly thing,” but because when he spoke he was comparing it with his own birth, the birth beyond words — so here John said that he spoke “of the earth,” comparing his own teaching with Christ’s. For “speaking of the earth” means nothing else than this: “My things are small and lowly and poor compared with his, and such as an earthly nature could be expected to take in. In him ‘are hidden all the treasures of wisdom’ (Colossians 2, verse 3).”

That he is not speaking of human reasonings is plain from this: “He who is of the earth,” he says, “is earthly.” Yet not everything in him was earthly; the higher part was heavenly, for he had a soul, and shared in a Spirit that was not of the earth. How, then, does he say that he is “earthly”? Do you not see that all he means is this: “I am small and of no account, walking on the ground and born on the earth; but Christ came to us from above.”

Having quenched their passion by all these means, he then speaks more openly about Christ. Before this it would have been useless to say words that could never have found a place in the understanding of his hearers. But once he has pulled up the thorns, he boldly casts in the seed, saying (verses 31 and 32): “He who comes from above is above all. And what he has heard he speaks, and what he has seen he testifies; and no one receives his testimony.”

Having said something great and lofty about him, he again brings his words down to a humbler level. For the phrase “what he has heard and seen” better suits a mere man. What Christ knew, he did not know from having learned it by sight or from having heard it. He held the whole of it within his own nature, having come forth complete from the bosom of his Father, and needing no one to teach him. For he says, “As the Father knows me, so I know the Father” (John 10, verse 15).

What, then, does “he speaks what he has heard, and testifies to what he has seen” mean? It is by these senses that we gain accurate knowledge of everything. We are thought worthy of belief when we teach about things our eyes have taken in and our ears have received, since in such cases we are not making things up or telling lies. John wanted to establish this point here, and so he said, “what he has heard and seen”; that is, nothing that comes from him is false, but all is true. So we, too, when we look closely into anything, often ask, “Did you hear it? Did you see it?” And if that is proved, the testimony is beyond doubt.

So it is when Christ himself says, “As I hear, I judge” (John 5, verse 30), and, “What I have heard from my Father, that I speak” (John 15, verse 15), and, “We speak what we have seen” (John 3, verse 11), and whatever other sayings of the kind he utters. They are spoken not so that we would imagine he says what he says because someone taught him — it would be the height of folly to think that — but so that nothing he says could be suspected by the shameless Jews. Because they did not yet hold a right opinion about him, he continually turns to his Father, and in this way makes his sayings believable.

And why are you surprised if he turns to the Father, when he often appeals to the prophets and the Scriptures? For example, he says, “They are the ones that testify about me” (John 5, verse 39). Are we then to say that he is inferior to the prophets, because he draws testimony from them? Far from it! It is because of the weakness of his hearers that he arranges his words this way, and says that he spoke what he spoke having heard it from the Father. It is not that he needed a teacher, but that they might believe that nothing he said was false. John’s meaning is something like this: “I want to hear what he says, for he comes from above, bringing from there the tidings that no one but he knows rightly. For ‘what he has seen and heard’ is the phrase of one who is declaring exactly this.” [d]

“And no one receives his testimony.” Yet he had disciples, and many others besides paid attention to his words. How, then, does John say “no one”? He says “no one” in place of “few.” For if he had meant “no one at all,” how could he have added (verse 33), “He who has received his testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true”?

Here he is hinting at his own disciples, as men not likely for some time to be firm believers. That they did not believe in him even after this is clear from what is said later. For John, even while he was in prison, sent them from there to Christ, so that he might bind them to him all the more. Yet even then they scarcely believed, and Christ was pointing to this when he said, “And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me” (Matthew 11, verse 6). So that is why he said now, “And no one receives his testimony” — to make his own disciples secure, all but saying: “Just because few will believe in him for a time, do not think that his words are false. For ‘he speaks what he has seen.’”

He also says this to strike at the dullness of the Jews — a charge the evangelist brought against them at the very beginning, when he said, “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him” (John 1, verse 11). This is no reproach against Christ, but an accusation against those who did not receive him.

“He who has received his testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true.” Here he also frightens them, by showing that whoever does not believe in Christ disbelieves not him alone, but the Father as well. That is why he adds:

Verse 34: “He whom God has sent speaks the words of God.”

Since, then, he speaks God’s words, whoever believes or does not believe is believing or not believing God. “Has set his seal” means “has declared.” Then, to add to their dread, he says, “that God is true,” showing that no one could disbelieve Christ without accusing God, who sent him, of a lie. For since he says nothing except what is from the Father, and all that he says is the Father’s, whoever does not listen to him does not listen to the one who sent him. See how with these words he strikes them with fear once again! As yet they thought it no great matter not to listen to Christ. That is why he held so great a danger over the heads of those who would not believe: so that they might learn that those who do not listen to Christ are not listening to God himself. Then he goes on with his discourse, coming down to the measure of their weakness, and saying, “For God does not give the Spirit by measure.”

Again, as I said, he brings his words down to lower ground, varying them and making them fit to be received by those who heard them then. Otherwise he could not have lifted them up and increased their fear. For if he had said anything great and lofty about Jesus himself, they would not have believed; they might even have despised him. So he refers everything to the Father, speaking of Christ for a while as of a man.

But what does he mean by “God does not give the Spirit by measure”? He wants to show that all of us have received the working of the Spirit by measure — for in this place by “Spirit” he means the working of the Spirit, since that is what is divided up — but that Christ has all of that working, unmeasured and entire. Now if his workings are without measure, much more is his being. Do you see, too, that the Spirit is without limit? How, then, can the one who has received all the working of the Spirit, who knows the things of God, who says, “We speak what we have heard, and testify to what we have seen” (John 3, verse 11), rightly be suspected? He says nothing that is not “of God,” or not of “the Spirit.”

For the present John says nothing about God the Word, but makes all his teaching believable by reference to the Father and the Spirit. They knew that there is a God, and they knew that there is a Spirit — even if they did not hold a right opinion about him — but that there is a Son, they did not know. This is why he keeps turning to the Father and the Spirit, and confirms his words from there. For if anyone were to leave this reason out of account and examine his language by itself, it would fall very far short of the dignity of Christ. It was not because he had the working of the Spirit that Christ deserved their faith — for he needs no help from that source; he is sufficient in himself. It is only that for a while the Baptist speaks to the understanding of the simpler sort, wanting to raise them little by little from their low notions.

I say this so that we will not pass carelessly over what is in the Scriptures, but will fully consider the speaker’s purpose, the weakness of the hearers, and many other things in them. For teachers do not say everything as they themselves would like, but for the most part as the condition of their weak hearers requires. That is why Paul says, “I could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but as to people of the flesh. I fed you with milk, not with solid food” (First Corinthians 3, verses 1 and 2). He means, “I did indeed want to speak to you as to spiritual people, but I could not” — not because he was unable, but because they were not able to hear it that way. So, too, John wanted to teach some great things to the disciples, but they could not yet bear to receive them, and that is why he dwells for the most part on what is lowlier.

So we must examine everything carefully. The words of the Scriptures are our spiritual weapons. But if we do not know how to fit those weapons on and arm those we teach properly, the weapons keep their own power, but they cannot help those who receive them. Suppose there were a strong breastplate, and helmet, and shield, and spear. Now let someone take this armor and put the breastplate on his feet, and the helmet over his eyes instead of on his head; let him not put the shield in front of his chest, but tie it, all wrong, to his legs. Will he be able to get any benefit from the armor? Will he not rather be harmed by it? Anyone can see that he will. Yet this is not because the weapons are weak, but because the man lacks the skill to use them well. It is the same with the Scriptures: if we throw their order into confusion, they will still keep their own power, but they will do us no good.

I am always telling you this, both in private and in public, and yet I accomplish nothing. I see you all your time nailed to the things of this life, and not so much as dreaming of spiritual things. That is why our lives are careless, and we who strive for the truth have little strength, and have become a laughingstock to Greeks and Jews and heretics. If you were careless in everything else, and showed the same indifference here as elsewhere, even so your conduct could not be defended. But as it is, in the affairs of this life every one of you, craftsman and public man alike, is sharper than a sword, while in the necessary and spiritual things we are duller than anyone. We make side matters our business, and what we ought to have counted more pressing than any business, we do not count as worth even a side matter.

Do you not know that the Scriptures were written not for the first people alone, but for our sakes too? Do you not hear Paul say that “they are written for our warning, upon whom the ends of the world have come, so that through the endurance and comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope” (First Corinthians 10, verse 11; Romans 15, verse 4)?

I know that I am speaking in vain. Yet I will not stop speaking, for in this way I will clear myself before God, even if no one listens to me. The one who speaks to those who pay attention has at least this to cheer him in his speaking: his hearers are persuaded. But the one who speaks continually and is not listened to, and still does not stop speaking, may deserve greater honor than the other, because he is doing the will of God as far as he is able, even though no one pays attention to him. Still, though our reward will be greater because of your disobedience, we would rather it were made smaller and your salvation advanced, for we count it a great reward that you should be approved.

We say this now not to make our words painful and burdensome to you, but to show you the grief we feel because of your indifference. God grant that we may all be set free from it, that we may hold fast to spiritual zeal and obtain the blessings of heaven, through the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.