Alcuin of York's Commentary on John 8:31-42
On Truth, Freedom, and Spiritual Slavery
Introduction: The Promise of Freedom Through Truth
To the believing Jews He says: "If you remain in My word, the truth will set you free."
To which they respond that they are free, He says: "Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin."
Jn 8:31: Remaining in the Word
"If you remain in My word…"
Why "if you remain"? Because you have been initiated, because you have begun to be there. "If you remain"—that is, in the faith which began to be in you when you believed—whither will you be led? See what a beginning, and whither it leads! Or: whither it leads on. You have loved the foundation; attend to the summit, and from this humility seek another height. For faith possesses humility; but knowledge, immortality, and eternity do not possess humility, but height and exaltation—no falling away, eternal stability, no assault by the enemy, no fear of failing. Great is that which begins from faith, but greater is that to which one arrives through faith. Hear, therefore, whither one arrives, and see how great faith is.
Jn 8:32: Knowing the Truth
"Therefore," He says, "if you remain in My word"—in which you have believed—"you shall truly be My disciples," and He added: "and you shall know the truth."
He who knows the truth knows God, because God is truth, as the Lord Himself says: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). Let us believe, therefore, that we may know the truth, because without faith no one will be able to arrive at the knowledge of truth.
What shall we come to know? That which "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man" (Isaiah 64:4; 1 Corinthians 2:9). For what is faith except to believe what you do not see? Faith, therefore, is to believe what you do not see; truth, to see what you have believed.
What is it that is promised to us to see? For the Lord says in another place what it is that we shall see: "But he who loves Me is loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him" (John 14:21). This is the promise, this the reward of faith which works through love. This is the satisfaction which the Psalmist desired, saying: "I shall be satisfied when Your glory shall be manifested" (Psalm 16:15).
Lord, make us worthily to love You and not to love the world, that we may be able to arrive at that freedom which is attained through the knowledge of truth, concerning which You added, saying: "And the truth will set you free"—that is, "will make you free."
Jn 8:33-34: The Jews' Proud Response and Christ's Reply
Finally, the carnal Jews, judging according to the flesh—not those who had believed, but those in that crowd who did not believe—thought an injury had been done to them because He said to them: "The truth will set you free." They were indignant that they were signified to be slaves. And truly they were slaves. And He explains to them what slavery is, and what is the future freedom which He Himself promises.
For to say "And the truth will set you free" is nothing other than "will make you free," just as "will save" is nothing other than "will make saved."
We have heard, therefore, what liberating Truth said; let us hear what proud falsehood responds:
The Jews said: "We are the seed of Abraham, and we have never been slaves to anyone. How can You say, 'You will be free'?"
For the Lord had not said "You will be free," but "The truth will set you free." Nevertheless, in this word they understood nothing other than carnal freedom, and they exalted themselves that they were the seed of Abraham, and they said: "We are the seed of Abraham, and we have never been slaves to anyone. How can You say, 'You will be free'?"
O vain pride! O false boasting! How did you speak truth? "We have never been slaves to anyone." Was Joseph not sold? Were the holy prophets not led into captivity? Finally, is not that very people which in Egypt made bricks and served with hard works—not at least in silver and gold, but in clay? If you have never been slaves to anyone, O ungrateful ones, why does God continually reproach you, how He liberated you from the house of bondage?
Or perhaps your fathers were slaves, but you who speak have never been slaves to anyone? How then were you paying tribute to the Romans? Whence also they proposed a snare to the Truth, as if for capturing Him, so that you might say: "Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar?"—so that if He said it was lawful, you might hold Him as though He wished evil freedom for the seed of Abraham; or as though He had wished evil for the freedom of Abraham's seed. But if He said it was not lawful, you would calumniate Him before the kings of the earth, that He prohibited tribute from being paid to kings. Then, the coin having been produced, you were conquered and compelled to answer your own snare. For there it was said to you: "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (Matthew 22:21), when you yourselves had answered that the coin bears Caesar's image—because just as Caesar seeks his image in the coin, so God seeks His image in man. Nor does God seek anything alien from man, but what He established in man. Therefore God became man, that in man He might reform what He had formed in man.
Jn 8:34: The Nature of Spiritual Slavery
Therefore, let us hear what the Lord responded to the Jews who were lying and swelling with vain freedom:
"Amen, amen, I say to you, that everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin."
Who does not tremble under these words? If every sinful man, every man is a slave of sin. But let us hear more attentively how we may be freed from this slavery. He strikes terror, He applies medicine. For the Lord says: "Amen, amen, I say to you." What is "amen, amen" except "truly, truly I say to you"? This word neither the Greek translator nor the Latin dared to transfer into another language, so that the testimony of truth in Christ might have honor under the veil of a secret. Truth says: "Truly, truly, I say to you"—He doubles, He repeats the word of truth, that He might awaken those sleeping within, and make attentive those hearing, and that He who says "Amen, amen, I say to you" might not be despised.
"Because everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin."
O marvelous—O wretched—slavery: to serve sin, to serve the devil, who is the author of sin! Frequently, when men suffer evil masters, they seek to be sold—not seeking not to have a master, but at least to change him. What can a slave of sin do? Whom can he petition? Before whom can he seek to be sold? Often men flee evil masters lest they serve the wicked, and they do not flee sin, whose slave is whoever is a sinner. And how much more happily would it be to flee sin and serve man with a free conscience!
Moreover, a slave of man, sometimes wearied by his master's harsh commands, finds rest by fleeing. Whither does a slave of sin flee? He drags sin with him wherever he flees. An evil conscience does not flee itself; there is nowhere to go—it follows itself, or rather, it does not depart from itself. For the sin which one commits is within. One committed sin that he might seize some bodily pleasure; the pleasure passed away, the sin remains; what delighted has passed, what stings remains. Evil slavery!
Sometimes men flee wicked masters, wishing to be without masters, who are unwilling to be without sins. How much more happily, if man would desert sin, would he flee to Christ, the liberating God, and petition Him! Therefore, He alone liberates from this slavery of sin—the Lord who did not have it, who alone came into the world without sin. He alone can liberate from sin who came without sin and was made a sacrifice for sin.
Jn 8:35-36: The Hope of Freedom Through the Son
Since, therefore, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin, hear what hope of freedom there is for us:
"But the slave," He says, "does not remain in the house forever."
The Church is the house; the sinner is the slave. Let not man remain in sin, lest he be a slave of sin, that he may be able to remain in the house—that is, in the Church. Let him remain in the body of his Head, that he may be a son, not a slave. It is one thing to sin, another to remain in sin. He who remains in sin is a slave of sin; he who flees from sin will be a slave of righteousness.
Therefore, He both struck terror and gave hope: He struck terror lest we should love sin; He gave hope lest we should despair of release from sin. "Everyone," He says, "who commits sin is a slave of sin. But the slave does not remain in the house forever." What hope, therefore, is there for us who are not without sin? Hear your hope: "The Son remains forever."
"If therefore the Son shall make you free, then you shall truly be free."
This is our hope, brethren: that we may be freed, and that by freeing us He may make us slaves. We were slaves of cupidity; having been freed, we are made slaves of charity. The first freedom is not to remain in sin, as the Apostle says, speaking of righteousness: "When you were slaves of sin, you were free with regard to righteousness" (Romans 6:20). "But now, having your fruit unto sanctification, the end, life eternal" (Romans 6:22).
But perfect freedom is to serve God, to serve Christ, to love Him who truly liberated us, who is the true Son of God and Lord in the form of a servant—not a slave, but in the form of a servant, Lord. For that form of flesh was servile, but although it was the likeness of sinful flesh, it was not sinful flesh.
He promised freedom to those believing in Him; but the Jews, as if boasting of their own freedom, disdained to be made free when they were slaves of sin. Therefore, they said they were free because they were the seed of Abraham. What, therefore, did the Lord respond to these things? Let us hear.
Jn 8:37: Acknowledging Carnal Descent, Condemning Spiritual Works
"I know," He says, "that you are children of Abraham; but you seek to kill Me."
I acknowledge the origin of the flesh, not the faith of the heart. You are children of Abraham, but according to the flesh. "Therefore you seek to kill Me," He says, "for My word has no place in you"—that is, it has no room in you. If My word were received by you, it would certainly receive you. What therefore is "has no place in you"? That is, your heart does not receive it, because it is not received by your heart.
You have heard the Lord certainly saying: "I know that you are children of Abraham." Hear what He says afterward: "I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have heard from your father." But what do they do? What He told them: "You seek to kill Me." This they never saw with Abraham. He says: "What I have seen with My Father, I speak." I saw truth, I speak truth, because I am truth. For if the Lord speaks truth because He Himself is the truth of the Father which He saw with the Father, He saw Himself, He speaks Himself, because He Himself is the truth of the Father which He saw with the Father. For He Himself is the Word, which Word was with God.
Therefore, these men—where did they see the evil which they do, which the Lord rebukes and corrects? With their father. When we hear in what follows more openly said who is their father, then we shall understand what sort of things they saw with such a father. For as yet He does not name their father. A little earlier He mentioned Abraham, but by origin of the flesh, not by likeness of life—about to mention another father of theirs, who neither begot them nor created them that they might be men, but nevertheless they were his sons insofar as they were evil, not insofar as they were men—in whom they imitated, not in whom they were created.
Jn 8:39-40: Doing the Works of Abraham
They answered and said to Him: "Abraham is our father."
As if to say: What are you about to say against Abraham? Or if you can dare anything, rebuke—dare to rebuke Abraham! Not because the Lord would not dare to rebuke Abraham, but Abraham was such that he would not be rebuked by the Lord, but rather praised. Nevertheless, these men seemed to provoke Him that He might say something evil about Abraham, and there might be an occasion for doing what they were planning. "Abraham is our father."
Let us hear how the Lord responded to them, praising Abraham with their condemnation:
Jesus says to them: "If you are children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a man who has spoken the truth to you, which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this."
Behold, He is praised, they are condemned. Abraham was not a homicide. "I do not say," He says, "I am God," "I am Lord of Abraham"—for if I were to say this, then they would wish to stone Me. For He said from another place: "Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). Then they wished to stone Him. He did not say this. For the present, what you see, what you behold, what you think Me alone to be: I am a man. Why do you wish to kill a man speaking to you what he heard from God, unless because you are not children of Abraham?
And yet above He said: "I know that you are children of Abraham." He did not deny their origin, but condemns their deeds. Their flesh was from him, but their life was not. Therefore Christians have been made the seed of Abraham by the grace of God. Not made from the flesh of Abraham—God disinherited those, adopted these. These are they concerning whom in another place it was said by John the Baptist: "God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham" (Matthew 3:9). Those will be children of Abraham who imitate the faith of Abraham.
Therefore the Lord subjoined, saying: "If you are children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham." Prove your nobility by deeds, not by words. "But you seek to kill Me, a man who has spoken the truth to you, which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the works of your father." And as yet He does not say who is that father of theirs.
Jn 8:41-42: Claiming God as Father
Now what did they respond? For they began in some way to perceive that the Lord was not speaking about generation of the flesh, but about the ordering of life; and because it is the custom of the Scriptures which they were reading to call fornication spiritually when the soul, as if prostituted, subjects itself to many and false gods—to this they responded:
They said therefore to Him: "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, God."
Now Abraham has grown cheap; they were repulsed, as they ought to have been repulsed. They wished by a truthful mouth—because Abraham was such that they did not imitate his deed, and they were boasting of his lineage—and they changed their response, saying among themselves: "As often as we shall have named Abraham, He will say to us: 'Why do you not imitate him of whose lineage you boast?' We are not able to imitate so holy, just, innocent, so great a man. Let us say God is our Father; let us see what He will say to us."
As if falsehood found something to say, and truth would not find what to respond! Let us hear what they say; let us hear what they hear. "We have one Father," they say, "God."
Therefore Jesus said to them: "If God were your Father, you would certainly love Me. For I proceeded and came from God; nor did I come of Myself, but He sent Me."
Acknowledge God as Father, or acknowledge Me as your brother. Here He touched upon what He is accustomed to say frequently: "I did not come of Myself, but He sent Me." "I proceeded from God and came."
Therefore, Christ's mission is His incarnation. But that He proceeded from God is the eternal procession of the Word, having no time, through whom time was made. Therefore, from Him He proceeded as God, as the equal, only-begotten Son, as the Word of the Father; He came to us—the Word was made flesh that He might dwell in us. His coming is His humanity; His abiding is His divinity.
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