Translated by Qwen

St. Albert the Great's Commentary on John 10:31–42

Jn 10:31 Therefore the Jews took up stones to stone him.

Here is touched upon the persecution stirred up against Christ on account of the benefits which He proposed. Moreover, three things are said here: first, the ferocity of the persecutors; second, the most benign question concerning the cause of the persecution and the cruel exposition of that cause itself; and third, the most wise exclusion of fury through the showing of the truth.

He says therefore: "Therefore the Jews took up stones," and with a most harsh intention, "to stone him," just as Leviticus 24:14: "The Lord commanded that the blasphemer be stoned." For they did this because their hearts were harder than stones and could not be softened by the words of wisdom. Isaiah 48:4: "I knew that thou art hard, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy forehead brass." Acts 7:51: "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost."

Jn 10:32 Jesus answered them: Many good works I have shown you from my Father; for which of those works do you stone me?

This is the second part, in which by a benign question He shows the deed to be unfitting. And the cause of the stoning is sought so that, returning to their heart, they might desist from what they had begun. "Many good works," miraculous, "I have shown you," for your utility, "from my Father," that is, done from the virtue of the Father. John 5:20: "Greater works than these he will show him, that you may wonder." Acts 10:38: "Who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil." Acts 2:22: "Ye men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as you also know."

"For which of them," namely, of the works, "do you stone me?" Matthew 23:37: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent to thee, how often would I have gathered thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldst not?" Thus it was done to the innocent Naboth, 3 Kings 21:10, where Jezabel said: "Bring him out and stone him, and so let him die." Thus it was done to the innocent Susanna. John 8:59: "The Jews therefore took up stones to cast at him." Matthew 23:35: "That upon you may come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the just, even unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom you killed between the temple and the altar."

Jn 10:33 The Jews answered him: For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

The Jews answered him, assigning a cause for the stoning which is not a cause according to truth, but for the deception of the simple crowd, so that their deed might seem just. "For a good work we stone thee not." This is false, because nothing appeared in him except good work. 1 Peter 2:22: "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth." "But for blasphemy." This they say, though they are rather blasphemers, attributing to the devil what could not be done except by the finger of God. Matthew 12:31: "Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but the blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven."

Yet they touch upon this why they reputed him a blasphemer: "Because thou, being a man," as indeed he truly was, "makest thyself God." Which is not true, because the Father, generating, made him God, and not he himself made himself God. John 5:18: "Therefore therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he did not only break the sabbath, but also said God was his Father, making himself equal to God." Wisdom 1:16: "But the wicked have called death to them, esteeming him their friend, and they are consumed with him, and they have made a covenant to him, because they are worthy to be of his side."

Jn 10:34 Jesus answered them: Is it not written in your law: I said, You are gods?

Behold the response of wisdom, showing all patience. And it has two parts, namely, the response of wisdom, causing malice to be silent, and the obstinate malice which, when it cannot respond, renders evil for good through the works demonstrated in divine virtue. Moreover, in the response there are two things, namely, the response through the reason of Scripture, and the response through works demonstrated in divine virtue.

First therefore he adduces Scripture and from it argues the proposition. He says therefore: "Is it not written," by the Holy Spirit, "in your law"? "Law" is commonly said here for those things which are contained in the Old Testament, because the Prophecies and Psalms and all the rest are implicitly contained. Moreover, it is called "their" law because it was received by them. In Psalm 81:6 it is contained: "I said," that is, I have established, "that You are gods," by participation of divinity and by adoption. Exodus 6:1: "I have made thee as God to Pharaoh." Psalm 49:1: "The God of gods, the Lord, hath spoken." 1 Corinthians 8:5: "For although there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, for there are gods many and lords many."

Jn 10:35 If he called them gods, to whom the word of God was made, and the scripture cannot be broken;

And from that authority he argues from the lesser thus: "If he called them gods," participatively and by adoption, "to whom the word of God was made," that is, completed in them in work, that is, who deserved to hear the word of God perceived with affection and completed the word of God in work. 1 John 3:2: "Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God, and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We know, that when he shall appear, we shall be like to him, because we shall see him as he is." And thus we shall be gods by participation of Him. James 1:18: "For of his own will hath he begotten us by the word of truth, that we might be some beginning of his creature." John 1:12: "He gave them power to be made the sons of God, and thus to be gods."

Moreover, it seems less that he should call them gods who participate the divine Spirit only participatively and by adoption. "And the scripture cannot be broken," that is, to be false. Matthew 5:18: "One jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law." Tobit 14:6: "The word of the Lord shall not fail."

Jn 10:36 Do you say of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world: Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

"Therefore much more," whom the Father hath sanctified," that is, He begot Him holy from eternity. Psalm 109:3: "From the womb before the day star I begot thee." Luke 1:33: "That which shall be born of thee shall be called holy, the Son of God." "And sent into the world," for the sanctification of the world. Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I formed thee in the bowels of thy mother, I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee." And thus He sent Him full God into the world. Isaiah 61:1: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me."

Much more, I say, is He to be said and believed to be true God. It is therefore wonderful and unfitting that you say, who ought to know the Scriptures: "Because thou blasphemest," since you rather blaspheme by denying this. "Because I said, I am the Son of God." By denying this you make yourselves similar liars. Therefore it is not blasphemy but truth, because if the name and thing by some mode agrees to those who are gods by participation, much more does it agree to Him who is the Son of God by nature.

Jn 10:37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.

"Which no one but the Father can work." John 15:24: "If I had not done in them the works that no other man hath done, they would not have sin." And above 15:22: "But now they have no excuse for their sin." "Do not believe me," because works show the virtue of God to be in me, just as the finger shows the thing demonstrated. Exodus 8:19: "This is the finger of God." Luke 11:20: "If I by the finger of God cast out devils," etc. For works indicate divinity, and divinity is to be believed.

Jn 10:38 But if I do, though you will not believe me, believe the works; that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.

"But if I do," works of God the Father, showing the nature in me. Daniel 3:99–100: "He hath wrought signs and wonders with me, the most high God. It hath seemed good therefore to me to show forth his signs, because they are great, and his wonders are strong, and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his power is from generation to generation." And therefore these men were worse than Nebuchadnezzar the gentile.

"And if you will not believe me." Moreover, he says: "You will not," because Augustine says that a man can do other things unwillingly, but believe only willingly. "If therefore you will not believe me" from so many and such great works, "believe the works at least," which both in the manner in which I do them and by the deed itself show and demonstrate the nature and virtue of the Father in me. Whence Isaiah 53:1 concerning the hardness of this infidelity exclaims to the Father, saying: "Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" Moreover, the arm is the virtue of the Father, which is Christ. As if he were to say: It is revealed to few. Exodus 10:1–2: "I have hardened his heart, and the hearts of his servants, that I may work these my signs in him, and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy sons."

Moreover, Christ adduced these two consequences, that just as the cause is that by which, when destroyed, the effect is destroyed, and by which, when posited, the effect is posited, so it is known to be in place of the cause for inducing faith, that if works did not exist they would be excused, and with works posited they are condemned for infidelity.

"That you may know and believe," etc. This is the intention by way of conclusion, namely, that just as the cause is known by the effect, so from the manner in which I do great things you may know "that the Father is in me," by the inseparability of nature and the consent of His will in all my deeds, "and I in the Father," as in Him from whom I have nature and virtue and work, and in nothing am I contrary to Him. "And so believe," that I am God, because as it is said in Isaiah 7:9: "If you will not believe, you shall not continue." But to this Jeremiah 5:3 responds: "They have hardened their faces above the rock, and they have refused to return." Isaiah 21:2: "He that is incredulous dealeth wickedly, and he that is a spoiler spoileth."

Jn 10:39 They sought therefore to apprehend him: and he went forth out of their hands.

And this is what follows. For here is shown how for such wholesome doctrine and benefit they intended the evil of captivity and death for Christ. And it has three particles, namely, concerning the intention of the faithful, concerning the subtraction of Christ from the hands of the Jews, and concerning the devotion of the good coming to Christ.

He says therefore: "They sought therefore," diligently and maliciously, "to apprehend him," without crowds, by captivity. Mark 12:12: "They sought to lay hold on him, but they feared the people." John 7:32: "The Pharisees sent ministers to apprehend him."

Jn 10:40 And he went forth out of their hands: and he went away again beyond the Jordan, into that place where John was baptizing first; and he remained there.

This is the liberation of Christ, demonstrating his power. And it says two things, namely, from whence he departed and whither he came. He says therefore: "And he went forth out of their hands." Luke 4:30: "But he passing through the midst of them went his way." John 8:59: "No man laid hands on him," namely, because his hour had not yet come. "And he went away from them again beyond the Jordan." Because there the testimony of John had converted many to Him, and there the testimony of the Father and the appearance of the dove had occurred.

And this is what he says: "Into that place where John was baptizing first." Above 3:23: "John was baptizing in Ennon near Salim, because there was much water there." Luke 3:3: "And he came into all the country about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance."

Jn 10:41 And many came to him. And they said: John indeed did no sign.

This is the third part, in which is noted the devotion of the simple faithful: first in the advent to Christ, second in the colloquy of Christ to John, third in the truth of the testimony of John concerning Christ, fourth in the faith of those coming. He says therefore: "And many came to him," not so much in body as in devotion of mind. Psalm 33:6: "Come ye to him and be enlightened," etc. Isaiah 2:2–3: "All nations shall flow to him, and many people shall go, and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths."

"And they said," making a comparison between Christ and John and preferring Christ to John: "For John indeed," the baptist, "did no sign," because as it is said in John 1:8: "He was not the light, but that he should give testimony of the light." Ibid. 3:30: "Him it behoveth to increase, but me to decrease," so that the people might be directed to Christ by him.

Attend that although it was of John's office that he did no sign, nevertheless he came not without sign into the world, announced by an Angel, born of aged and long barren parents, filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother's womb, leaping at the meeting of the Savior, executing the office enjoined upon him in the spirit and virtue of Elias. But God did this that he might show his greatness, that he might become a fit witness to Christ.

But all things whatsoever John said of this, etc. But all things whatsoever John said testifying of this, namely Christ, were true. He said that he was the Son of God, and this was true and the cause of truth for all others. Whence John was a lamp by which these men came to Christ. John 5:35: "He was a burning and a shining light." Luke 11:33: "No man lighteth a candle and putteth it in a hidden place, nor under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that they who come in may see the light." For thus God exalted John in those things which were said as if above a candlestick more splendid than gold, that the light of testimony might be spread more clearly.

And therefore the things are true which he testified. John 1:31 and following: "He that cometh from heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth, and no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony, hath set to his seal that God is true."

Jn 10:42 And many believed in him.

And many believed in him on account of John and the works. Matthew 8:11: "Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." For these fathers were of faith, in whose promises through the faith of Christ many shall obtain the blessing of salvation. Genesis 22:18 and 26:4: "All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in thy seed." Isaiah 49:18: "Lift up thy eye round about, and see all these are gathered together, they are come to thee."

CONTINUE