3.

And he is not content with this only, he stops your mouths in another way also, by applying to the Father the expression "by whom," which you say is a mark of inferiority. For he says, "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son" (1 Cor. i. 9 ): and again, "By His will" (1 Cor. i. 1 , &c.); and in another place, "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things." (Rom. xi. 26.) Neither is the expression "from¹ whom," assigned to the Son only, but also to the Spirit; for the angel said to Joseph, "Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." (Matt. i. 20.) As also the Prophet does not deem it improper to apply to the Father the expression "in whom,"² which belongs to the Spirit, when he says, "In³ God we shall do valiantly." (Ps. lx. 12.) And Paul, "Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey, in the will of God, to come unto you." (Rom. i. 10.) And again he uses it of Christ, saying, "In Christ Jesus." (Rom. vi. 11, 23 , &c.) In short, we may often and continually find these expressions interchanged;⁴ now this would not have taken place, had not the same Essence been in every instance their subject. And that you may not imagine that the words, "All things were made by Him," are in this case used concerning His miracles, (for the other Evangelists have discoursed concerning these;) he farther goes on to say, "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him"; (but not the Spirit, for This is not of the number of created things, but of those above all creation.)

Let us now attend to what follows. John having spoken of the work of creation, that "All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made," goes on to speak concerning His Providence, where he saith, "In Him was Life." That no one may doubt how so many and so great things were "made by Him," he adds, that "In Him was Life." For as with the fountain which is the mother of the great deeps, however much you take away you nothing lessen the fountain; so with the energy of the Only-Begotten, however much you believe has been produced and made by it, it has become no whit the less. Or, to use a more familiar example, I will instance that of light, which the Apostle himself added immediately, saying, "And the Life was the Light." As then light, however many myriads it may enlighten, suffers no diminution of its own brightness; so also God, before commencing His work and after completing it, remains alike indefectible, nothing diminished, nor wearied by the greatness of the creation. Nay, if need were that ten thousand, or even an infinite number of such worlds be created, He remains the same, sufficient for them all not merely to produce, but also to control them after their creation. For the word "Life" here refers not merely to the act of creation, but also to the providence (engaged) about the permanence of the things created; it also lays down beforehand the doctrine of the resurrection, and is the beginning⁵ of these marvelous good tidings.⁶ Since when "life" has come to be with us, the power of death is dissolved; and when "light" has shone upon us, there is no longer darkness, but life ever abides within us, and death cannot overcome it. So that what is asserted of the Father might be asserted absolutely of Him (Christ) also, that "In Him we live and move and have our being." (Col. i. 16, 17.) As Paul has shown when he says, "By Him were all things created," and "by Him all things consist"; for which reason He has been called also "Root"⁷ and "Foundation."⁸

But when you hear that "In Him was Life," do not imagine Him a compound Being, since farther on he says of the Father also, "As the Father hath Life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son also to have Life" (John v. 26 ); now as you would not on account of this expression say that the Father is compounded, so neither can you say so of the Son. Thus in another place he says, that "God is Light" (1 John i. 5 ), and elsewhere (it is said), that He "dwelleth in light unapproachable" (1 Tim. vi. 16 ); yet these expressions are used not that we may suppose a compounded nature,⁹ but that by little and little we may be led up to the highest doctrines. For since one of the multitude could not easily have understood how His life was Life Impersonate,¹⁰ he first used that humbler expression, and afterwards leads them (thus) trained to the higher doctrine. For He who had said that "He hath given Him (the Son) to have life" (c. v. 26 ); the Same saith in another place, "I am the Life" (c. xiv. 6 ); and in another, "I am the Light." (c. viii. 12.) And what, tell me, is the nature of this "light"? This kind (of light) is the object not of the senses, but of the intellect, enlightening the soul herself. And since Christ should hereafter say, that "None can come unto Me except the Father draw him" (c. vi. 44 ); the Apostle has in this place anticipated an objection, and declared that it is He (the Son) who "giveth light" (ver. 9 ); that although you hear a saying like this concerning the Father, you may not say that it belongs to the Father only, but also to the Son. For, "All things," He saith, "which the Father hath are Mine." (c. xvi. 15.)

First then, the Evangelist hath instructed us respecting the creation, after that he tells us of the goods relating to the soul which He supplied to us by His coming; and these he has darkly described in one sentence, when he says, "And the Life was the Light of men." (Ver. 4.) He does not say, "was the light of the Jews," but universally "of men": nor did the Jews only, but the Greeks also, come to this knowledge, and this light was a common proffer made¹¹ to all. "Why did he not add Angels,' but said, of men'?" Because at present his discourse is of the nature of men, and to them he came bearing glad tidings of good things.

"And the light shineth in darkness." (ver. 5.) He calls death and error, "darkness." For the light which is the object of our senses does not shine in darkness, but apart from it; but the preaching of Christ hath shone forth in the midst of prevailing error, and made it to disappear. And He by enduring death¹² hath so overcome death, that He hath recovered those already held by it. Since then neither death overcame it, nor error, since it is bright everywhere, and shines by its proper strength, therefore he says,

"And the darkness comprehended it not." For it cannot be overcome, and will not dwell in souls which wish not to be enlightened.