The fourth and final session on the study of the Bible in the middle ages.
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The Study
of the Bible in the Middle Ages
Adult
Faith Formation Series, October 2022
Session 4:
St Thomas’ Commentary on John
Class Schedule, Thursdays, from 7
to 8 pm
October 6th –
Introduction to the “senses” of Scripture
October 13th – St
Thomas’ Biblical Commentaries
October 20th – the
Division of the Text
October 27th – St
Thomas’ Commentary on the Gospel of John
I. Review: The Division of the Text and the Intention of
the Human Author
This
tool allowed the scholastic doctors to break the single work into smaller
portions, and see how each verse (even each word) relates to the immediate
context and to the rest of the book, even to the rest of the Bible as a whole.
This
Division of the Text was the way in which the scholastics accounted for the
intention of the human author, and the role of that human intention in the
writing of the Scriptures.
II. St
Thomas’ Commentary on the Gospel of St John
A. The medieval and scholastic
doctors didn’t just invent doctrine, but were first and foremost Scripture
Scholars. We will see that St Thomas’ dogmatic theology flows from his study of
the Bible.
B. In fact, many argue that St
Thomas’ Biblical Commentaries are just as great as his systematic works (like
the Summa).
Gilles Emery, perhaps the
foremost scholar of the Trinitarian Theology of St Thomas Aquinas, quoting M.D.
Philippe, he states that the Commentary on St John is “the theological work par
excellence of St Thomas” and he goes on to say “this commentary enables us to
enter into the theological intelligence of St Thomas even better than does the
Summa Theologiae or the Summa Contra Gentiles.”
Again, Gilles Emery states, “We
are in the presence, in the middle of a biblical commentary, of a body of
Thomistic doctrine especially well developed.”
C. Some differences between the
Summa and the commentary on John, and our conclusion from this.
1. No definition of the word
“person” in the Commentary
2. The Holy Spirit as “Love” is
not as clearly articulated as the Son as “Word”
3. The action of the Persons of
the Trinity is much more fully discussed in the Commentary
D. Historical Notes about the
Commentary:
Notes taken by Reginald of Piperno
of St Thomas’ lecture series at the University of Paris from 1269 to 1272 –
this is called a reportatio. It was thought that St Thomas himself had
reviewed and corrected these notes, though this is now considered unlikely
today. Some even hold that St Thomas himself wrote out the commentary on the
first five chapters – but, again, this is not so certain. In any case, this Commentary does follow the
lectures of St Thomas and is an authentic text.
This commentary was written after
St Thomas had compiled the Catena Aurea. His use of the Fathers of the Church
bears witness to the fruitfulness of the Catena in St Thomas’ own life.
III. Study of Particular Passages
We will look at a few passages of
this commentary, as illustrations of the genius of St Thomas and also of how
Trinitarian theology flows from sound Biblical commentary.
John 1:1 – “In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” n.24ff
John 5:19 – “Amen, Amen, I say to
you, the Son cannot do anything of himself, but only what he sees the Father
doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.” n.750ff
John 16:14-15 -- “He [i.e. the Holy Spirit] will glorify me,
for he will take from what is mine [Thomas’ reading, for he will receive
from me] and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore,
I said that he will take from what is mine [Thomas’ reading, that he will
receive from me] and declare it to you.”
n.2112ff
{John 1:3 – “All things were made
through him [i.e. though the Word].”
n.68ff}
John 14:28 – “If you loved me,
you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father: for the Father is greater
than I.” n.1970ff
John 15:26 – “But when the
Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of
truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me.” n.2059ff
John 10:30 – “I and the Father
are one.” n.1451
{John 10:37-38 – “If I am not
doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even
though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and
understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” nn.1464, 1466}
John 14:11 – “Believe me that I
am in the Father and the Father is in me.” n.1891
John 21:17 – “I am ascending to
my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” n.2520ff
John 1:1 – “In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” n.24ff
Commenting on this verse (and St
Thomas dedicates an entire lecture to the first two verses, 45 paragraphs), St
Thomas takes the opportunity to reference St Augustine’s famous analogy between
the human soul and the Trinity.
A marvelous argument for the
Divinity of the Word: “In God, to understand and to be are the same; and so the
Word of the Divine Intellect is not an accident but belongs to its nature. Thus
it must be subsistent, because whatever is in the nature of God is God.”
All this leads us to concluded
that the Word is a Person, co-equal and co-eternal from that from which He
proceeds, and sharing the same nature. Thomas then goes further to state that,
because the Word proceeds with the likeness and identity to the nature from
which He proceeds, it is fitting to speak of the Father and the Son – and this
procession is called generation.
John 5:19 – “Amen, Amen, I say to
you, the Son cannot do anything of himself, but only what he sees the Father
doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.” n.750ff
St Thomas points out the order of
origin in the Trinity. “Although the Son is equal to the Father in all things,
he receives all these things from the Father in an eternal begetting. But the
Father gets these from no one, for he is unbegotten.”
This verse is an occasion for St
Thomas both to show the perfect equality of the Son with the Father but also to
reflect on the order of origin in the Trinity and the way in which the Son
relies on the Father.
John 16:14-15 -- “He [i.e. the Holy Spirit] will glorify me,
for he will take from what is mine [Thomas’ reading, for he will receive
from me] and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore,
I said that he will take from what is mine [Thomas’ reading, that he will
receive from me] and declare it to you.”
n.2112ff
Here we see St Thomas’ defense of
the filioque (that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and from the Son, as
from a single principle). Again, the
works of the Persons in the world, reveal the processions.
“Now we see the reason why the
Holy Spirit will glorify Christ: it is because the Son is the principle of the
Holy Spirit. For everything which is from another manifest that from which it
is. Thus the Son manifests the Father because he is from the Father. And so
because the Holy Spirit is from the Son, it is appropriate that the Spirit
glorify the Son.”
St Thomas will go further on to
show that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, and that this
follows form the order of origin in the Trinity. St Thomas uses this verse to give a marvelous
reflection on the divine persons and relations, as well as the order and
equality in the Trinity.
“We have conceded that whatever
the Father has the Son has, but not that the Son has it in the same order as
the Father. For the Son has as receiving from another; while the Father ahs as
giving to another. Thus the distinction is not in what is had, but in the order
of having.”
If the Father communicates all
things to the Son, then if the Father gives his essence to the Holy Spirit, the
Son must also give his essence to the Holy Spirit; and the Spirit receives this
Divine Essence from the Father and the Son, as the Son receives the Divine
Essence from the Father. But again, the distinction of persons is not in the
essence, but in the order of possessing that Essence. The Father has divine
essence as giving it to the Son. The Son has the divine essence as receiving it
from the Father. And the Holy Spirit has the divine essence as receiving it
from the Father and the Son. And these
real relations are the Divine Persons.
John 14:28 – “If you loved me,
you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father: for the Father is greater
than I.” n.1970ff
“One could also say, as Hilary
does, that even according to the divine nature the Father is greater than the
Son, yet the Son is not inferior to the Father, but equal. For the Father is
not greater than the Son in power, eternity and greatness, but by the dignity
of a grantor or source. For the Father receives nothing from another, but the
Son, if I can put it this way, receives his nature from the Father by an
eternal generation. So, the Father is greater because he gives; but the Son is
not inferior but equal, because he receives all that the Father has.”
John 15:26 – “But when the
Paraclete comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of
truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me.” n.2059ff
Here, we see Thomas again defend
the filioque – and the procession of the Holy Spirit is the occasion to explain
the relations of the persons of the Trinity.
St Thomas shows that the mission
in the world of the persons indicates the processions from eternity. “He [the Holy Spirit] is said to be sent to
indicate his procession from another.”
Again, “The Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son together …
Therefore, when speaking of the sending of the Holy Spirit he mentions the
Father and the Son, who send the Spirit by the same and equal power.”
“In order for the Holy Spirit to
be distinguished from the Son, they must have relations that are opposed.”
And the only distinction of the
generation of the Son from the Father and the procession of the Holy Spirit is
that the Holy Spirit proceeds not only from the Father but from the Father and
from the Son.
John 10:30 – “I and the Father
are one.” n.1451
“I and the Father are one.” –
note the similar grammatical structure to 1 John 5 “These three are one.” By saying “we are” (the Father and I are),
our Lord indicates the distinction of Persons.
By saying, “are one”, he points to the unity of essence and
divinity. Thus, he refutes the error of
the Sabellians as well as that of Arius.
John 14:11 – “Believe me that I
am in the Father and the Father is in me.” n.1891
“God, being entirely simple, is
his own existence and his own nature. Therefore, in whomever the nature of God
is, there is God. And so, since the Father is God and the Son is God, were the
nature of the Father is, there is the Father; and where the nature of the Son
is, there is the Son. Therefore, since the nature of the Father is in the Son,
and conversely, the Father is in the Son, and conversely.”
“In the divinity, essence is the
same with the person in reality, and so the essence of the Father is the
Father, and the essence of the Son is the Son. Therefore, wherever the essence
of the Father is, there the Father is; and wherever the essence of the Son is,
there is the Son is. Now the essence of the Father is in the Son, and the
essence of the Son is in the Father. Therefore, the Son is in the Father, and
the Father in the Son.”
We call this the mystery of
circumincissio.
John 21:17 – “I am ascending to
my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” n.2520ff
“According to Augustin, Christ is
speaking of himself and referring to each of his natures. “I am ascending to my
Father and your Father” refers to his divine nature and from the point of view
he has as Father God, to whom he I equal and like in nature.”
