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John 3:1. Among the Pharisees there was someone named Nicodemus, one of the leaders of the Jews. Nicodemus was almost like that. He also believed in Jesus and, it seems, spoke to the Jews in favor of the Lord, namely, that it was necessary to judge Him by careful examination (John 7:50-51). And after the crucifixion during burial, he also showed a lot of caring and generosity. However, he did not believe as he should have. John 3:2. He came to Jesus at night and said to Him: Rabbi! we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do such miracles as You do unless God is with him. Still adhering to the weakness of the Jews, he comes to Jesus “at night” out of fear from the Jews (John 19:38–39); calls Him Teacher as a simple man, for this was the concept he had about Him, which is why he adds that no one can perform such miracles unless God is with him. You see, he comes to Jesus as a prophet and a man beloved of God. What about the Lord? He does not denounce him in a threatening manner, does not say why at night you come to the Teacher sent from God, why do you not have courage? He doesn’t say anything like that, but mercifully talks to him about divine and lofty subjects. Note also that although Christ performed many miracles, the present evangelist does not narrate any of them, either because they were said about them by other evangelists, or because they are beyond a detailed narrative. John 3:3. Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” It seems that the Lord’s words to Nicodemus have nothing in common with Nicodemus’ words to Him. But for those who are attentive, a lot of similarities will open up. Since Nicodemus had a humiliated concept of Christ, namely: that He is a Teacher and that God is with Him, the Lord says to him: it is natural for you to have such a concept of Me. For you have not yet been born “from above,” that is, from God, by a spiritual birth, but are still carnal, and the knowledge that you have about Me is not spiritual, but spiritual and human. But I tell you that both you and everyone else will be outside the Kingdom if you are not born again and of God and do not receive the proper understanding of Me. For birth through baptism, bringing light into the soul, gives it the opportunity to see or know the Kingdom of God, that is, His only begotten Son. For the Son can be called both the wisdom of God and the kingdom of God. But this kingdom, Nicodemus, no one can see or know unless he is born of God. So you, because you have not yet been born spiritually, do not see Me - the Kingdom of God, as you should, but you have a low concept of Me. John 3:4. Nicodemus said to Him: How can a man be born when he is old? Can he really enter his mother’s womb another time and be born? Nicodemus, hearing a teaching higher than human, is amazed and, due to the nature of human nature, asks: “How is this possible?” This is a sign of unbelief. For where there is no faith, there are questions: how is this, why is this? Nicodemus’ words also seem funny, because he did not think about spiritual birth, but remembered the bodily womb. Having heard that if someone is not born “again,” he thought that it was used instead of “first,” “again,” for the second time, and he understood the speech in this meaning: if someone is not born “first,” for the second time. Therefore, he says: “How can he, being old, enter his mother’s womb?” John 3:5. Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Two subjects were incomprehensible to him: one was spiritual birth, the other was the Kingdom. For the Jews had never heard the name of the Kingdom of Heaven. Now he wonders about the birth. Christ reveals to him more clearly the way of spiritual birth. For man, consisting of two parts, soul and body, also has a two-part image of birth. Water, visibly received, acts to cleanse the body, and the Spirit, invisibly united, acts to revive the invisible soul. If you ask how water can give birth, then I will ask how a seed, which is itself water-like, can be formed into a person? Therefore, just as the grace of God accomplishes everything over the physical seed, so at baptism water is presented, but everything is accomplished by the Spirit and prayerful invocation, and especially the presence of God. For in this water the signs and image of burial and resurrection are made. Three immersions are a sign of a three-day burial; then the person resurrects (emerges) like the Lord, wearing light and clean incorruptible clothing, and having immersed corruption in water. John 3:6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. The Lord, diverting Nicodemus’ attention from the carnal birth, says: “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,” that is, a person born by baptism becomes spiritual; for you must understand the word “spirit” instead of “spiritual.” True, the one who is baptized is not made by the divine spirit, but, having received sonship, grace and honor through the Spirit, he is worthy to be spiritual. John 3:7. Do not be surprised at what I said to you: you must be born again. Seeing that Nicodemus was still embarrassed, he said: “Don’t be surprised.” Then he tries to teach by sensory example. John 3:8. The Spirit breathes where it wants, and you hear its voice, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes: this is what happens to everyone born of the Spirit. “The spirit,” he says, “breathes where it wants, and you hear its voice, however, you do not know its direction, because it is uncontrollable and unhindered, and by the force of nature it has a desire in all directions.” If he says “breathes where he wants,” it is not because the wind has the ability of free choice and desire, but because he wants (as I said) to point out its natural movement and irresistible force. If you do not know where and how the wind, this spirit that is subject to feeling, breathes, then how do you want to understand rebirth from the Spirit of God? If this spirit cannot be restrained, then much less will the grace of the Holy Spirit be subject to the laws of nature. Let the Doukhobor Macedonius and his predecessor Eunomius be ashamed. The first makes the Spirit a slave, but here he hears that the wind breathes where it wants, and, therefore, the more the Spirit has independent movement and acts where and how it wants. And Eunomius, having previously sinned in this very thing and called the Spirit a creature, showed such insolence that he seemed to know God as well as himself. Let him hear that he does not know the movement and tendency of the wind; How, you criminal, do you dare to appropriate to yourself the knowledge of the Essence of God? John 3:9. Nicodemus answered Him: How can this be? Nicodemus still remains with Jewish weakness, so he again asks: “How can this be?” John 3:10. Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel, and do you not know this?” Therefore, the Lord, showing him that he is asking this out of simplicity, says: “You are the teacher of Israel. If you remember the glorious miracles performed in the Old Testament, starting from the creation of man and onwards, namely: how he was created (Gen. 2:7), how a woman was created from a rib (Gen. 2:21-22), how signs were performed in Egypt, like in the Red Sea (Ex. 7, 8, 9, 14), how barrens gave birth (1 Sam. 1) and so on like this, if you understand this as the teacher of Israel, then you will believe what I now say.” John 3:11. Truly, truly, I say to you: We speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept Our testimony. “Moreover, I am talking about what I know and what I have seen, that is, I know exactly.” For by the word “saw” He does not mean bodily vision, but the most accurate knowledge. “But you do not accept Our testimony, that is, Mine.” The Lord does not say this to Nicodemus alone, but extends it to the whole family of Jews who remained in unbelief to the end. John 3:12. If I told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? “If I told you about earthly things, and you do not believe,” that is, if I told you about the regeneration that takes place in baptism, and you did not accept, but asked “how?” (calls this birth “earthly” because it takes place on earth for the benefit of people living on earth; although it is heavenly in grace and dignity, we are baptized while on earth). So, if I spoke about this “earthly” birth and found you not to believe, then how will you believe if you hear about the ineffable heavenly birth in which the Only Begotten Son was born of the Father? Some by “earthly” meant the example of the wind, so the speech is presented in this sense: if I presented you with an example of earthly objects, and you were not convinced by it, then how can you study more sublime objects? John 3:13. No one has ascended into heaven except the Son of Man, who is in heaven, who came down from heaven. And this apparently has nothing to do with the previous one. But if one looks closely at the thought of the Lord, it turns out that this too is closely related to the previous one. Since Nicodemus called the Lord Teacher and Prophet, He says: “Do not consider Me to be a prophet who is from the earth, sent by God to teach, but consider Me to have come down from above as a Son, and not to be from the earth. None of the prophets ascended to heaven, but I alone am about to ascend, just as I descended.” When you hear that the Son of Man came down “from heaven,” do not think that the flesh came down from heaven. Indeed, Apollinaris thought that Christ, having a body from heaven, passed through the Virgin as through a canal. But since Christ, consisting of two natures, was one Hypostasis or one Person, then the names of Man are applied to the Word, and again the names of the Word are applied to Man. So here it is said that the “Son of Man” came down from heaven, because He is one Person and one Hypostasis. Then, so that you, having heard “he who has descended,” do not think that he who descended is no longer in heaven, says “he who is in heaven.” So, having heard that he has descended, do not think that I am not there; but I am also present here bodily and there I sit with the Father in Divinity. John 3:14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, John 3:15. So that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. Having spoken first about rebirth through baptism, he then speaks about the good deed accomplished for us through the cross. For the cross and death are the reason for the grace given to us through baptism, since at baptism we represent the death of the Lord. He does not say directly that I will be crucified, but reminds us of the serpent and of ancient history (Num. 21:5-9) and thus, at once, on the one hand, teaches us that the ancient is akin to the new and that the same Lawgiver of the Old and New Testaments, although Marcion, Manes and the rest of the collection of similar heretics reject the Old Testament, saying that it is the law of the evil demiurge (artist); on the other hand, it teaches that if the Jews avoided death by looking at the copper image of the serpent, then much more will we avoid spiritual death by looking at the Crucified One and believing in Him. Perhaps compare the image with the truth. There is the likeness of a serpent, having the appearance of a serpent, but not having poison: so here the Lord is a Man, but free from the poison of sin, coming in the likeness of the flesh of sin, that is, in the likeness of the flesh subject to sin, but He Himself is not the flesh of sin. Then those who looked on avoided physical death, and we avoid spiritual death. Then the hanged man healed the stings of snakes, and now Christ heals the wounds from the mental dragon. When you hear “I must be lifted up,” understand this: I must be hanged. For He was hanged on high, so that He who had sanctified the earth would also sanctify the air by walking on it. Understand “to ascend” this way: to be glorified. For the cross has truly become the height and glory of Christ. In what He seemed to be condemned, He condemned the prince of this world. Let me explain a few. Adam died justly because he sinned. The Lord did not die out of a debt of justice, because He did not sin. Before the crucifixion of the Lord, death rightly ruled over people. And since the Lord turned out to be sinless, what could the devil find in Him worthy of death? And since He was killed unjustly, He defeated the one who killed Him and thus freed Adam from the death justly inflicted on him as a sinner. And otherwise. Two things have dominated the human race: pleasure and sorrow. The Lord, having gone through both, turned out to be invincible. The tempter first approached Him on the mountain with an offer of pleasure (Matthew 4:3, 6, 9); but, having found Him invincible through this, he used great cunning, brought on sorrow in order, at least through it, to take possession of Him, and for this purpose he raised everything against Him: the denial of the disciples, the ridicule of soldiers, the blasphemy of those passing by, death from the Jews, but even at the same time, he found Him invincible. For the sorrow on the cross could not arouse in the Lord hatred of the crucifiers, but He continued to love them and prayed for them, saying: “Father! Do not put this sin on them” (Luke 23:34). You see how He conquered with what He apparently conquered. Thus, the cross became both His exaltation and glory. John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, God’s love for the world is great and extended to such an extent that He gave not an angel, not a prophet, but His Son, and, moreover, the only begotten (1 John 4:9). If He had given away an angel, then this matter would not have been small. Why? Because the angel is His faithful and obedient servant, and we are enemies and apostates. Now, when he gave his Son, what superiority of love did He show?! Again, if He had many sons and gave one, then this would be a very great thing. And now He gave the Only Begotten. Is it possible to praise His goodness worthily? The Arians say that the Son is called the Only Begotten because He alone was produced and created by God, and everything else was already created by Him. The answer to them is simple. If He were called the Only Begotten without the word “Son,” then your subtle invention would have a basis. But now, when He is called the Only Begotten and the Son, the word “Only Begotten” cannot be understood as you do, but in such a way that He alone is begotten of the Father. Please note, I ask you, that just as He said above that the Son of Man came down from heaven, although the flesh did not descend from heaven, but added to man what belonged to God because of the unity of the Person and the unity of the Hypostasis, so here again He adds what belongs to man to God’s Word. “God gave His Son to die,” he says. Although God remained impassive, since according to Hypostasis both God the Word and Man, subject to suffering, were one and the same, it is said that the Son, who actually suffered in his own flesh, was given up to death. so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. What is the benefit of giving the Son? Great and unthinkable for man is that everyone who believes in Him will receive two benefits: one, so that he does not perish; another is to have life, and eternal life at that. The Old Testament promised long life to those who pleased God in it, but the Gospel rewards such with life not temporary, but eternal and indestructible. John 3:17. For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Since there are two comings of Christ, one already past, and the other future, then about the first coming he says that the Son was not sent to judge the world (because if He had come for this, then everyone would have been condemned, since everyone had sinned, as Paul says (Rom. 3:23), but he came primarily to save the world. This was His goal. But in reality it turned out that He condemns those who do not They believed. The Mosaic law came primarily to reprove sin (Rom. 3:20) and to condemn criminals. For it did not forgive anyone, but at the same time it imposed punishment on those who had sinned. So, the first coming was not intended to judge, except for those who in fact did not believe, for they were already condemned; John 3:18. He who believes in Him is not condemned, What does it mean that “he who believes in the Son is not condemned”? Is it really not sued if his life is unclean? Very litigious. For even Paul does not call such people sincere believers. “They show,” he says, “that they know God, but by deeds they deny Him” (Titus 1:16). However, here he says that he is not judged by the very fact that he believed: although he will give the strictest account of evil deeds, he is not punished for unbelief, because he believed at once. but the unbeliever is already condemned, because he did not believe in the name of the Only Begotten Son of God. “But the unbeliever is already condemned.” How? Firstly, because unbelief itself is condemnation; for to be out of the light - this alone - is the greatest punishment. Then, although here he is not yet given over to Gehenna, here he has combined everything that leads to future punishment; just as a murderer, even if he was not sentenced to punishment by a judge’s verdict, was condemned by the essence of the case. And Adam died on the same day that he ate of the forbidden tree; although he was alive, according to the verdict and the merits of the case, he was dead. So, every unbeliever is already condemned here, as undoubtedly subject to punishment and not having to come to judgment, according to what has been said: “The wicked will not rise to judgment” (Ps. 1:5). For no account will be required from the wicked, any more than from the devil: they will rise not to judgment, but to condemnation. So in the Gospel, the Lord says that the prince of this world has already been condemned (John 16:11), both because he himself did not believe, and because he made Judas a traitor and prepared destruction for others. If in parables (Matt. 23:14–32; Lk. 19:11–27) The Lord introduces those who are subject to punishment to give an account, then do not be surprised, firstly, because what is said is a parable, and what is said in parables does not need to be accepted as laws and rules. For on that day everyone, having an infallible judge in his conscience, will not require any other reproof, but will go away bound from himself; secondly, because the Lord makes those who give account not unbelievers, but believers, but uncompassionate and unmerciful. We are talking about the wicked and unbelievers; and some - wicked and unbelieving, and others - unmerciful and sinful. John 3:19. The judgment is that light has come into the world; Here the unbelievers are shown to be deprived of all justification. “This,” he says, “is the judgment, that the light came to them, but they did not rush towards it.” They sinned not only by not seeking the light themselves, but, worst of all, by the fact that it came to them, and they, however, did not accept it. That is why they are condemned. If the light had not come, people could plead ignorance of good. And when God the Word came and delivered His teaching to enlighten them, and they did not accept, then they were already deprived of all justification. but people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil; Lest anyone say that no one would prefer darkness to light, he also states the reason why people turned to darkness: “Because,” he says, “their deeds were evil.” Since Christianity requires not only a right way of thinking, but also an honest life, and they wanted to wallow in the mud of sin, therefore those who do evil deeds did not want to go to the light of Christianity and obey My laws. John 3:20. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed, because they are evil. John 3:21. But he who does righteousness comes to the light, so that his deeds may be revealed, because they are done in God. “But he who acts in truth,” that is, leading an honest and godly life, strives for Christianity as for light, in order to further succeed in goodness and so that his deeds according to God may be evident. For such a one, believing correctly and leading an honest life, shines for all people, and God is glorified in him. Therefore, the reason for the unbelief of the pagans was the uncleanness of their lives. Perhaps someone else will say: “Well, aren’t there vicious Christians and pagans who approve of life?” That there are vicious Christians, I will say this myself; but I cannot say decisively that there will be good pagans. Some may be found “by nature” to be meek and kind, but this is not a virtue, and no one is good “from deeds” and practice in goodness. If some seemed good, then they did everything because of glory; he who does it for glory, and not for the good itself, will willingly indulge in an evil desire when he finds an opportunity for it. For if with us the threat of Gehenna, and any other care, and the examples of countless saints barely keep people in virtue, then the nonsense and vileness of the pagans will keep them in goodness even less. It’s great if they don’t make them completely evil. John 3:22. After this Jesus came with His disciples to the land of Judea and lived there with them and baptized. While the Passover festival continued, Jesus was in Jerusalem. When he had passed, Jesus went out from there into the land of Judea and lived near the Jordan, where many gathered. He sought crowded places not for empty honor or glory, but because he wanted to bring benefit and benefit to a larger number of people. When He went up on holidays, He went for the same reason, in order to bring benefit to a greater number of people both by teaching and by showing miracles. When you hear that He baptized, do not think that He Himself baptized: His disciples baptized, but the evangelist attributes the work of the disciples to the Teacher. Further, this same evangelist says that “Jesus did not baptize, but His disciples” (John 4:2). Will you ask “why didn’t He baptize Himself”? Find out. John previously said that “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 3:11). But He did not give the Holy Spirit yet, because it was not yet time. So, if He had baptized, then either He would have baptized without the Spirit (and how then would He have differed from John?), or He would have given the Spirit ahead of time, and this is unworthy of God, who does everything on time. When was the time to give the Spirit? Time after ascension. For our nature in Christ Jesus needed to appear to the Father without sin and, after God had thus been reconciled with us, to be sent down to the Spirit as a rich and generous gift. John 3:23. And John also baptized in Aenon, near Salem, because there was a lot of water there; and they came there and were baptized, John 3:24. For John was not yet imprisoned. So, the disciples of Jesus baptized, and John continued to baptize and did not stop, doing two things at once: one, speaking to those who came to him about Christ and leading them to Him; another thing is that he did not give the students a reason for jealousy and big disputes. If he had stopped baptizing, what would his disciples not have done, given their envious disposition towards Christ? If he, very often calling out and always yielding primacy to Christ, did not convince them to turn to Him, then what envy would he have aroused in them when he stopped baptizing? Therefore, Christ especially began to preach when John was imprisoned, due to the envy of the disciples of the Baptist. I think that John’s death was allowed to happen very quickly so that the entire disposition of the people would pass to Christ, and he would not be divided in his thoughts about both, John and Christ. The disciples of Christ baptize with a baptism that has nothing more than the baptism of John, for both are imperfect, as not participating in the Spirit, although the goal of both is the same - to bring those baptized to Christ. John 3:25. Then John's disciples had a dispute with the Jews about cleansing. During a dispute between John's disciples and a Jew, the question of baptism came up. The Jew valued the baptism of Christ's disciples above, and John's disciples valued the baptism of their teacher. John 3:26. And they came to John and said to him: Rabbi! He who was with you at the Jordan and about whom you testified, behold He baptizes, and everyone comes to Him. Those who argue about purification, that is, baptism, come to their teacher and begin to incite him, saying: “Teacher! He who was with you, who had the degree of a disciple, separated and baptizes”; The one about whom you testified, that is, whom you baptized, whom you made noble, dares to do the same as you; Moreover, some do not listen to you, but everyone listens to Him: “For everyone,” he says, “comes to Him, but leaves you.” John 3:27. John answered: a man cannot take upon himself anything unless it is given to him from heaven. John, wanting to frighten them and show that they, by hindering Christ and removing Him from glory, are at enmity against God, says: “A person cannot accept anything from himself”; and further: “If,” he says, “it had not been given from heaven, then He whom you envy would not have increased. Therefore, you sin twice at once: once by opposing God’s decree, and the other by undertaking the impossible.” At the same time, he reassures them somewhat by the fact that the one who conquers them is not a man, but God. “Yes, and we,” he says, “what we had, we had not from ourselves, but from heaven. If the works of Christ are more glorious, then there is no need to be surprised, for this is what pleases God.” John 3:28. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said: I am not the Christ, but I was sent before Him. “You yourself,” he says, “know that I testified about Him, that He is greater than me.” So, if you fully accept my testimony, then know that He is more venerable than me, and my joy is that everyone should come to Him. John 3:29. He who has a bride is a groom, If the bride, that is, the people, did not come to this Bridegroom, then I, the bridegroom, would grieve; Now that this has happened, I rejoice greatly, for I see that the Bridegroom - Christ is calling to the bride - the people and teaching them. and the groom’s friend, standing and listening to him, rejoices with joy, hearing the groom’s voice. It was not without a purpose that he said “standing,” but this shows that his work is over and he is no longer standing without action, and that he finally needs to stand and only listen to the teaching of Christ and His conversation with the bride. This is my joy fulfilled. “My joy,” he says, “was fulfilled in the presence of the Bridegroom.” The business that was entrusted to me, as a bridegroom, I see, was a success. So, the Lord is the bridegroom of every soul; the marriage room, in which the union takes place, is the place of baptism, that is, the church; He gives the bride a pledge - forgiveness of sins, communication of the Holy Spirit, and the rest in the next century, when He will introduce the worthy into the best and highest sacraments. Note that the bridegroom is no other than Christ alone; nevertheless, teachers are bridegrooms, like the Forerunner. For the giver of blessings is none other than the Lord; all others are intermediaries and servants of goods given from the Lord. John 3:30. He must increase, but I must decrease. “My work,” he says, “is finished, and I have handed the people over to Him. Therefore my glory must decrease, but His must increase.” How is the glory of the Forerunner diminished? Just as the morning dawn is covered by the sun and it seems to many that its light has faded, although in fact it has not faded, but is covered by more; so, without a doubt, the Lucifer the Forerunner is covered by the mental Sun, and therefore it is said that he is diminished. Christ grows because in a short time He makes Himself known through miracles. He does not grow with success in virtue. Away with such a thought! She is the idle talk of Nestorius. But it grows as the Divinity manifests and reveals itself; for little by little, and not suddenly, He declares that He is God. John 3:31. He who comes from above is above all; but he who is of the earth is and speaks as one who is of the earth; He who comes from heaven is above all, The Forerunner compares himself with Christ and says that He comes “from above,” from the Father, and is “above all,” surpasses everyone and preserves the superiority of the Father, and I, who am from the earth, speak earthly, imperfect and humiliated in comparison with the teaching of Christ. Although the teaching of the Forerunner himself was divine, in comparison with the teaching of Christ it has much earthly. John 3:32. And what He saw and heard, He testifies to; and no one accepts His testimony. He says that he saw and heard, that is, he speaks and testifies to what he heard from the Father and what he saw, that is, what he knows exactly. But none of those who do not listen to the truth accepts His testimony. When you hear that Christ says what he heard from the Father, do not think that He has the need to learn knowledge from the Father, but since everything that the Son knows by nature, He has from the Father, as one in essence with Him, then it is said that He heard from the Father what He knows. This is similar to how you, seeing a son who is like his father in everything, say that he has everything from his father, that is, he did not look like anyone else except his father. John 3:33. He who received His testimony has thus sealed that God is true, And whoever accepted the testimony, that is, His teaching, sealed, that is, showed, confirmed that God is true. For whoever believes what is sent from God believes God, and by this he seals and proves that he believed Him because He is true. And vice versa, whoever does not believe what was sent from God shows that He is a liar, and therefore did not believe Him, because He is a liar (Rom. 1:25; 1 John 5:10). Therefore, whoever believes in Christ, by the very fact that he believed what was sent from God, shows that God is true. For obviously he believed Him because He is true. John 3:34. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; For God does not give the Spirit by measure. And fair enough. “For all the others,” he says, “received the power of the Spirit by measure, but He did not give Christ Himself one or two powers by measure, but He essentially has the whole Spirit.” So, God gives the prophets the Spirit, that is, the power of the Spirit, and gives it in measure; but He does not give to Christ either in measure or without measure, for Christ has Him essentially. When you hear that He is “sent,” understand that He is sent from the Father, like a ray from the sun. Don’t we say this: “the sun sent rays” and “the sun sent out light,” that is, sent it to the earth? However, we do not say that the ray is of a different essence or later than the sun. So the Son was sent into the world from the mental Sun and the Father, like a reflection, like a ray, like light, and whatever you want to call Him, as appropriate. It is not untimely to say here when it comes to how the Son has the Spirit and in what sense the Spirit is called filial. The Apostle says: “God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying: Abba, Father!” (Gal. 4:6), and in another place: “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom. 8:9). The Latins, poorly accepting and understanding these words, say that the Spirit proceeds from the Son. We will tell them, firstly, that it is different to be from someone and different to be someone else. That the Spirit is the Spirit of the Son is beyond doubt and is confirmed by all Scripture; but no Scripture testifies that He is from the Son, lest we introduce two authors of the Spirit, namely, the Father and the Son. So, they say: “But He breathed on the disciples and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit”” (John 20:22). What a false understanding! If He gave the Spirit to the disciples when He breathed on them, then how did He tell them that a few days after this you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you (Acts 1:5, 8)? Or why do we believe that at Pentecost there was a descent of the Spirit, if He gave Him on the evening of the day of His resurrection? For then He still blew. But it's very funny. Obviously, He did not give them the Holy Spirit then, but one of the gifts of the Spirit, namely, forgiveness of sins. For he immediately adds: “Forgive the sins of whom” (John 20:23). But the Son has the Spirit essentially, as being consubstantial with Him, and not as being brought into action by Him. For the prophets are brought into action. It is called the Spirit of the Son because the Son is truth and power and wisdom, and the Holy Spirit is described by Isaiah as the Spirit of truth and power and wisdom (Isaiah 11:2). It is also called filial in another sense, namely that it is given to people through the Son. You believe that the Spirit comes from the Father, and is given to creation through the Son, and this will be the rule of Orthodoxy for you. John 3:35. The Father loves the Son and has given everything into His hand. Having spoken lofty things about Christ, he now again proclaims humble things in order to make the word acceptable to the listeners. Therefore, he says, “The Father loves the Son,” as if talking about some extraordinary person, and he gave everything into the hands of the Son, according to humanity. If by God, then what? The Father gave everything to the Son by nature, not by grace. Since He has being from the Father, it is naturally said that He has everything from the Father. So the Son has everything that is in heaven and that is on earth. For he rules over all, although not all are willing. Subsequently, when at the second coming every knee bows before Him, He will receive complete dominion over everyone, when malice will no longer have power, but, remaining inactive, will show that the nature is good from the beginning, is inherent in everyone and contains everything. John 3:36. He who believes in the Son has eternal life, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life” in himself, that is, Christ Himself, who is truly life (John 14:6); for by Him we live and move (Acts 17:28). but he who does not believe in the Son will not see life, For whoever has voluntarily abandoned life, how will he have it when life is Christ? For the Apostle Paul also says: when Christ, your life, appears, then you, having become dead to evil and motionless, will appear in glory (Col. 3:4). but the wrath of God remains on him. He did not say “will leave him,” but “will remain on him,” showing that he will never leave him. Дабы ты, услышав о смерти, не принял ее за временную, говорит, что пребудет на нем, на том, кто не уверовал, и наказание будет вечное. With all these words, the Baptist leads and encourages all listeners to faith in Christ. For he says this not without purpose, but also admonishes his disciples and all others not to envy Christ, but to listen as to God.