Tractates on the Gospel of John

¹³ And whence, do you say, do you prove to me that He spoke about the resurrection itself? If you hear patiently, you will presently prove it to yourself. Let us go on then: “Marvel not at this; for the hour comes, in which all that are in the graves.” What more evident than this resurrection? A while ago, He had not said, “they that are in the graves,” but, “The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live.” He has not said, some shall live, others shall be damned; because all who believe shall live. But what does He say concerning the graves? “All that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth.” He said not, “shall hear and live.” For if they have lived wickedly, and lay in the graves, they shall rise to death, not to life. Let us see, then, who shall come forth. Although, a little before, the dead by hearing and believing did live, there was no distinction there made: it was not said, The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and when they shall have heard, some shall live, and some shall be damned; but, “all that hear shall live:” because they that believe shall live, they that have charity shall live, and none of them shall die. But concerning the graves, “They shall hear His voice, and come forth: they that have done well, to the resurrection of life; they that have done ill, to the resurrection of judgment.” This is the judgment, that punishment of which He had said a while before, “Whoso believes in me is passed from death to life,” and shall not come into judgment.

14. “I cannot of myself do anything; as I hear I judge, and my judgment is just.” If as You hear You judge, of whom dost Thou hear? If of the Father, yet surely “the Father judges not any man, but has given all judgment to the Son.” When do You, being in a manner the Father's herald, declare what You hear? I speak what I hear, because what the Father is, that I am: for, indeed, speaking is my function; because I am the Father's Word. For this Christ says to you. Thereupon, of yours. What is “As I hear I judge,” but “As I am”? For in what manner does Christ hear? Let us inquire, brethren, I beg of you. Does Christ hear of the Father? How does the Father speak to Him? Undoubtedly, if He speaks to Him, He uses words to Him; for every one who says something to any one, says it by a word. How does the Father speak to the Son, seeing that the Son is the Father's Word? Whatever the Father says to us, He says it by His Word: the Word of the Father is the Son; by what other word, then, does He speak to the Word Himself? God is one, has one Word, contains all things in one Word. What does that mean, then, “As I hear, I judge?” Just as I am of the Father, so I judge. Therefore “my judgment is just.” If You do nothing of Yourself, O Lord Jesus, as carnal men think; if You do nothing of Yourself, how did You say a while before, “So also the Son quickens whom He will”? Just now You say, Of myself I do nothing. But what does the Son declare, but that He is of the Father? He that is of the Father is not of Himself. If the Son were of Himself, He would not be the Son: He is of the Father. That the Father is, is not of the Son; that the Son is, is of the Father. Equal to the Father; but yet the Son of the Father, not the Father of the Son.

15. “Because I seek not my own will, but the will of Him that sent me.” The Only Son says, “I seek not my own will,” and yet men desire to do their own will! To such a degree does He who is equal to the Father humble Himself; and to such a degree does He extol Himself, who lies in the lowest depth, and cannot rise except a hand is reached to Him! Let us then do the will of the Father, the will of the Son, the will of the Holy Ghost; because of this Trinity there is one will, one power, one majesty. Yet for that reason says the Son, “I came not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me;” because Christ is not of Himself, but of the Father. But what He had that He might appear as a man, He assumed of the creature which He himself formed.