The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. John
From these words of S. John the Macedonians falsely denied that the Holy Ghost is God, arguing that He was made by the Word, and therefore that He was a creature, and not the Creator. But it is plain that the words refer to things created, not things uncreated, such as the Spirit, who is One God with the Father and the Son, and the Creator of all things. For if you were to take the word all absolutely, you might infer that the Father also had been created by the Word, which would be ridiculous, as S. Gregory Nazianzen learnedly teaches against the Macedonians (Orat. de Sp. Sanct.) S. John does not in this place make mention of the Holy Ghost, because he is only treating of the generation and incarnation of the Word. Wherefore, after he had said that the Word was Himself God, that is, coeternal, and of one substance with the Father, he now in this third verse describes the relation of the same Word to all created things, asserting that they were made by Him. Then in the ninth and following verses he comes down to man, showing the relation of the Word to man. He asserts that He took upon Him the nature of man, that He might illuminate and save him. This is the scope and object of the whole passage.
Observe that when it is said by Him , the preposition by does not signify an instrumental cause, or a minister, as though the Word were the instrument, or minister of God, by which He created all things, as Origen supposed, and also the Arians, but it signifies an original, or chief (principalem ) cause, as in Prov. viii. 15, “By me kings reign,” and 1 Cor. i. 9, “ Faithful is God, by whom ye have been called” (Vulg.) The preposition by in this and other places is referred to God the Father, who is the First Cause of all things. And by here means that the Word with the Father is the original Cause of the creation of all things. So S. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius on this passage, and SS. Athanasius, Basil, and others against the Arians. Wherefore also S. Paul (Heb. i. 10) interprets Psalm cii. 26, “ Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands,” of the Word, or Son. “ Never, certainly, would he have said this,” says S. Chrysostom, “ unless he had believed the Son to be the Founder, not a minister, and that the Father and the Son were equal in dignity.”
You will ask, Why then does S. John use the preposition διά (per or through) instead of ὑπό, by, when he says that all things were made through (διά) Him ? 1. That he might signify that the Word proceeds from the Father, and is begotten of Him. “ Lest any one should suppose,” says S. Chrysostom, “that the Word was unbegotten.”
2. That he might signify that the Word is the Idea of created things, according to which the Father with the Son created all things. For an artificer makes all the works of his art by an ideal, or conception, or mental word, or plan. All these similitudes are transferred to the Divine Word, who is the Begotten but Uncreated Wisdom.
And without Him was made nothing (Vulg.) Nothing : i.e., evil, as corruptible things, whose constant tendency is to nothingness, from whence they came forth, as the Manichaeans say. For they thought that things corporeal and corruptible were not created by God, but by a demon, or evil god. But that this interpretation of the words is false and foolish is shown by the Greek for nothing (οὐδὲ ἕν), not even one thing, meaning that everything, without one single exception, was created by the Word. So the Arabic clearly translates, All things were made by Him, and without Him was there not made anything of the things which were made.
3. By nothing, S. Augustine understands sin : that all things were made by the Word, nothing, i.e., sin being excepted, the author of which is the devil, and an evil will, not God. But this idea is shown to be untenable in this place by the Greek, οὐδὲ ἕν, not even one thing.
Which was made. Here there are three ways of pointing, and in consequence a threefold interpretation and meaning. The first is, without Him was nothing made , which was made in Him : then the stop, after which begins a new sentence, There was life, &c. So read and punctuate SS. Hilary and Epiphanius, and some others.
But this reading is generally rejected as containing a manifest tautology.
A second reading is, without Him was made nothing: then a full stop, after which a new sentence is commenced, That which was made in Him was life. This is the pointing and reading of S. Austin, Tertullian (cont. Hermog.), S. Ambrose (lib. 3 de fide, c. 3), and the Latin Fathers passim. And among the Greeks are Clement of Alexandria (lib. 1 Paed. c. 6.) and S. Cyril in loc. S. Augustine expounds as follows, “Everything made and created by the Word was in the same Word vitally and intellectually, before it was made and created.” It was in the ideas and eternal plans which exist in the Word. It was therefore life , i.e., it lived in the mind and idea of the Word. S. Cyril explains differently, “ Everything was made life in the Word, that is, it received, and continues to receive life, i.e., vigour and the preservation of its being, as long as it exists, from the Word.”
The third reading is that of the Syriac, Arabic, and Greek texts of S. Chrysostom, Nonnus, Euthymius, and Tertius (in catena). Without Him was nothing made that was made ; then the stop, and then a fresh sentence, In Him was life. This is by far the best reading, and in conformity with it the Bible has been corrected at Rome, and most of the other Latin copies.
S. John adds this sentence against the Macedonians, who argued as we have seen above. As if he said, “When I say that all things were made by the Word, I mean, not the Holy Spirit, but only such things as were created and made.”
In Him was life, &c. Life is the thing which is most excellent, as death is the worst. S. John here ascribes to the Word the Fountain of life : for in Him “ we live, and move, and have our being ” (Acts xvii.) Hence the Greeks call their God Zeus, from ζῆν, to live , because he breathes life into all living things. S. John’s meaning therefore is, “ Our true life of grace and glory was in the Word as its origin and fountain. And that He might communicate Himself as this life and light to men, He came down to them, and became man. That as by the Word this macrocosm or great universe was created, so also by the same might the microcosm, or little world of man, be re-created, and called back from the death of sin to the life of grace and righteousness.” S. John explains himself by adding, And the life was the light of men . In his first Epistle he speaks thus of the Word of Life (chap. i. ver. 2). “For the Life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal Life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.” And in chap, v., the last verse, “that we may know the true God, and may be in His true Son. This is the true God, and life eternal” (Vulg.) And this is why S. John constantly calls Christ The Life .
The Fathers expound this Life of the Word in various ways.
1. Of Formal Life . In Him was Life : that is, life is the very substance of the Word. The Word Himself is substantial Life. So says Œcumenius on 1 John i. The Word Himself is essentially Life. For Life and to live are His very essence.
2. In the Word is Life ideal, or exemplar , because in the Word, as in Idea, the eternal plans of all things exist, as S. Austin says. For the Word is the Idea of all creatures, but the Idea is itself the essence and life of God. Thus therefore the Word is the life of all creatures, even of things inanimate, for all live in the Word, inasmuch as He is all Life.
3. In the Word is efficient natural Life , because the Word is the efficient Cause of all living things, and He gives them their life. To plants He gives vegetable life , to animals animal life , to men rational life , to angels angelic life. Jansen expounds thus, “The natural life of living things depends upon the Word.”
4. And last, you may here take life to mean, supernatural efficient Life , and explain as follows, “ In the Word, as in a Fount and prime Cause, was our supernatural life, that is to say, of grace and glory ; and therefore that He might impart this life to us, He became Incarnate, as I have before said. For supernatural life is twofold. It is begun by grace, by which a just man serves God in faith, hope, and charity, and lives the supernatural life, believing in, hoping in, and loving God above all things, supernaturally. The other supernatural life is that which is consummated in glory, wherein the blessed enjoy God, and are eternally beatified. There is an allusion to Psalm xxxv., “ With Thee is the Well of Life, and in Thy light shall we see life.” “ This is,” says Theodoret, “‘With Thee is the Word Eternal, the fountain of life ; and in the light of the Holy Spirit shall we behold the light of Thy Only Begotten Son.’ ” The light of man, by which men are spiritually illuminated through faith and grace. For he is speaking, not of natural and corporeal, but of spiritual and supernatural light, as is plain from what follows. The meaning is, Our life, which I have just said was in the Word, was this illumination of the Word, by which He has illuminated men with the knowledge of God and His salvation— externally, by words and holy examples ; internally, by heavenly light infused into the soul. This was why the Word was made flesh. So Clement of