The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: the First Epistle of S. John
* This is not S. Bernard’s, but was written by William, Abbot of S. Theodoric. Stella and cella, a jingle on sounds (de Monte Aureo). (See Cave.)
we that we are in Him . S. Augustine here adds, ‘ If we be perfected in Him,’ but nearly all MSS. omit these words. The meaning is, we know that we are in Him if we keep His commandments . This is the effect and sign of our cleaving to Him. Moreover , it is by love that we abide in God, as the thing loved is in the lover. For the soul is more in that which it loves, than in that which it animates. And God in return loves those who love Him, dwells in them, cares for, directs and protects them. Augustine says, that we who love Christ are in Christ, as the members in the body. See John xiv. 23. The soul then of one who loves God is a kind of temple, in which all the three Persons abide. And by abiding S. John means intimate union, permanent resting, continual presence, friendly converse, and all other offices of true friendship.
Ver. 6. — He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk , even as He walked. By advancing in virtue, especially in charity, and exhibiting its works more and more every day, as Christ “ increased in wisdom and stature.” “ The true righteousness of the perfect,” says S. Leo ( Serm . ii. de Quadr .), “ is for them never to presume that they are perfect, lest by stopping short when their journey is not yet done, they should incur the risk of failing.” See Eph. v. 1. S. Prosper (de vit. contempl. lib. ii.) beautifully says, “ What is walking as He walked, except the despising all the good things which He despised, not to fear the sufferings He endured, to teach what He taught, to hope for what He promised, to confer kindnesses on the ungrateful, not to requite to evil-wishers according to their deserts, to pray for our enemies, to pity the perverse, patiently to bear with the crafty and proud, and, as the Apostle says, to die to the flesh that we may live to Christ ? ” &c.
Whence Gregory Nyssen defines Christianity to be an imitation of the Divine nature, &c. S. Augustine (de Vera Relig. cap . xv.) tells us that the Word was made flesh, to teach us the way of life but by example, in ministering to the poor, in refusing to be a king, in submitting to every kind of injury, &c. In fact, His whole life, in the nature He deigned to assume, was a moral discipline . S. Cyprian ( de Zelo et Livore ), “ If parents delight in having children who are like themselves, much more does God rejoice when a man is spiritually born ; and again, as we have borne the image of the earthly, let us also bear the image of the heavenly. But we cannot do this unless we exhibit a resemblance to Christ ; for this is to change our old self, and to begin a new life, and that thus the Divine truth may shine forth in thee, as He Himself promised, ‘Those that honour Me, I will honour.’ ”
My beloved, I write no new commandment unto you . This commandment of loving God and our neighbour was not new, for it was given to the Jews, and before that to Adam and all men by the Law of Nature, which was in the mind of God from all eternity. This was an answer to the objection made to the Apostle’s teaching, that it was new and unheard of. It was again an old commandment as having been taught Christians from their very baptism.
Again , a new commandment I write unto you. It was new, as being a new enforcing of an old commandment, which had been forgotten through disuse. (See John xiii. 33.) And it was enforced by Christ on the new principle of love, and also more fully explained (Matt v. 38; John xiv. 15, 16). It was new on various grounds — 1. Because of the new efficient cause, viz. Christ, who enforced it more stringently upon us. And again, by reason of the new source of charity and grace, viz., the Holy Spirit poured forth at Pentecost. The false interpretations of the Jews were thus put aside, and a new law, and new obligations and duties, imposed on Christians. See Matt. v. 43.
2. It was a new law ; by reason of a new material cause, viz., the new and enlarged body of Christians, who were before in the darkness of unbelief and hatred, but who were now bound by it to love God and their neighbour.
3. There was a new formal cause, namely, the Incarnation, and the union of all Christians in Christ. For in Christ there is an union, not with Christ only, but with all Christians in Him, an union , by grace, and by the sacraments (especially by the Holy Eucharist), which is the foundation of a greater and singular obligation to a stricter love of God, of Christ, and of all Christians. And this is a pure, perfect love, in so much as Christ is far above, and more perfect than other men. Moreover, by Christ’s Incarnation we owe greater love, not only to Christ, but also to the whole Trinity, of our closer union, and also of the new and very great blessings conferred on us thereby. For by the Incarnation we have a new relation and union to the Holy Trinity, and also between ourselves , and a new cause and formal reason for love. For by the Incarnation Christ has become our kinsman and brother, so that we ought mutually to love each other, as brethren and members of the one body of Christ. So Toletus and F. Lucas on John xiii.
4. It is new , with regard to the example Christ has set us. He poured forth His blood out of pure love. And such indeed was the love of the Blessed Virgin, and the early Christians. We are taught to do according to the pattern shewed us in the Mount. Christ says, “As I have loved you” — words which have caused much matter for shame, and also much matter for exaggeration For consider what arguments for love Christ furnished at every moment, by His birth, His labour, His preaching, His suffering, His dying, ard thus thou wilt see how little is the love of all men. As S. John the Almoner, Bishop of Alexandria, used to say when one praised his liberality to the poor : " My brother, I have not yet shed my life for thee, as the Lord commanded me.”
We are therefore taught by Christ not merely to love our neighbour as ourselves, but even more than ourselves. For Christ died for us though we were His enemies, teaching us to do the same. This was an unheard-of love both among the Jews and the world at large. So S. Cyril, in John xiii., S. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Rupertus. Arias [Montanus] says, that our love should be most fervent, and abounding in kind offices, even towards our enemies, and ready to shed our blood for the good of our brethren, as Christ did. So Cajetan, Gagneius, S. Major, and others.
5. In regard of the new end Christ set before us, He wished to make us heavenly men, and not earthly. And he wished us to renew our love by frequent communions, sermons, meditations, &c. S. John in his old age used frequently to repeat and inculcate these words. S. Bernard (Serm. v. in Cœna Dom.) : “ It is a new commandment because it makes all things new, putting off the old man and putting on the new, and by daily admitting to heaven mankind who were banished from paradise.” “ Is it not a new commandment,” says S. Augustine, “ because this commandment renews those who obey it, and thus makes us new men, heirs of the New Testament, singers of the new song, making and gathering into one a new people ?” S. Gregory (Horn. xxxii. in Evang.) says, “ Our Lord and Redeemer came as a new man into the world, giving us new precepts. For since our old life was brought up in sin, He set up in opposition to it newness of life,” charity as opposed to concupiscence, and the love of God and our neighbour against our self-love.