46. As for the perfect cure from actual sin, note that in the consummation of impiety in actual sin there are five degrees. The first is deviation in choosing, and this is designated by blindness: Lamentations 4: "The blind have wandered in the streets"; because "error and darkness were created together with sinners," according to Sirach 11.
The second is disorder in pursuing, which is understood through the lame: Psalm: "Strange children have grown old and have limped from their paths"; whence 3 Kings 18: "How long do you halt between two sides?" etc.
The third is contagion in associating, which is understood through leprosy: Deuteronomy 24: "Observe diligently, lest you incur the plague of leprosy"; Ezekiel 36: "Be cleansed from all your defilements."
The fourth is obstinacy in persisting, which is understood through deafness, according to the Psalm: "Like the deaf asp that stops its ears."
The fifth is despair in despising, because "the wicked man, when he has come into the depth of sins, despises," Proverbs 18. And this is designated by death: Isaiah 28: "We have struck a covenant with death"; and this "is the sin unto death," of which is spoken in 1 John 5.
From all these the power of Christ cures through his grace, which was designated in the pool, of which it is said in John 5, that "the Angel of the Lord descended, and the water was moved, and whoever descended first was made whole, from whatever infirmity held him." And this is "the power that went out from him and healed all," according to what is said above in chapter six.
47. And when they had departed etc. Above he confirmed the testimony of John through the evidence of truth in himself; here secondly he confirms it through the evidence of virtue in John who testified. And this part has two parts, in the first of which the prerogative of virtue in John is extolled in manifold ways; while in the second the perfidy of unbelief in the people is rebuked, at the words: To whom then shall I compare the men of this generation? Moreover, the prerogative of virtue is shown to have been fourfold in John: first, namely, as regards the merit of life; second, as regards the office of teaching, at the words: But what did you go out to see? A prophet etc.; third, as regards the gift of grace, at the words: For I say to you: Among those born of women etc.; fourth, as regards the proclamation of renown, at the words: And all the people hearing etc.
As regards the first, it should be noted that the merit of life is commended in John in two ways: first, as regards constancy in the face of difficulties; second, as regards abstinence in respect of pleasurable things.
48. (Verse 24). There is therefore first introduced a commendation of the constancy of John in the absence of the disciples: on account of which he says: And when the messengers of John had departed , having obtained the resolution of the question, returning as good messengers to him by whom they had been sent: concerning whom Job thirty-eight says: "Will you send forth lightnings, and will they go, and returning say to you: We are here?"
In their absence John ought to be praised, so that the praise may be shown to be true, not adulatory: therefore it is said: He began to speak about John to the crowds: he began indeed to praise him to the crowds, lest John should seem to have sent his disciples to Christ out of doubt.
Therefore he begins to commend him for constancy: What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed shaken by the wind? As if to say: John is not like a reed, so as to tremble and be shaken by any impulse, but strong and fixed in faith and in all goodness: according to what James one says: "Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering: for he who wavers is like a wave of the sea, which is moved and carried about by the wind." "But a double-minded man is inconstant in all his ways." Such truly is a reed, but John was not such, since he was most holy, since it is said in Ecclesiasticus twenty-seven: "A holy man remains in wisdom like the sun: for a fool is changed like the moon." Such are all the Saints, according to that passage in Ephesians four: "Let us not be little children, tossed about and carried around by every wind of doctrine in the wickedness of men." Therefore Paul entreated in Second Thessalonians two: "We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you be not quickly moved from your understanding." But whoever wishes to attain this constancy must leave the world and go out to John in the desert, according to what is said in First Maccabees two: "Mattathias cried out with a loud voice: Everyone who has zeal for the Law, let him go out after me"; and it follows that "many went out into the desert."
49. (Vers. 28.). Secondly, there is added the commendation of John's abstinence with respect to pleasurable things; on account of which he says: But what did you go out to see? that is, to consider: A man clothed in soft garments ? as if to say: no. For John, most holy, was a stranger to all softness of carnality, as is said in Matthew 3: "Now John had a garment of camel's hair, and his food was locusts." He was truly of the number of evangelical men, in whose person it is said in 1 Timothy 6: "Having food and wherewith to be covered, let us be content with these"; wherewith to be covered he says, not: wherewith to be adorned. Bernard to Eugenius: "The Apostles were mighty in battle, not soft in silk; and if you are a son of the Apostles and Prophets, do you likewise." But whoever wishes to do this must forsake the world and go out into the desert with John. — On account of which he adds: Behold, those who are in costly apparel and in delicacies are in the houses of kings: as if to say: costly apparel and a luxurious life belong to worldly men, not to spiritual men and Christians. Whence in 1 Peter 3 it is said of women: "Whose adorning let it not be the outward plaiting of the hair, or the wearing of gold and silver, or the putting on of apparel." On which Gregory says: "Let no one think that there is no sin in the wearing of costly garments. Consider what fault it is that even men should desire that from which the pastor of the Church took care to prohibit even women." For costly garments of this kind are carnal and luxurious, but in delicacies the spiritual life is imperiled; whence 1 Timothy 5: "The widow who lives in delicacies is dead while living"; Jeremiah 31: "How long will you be dissolved in delicacies, O wandering daughter"? Moreover, costly and luxurious garments of this kind are customarily an occasion of vainglory; and therefore he adds: They are in the houses of kings: concerning which Sirach 11: "Never glory in clothing, nor exalt yourself in the day of your honor."
50. (Vers. 26.). But what did you go out to see? After the Savior commended John with respect to the merit of his life, here he commends him with respect to the office of teaching, and in right order, because a good life ought to come before authoritative teaching. Moreover, the office of teaching is commended in John in two ways, namely with respect to clarity in knowing and with respect to authority in teaching, which two things render the office of a teacher perfect.
First, therefore, as regards limpidity in knowing the divine mystery, it is said: But what did you go out to see? A Prophet? to whom, namely, the Lord reveals future things, according to that passage in Amos 3: "For the Lord God does nothing without first revealing His secret to His servants the Prophets." But to this one He not only foretold future things, but also showed Himself in present reality; and therefore He adds: Yes, I say to you, and more than a Prophet. Concerning whom Ambrose says: "Because many desired to see Him whom this one prophesied, whom this one beheld, whom this one baptized"; therefore, by pointing out Christ with his finger and seeing Him with his eye, he was more excellent and more blessed than the other Prophets, according to that passage below in chapter 10: "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you that many Prophets and kings wished to see what you see, and did not see it." And therefore, because his office was more excellent than that of the Prophets, the Baptist, in John 1, when the Pharisees asked: "Are you the Prophet?" answers: "I am not, but the voice of one crying in the wilderness." Nor is there any contradiction, but rather harmony, because a prophet foretells future and absent things, but a voice makes manifest things present.
51. (Vers. 27.). Second, as regards authority in teaching through divine mandate, it is said: This is he of whom it is written, namely in Malachi 3, where the Father speaks to the Son: "Behold, I send my angel," that is, my authoritative messenger, John, who is called an angel not by simplicity of nature but by the authority of his teaching, according to that passage in Malachi 2: "The lips of the priest shall guard knowledge, and they shall seek the law from his mouth, because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts." John is therefore called a messenger in the manner of an Angel because, just as the Angels "see the face of the Father" in the Godhead, so he himself saw the face of Christ and pointed Him out in the flesh. — On account of which He adds: Before your face, that is, your appearance in the flesh, concerning which it is said in the Psalm: "Show us your face, and we shall be saved." This face Isaiah desired in the person of the Fathers, in chapter 64: "Would that you would rend the heavens and come down; the mountains would melt before your face." — And because they were not prepared to receive that face unless they were forewarned, therefore it is said: Who has prepared your way before you, namely by being born, by living among men, by baptizing, by preaching. For in all these ways he was joined to Christ, as a voice to a word. Therefore it was rightly said of him in Isaiah 40, and taken up above in chapter 3 and in John 1: "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord"; so that that passage in Isaiah 35 may be fulfilled: "There shall be for you a straight way, so that fools may not err along it."
52. (Vers. 28.). For I say to you: Greater etc. Here thirdly Christ commends his precursor with regard to the gift of divine grace, by which he was "great before the Lord," according to what is said above in chapter one. And since the gift of grace in John had a prerogative in degree and a measure of limitation in status: therefore he intimates these two things when he commends the gift of grace in John.
First, therefore, he commends John with regard to the prerogative of the gratuitous gift in respect of a mere man, when he says: For I say to you: Among those born of women there is no greater prophet than John the Baptist. He is not, therefore, among men in the degree of grace at the lowest or middle level; it is necessary, therefore, that he be at the highest. Whence from this it is said not only that he is great, but that he is the greatest, so that what is said of Joshua in Ecclesiasticus forty-six can be said of him: "Who was great according to his name, greatest in saving the elect of God." For because he had great grace, therefore he was called John. He was also great through the merit of his life, greater through the mastery of his teaching, greatest through the privilege of grace. However, he is not said to be greater than all, so as to be preferred above all, but that no other was greater than he; nor is this said of all universally past and future, but of those then past. Nor is it said with respect to both sexes, but only the male; whence the Virgin Mary is not included, who "was exalted above the choirs of Angels," having no pure creature superior to her nor even equal, according to that passage of Song of Songs six: "One is my dove, my perfect one, she is the only one of her mother, the chosen one of her who bore her."
53. Secondly, he intimates the measure of that gift with respect to the man Christ, with regard to whom he says: But he who is lesser in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he . The kingdom of heaven here he calls the Church, according to how Gregory expounds that passage of Matthew thirteen: "He will send his Angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all scandals." The lesser in this kingdom is called the more humble; but this is Christ, of whom it is said in the Psalm: "You diminished him a little less than the Angels, with glory and honor you crowned him." For because, as is said in Philippians two, "he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death," "the Lord gave him the name which is above every name." And thus was verified that passage of Isaiah sixty: "The least shall become a thousand, and a little one a most strong nation." And this is the divine law which he himself gave in Matthew eighteen: "Whoever shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of heaven." Thus indeed, nay rather in every way Christ humbled himself more: below in chapter twenty-two: "Who is greater, he who reclines at table, or he who serves? But I am in the midst of you as one who serves." Whence Gregory says: "Humble yourself as much as you can; Christ will still be more humble."
It could nevertheless be explained concerning the Blessed, that the least of the good Angels would be greater than John for that state: for there is "a fire of charity in Zion, and a furnace in Jerusalem," Isaiah thirty-one.
54. (Vers. 29.). And all the people hearing etc. Here fourthly, so that nothing may be lacking to the commendation of John, he is commended by the Lord with respect to the proclamation of his fame. And since the fame of the good is salutary to the elect and pernicious to the reprobate, according to that passage of Second Corinthians two: "We are the good odor of Christ unto God, in those who are saved and in those who perish:
to some indeed the odor of death unto death, to others the odor of life unto life"; therefore he commends in a twofold manner the proclamation of fame in John: first by showing it salutary to believers, second deadly to despisers. For to the first John appeared praiseworthy, but to the second contemptible: the first were humble and the second proud.
First therefore he introduces the commendation of John from the humble who assented, when he says: And all the people hearing, namely John preaching, justified God, that is, declared Him to be just, showing themselves to be unjust, confessing their sins, according to that passage of the Psalm: "That you may be justified in your words and may overcome when you are judged." For the sinner, when he confesses his sin, declares God just and justifies himself, according to that passage of Isaiah forty-three: "Tell, if you have anything, that you may be justified"; another translation: "Declare you first your iniquities, that you may be justified." And in this manner the publicans and sinners did, hearing John, according to that passage of Matthew three: "All Jerusalem went out to him, and all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan, to be baptized by him, confessing their sins." For these two things are required for the justification of sinners, namely penance and baptism. - And therefore he adds: Having been baptized with the baptism of John: above in chapter three: "And the publicans also came to be baptized," seeking from him what they should do: whence by sign and word they approved John as an angel of God and held his name in glory. Whence when the Lord asked of the Pharisees in Matthew twenty-one: "The baptism of John, whence was it, from heaven or from men?" they said among themselves: "If we say: From heaven, he will say to us: Why then did you not believe him? But if we say: From men, we fear the crowd: for all held John as a Prophet." And therefore it is added: "The publicans and harlots shall go before you into the kingdom of heaven."
55. (Vers. 30.). Second, he adds the contempt of John by the proud Pharisees, when he says: But the Pharisees, in whom was the pride of sanctity, and the experts of the law, in whom was the arrogance of knowledge of the truth, despised the counsel of God against themselves, not having been baptized by him, because, according to that passage below in chapter ten, "he who despises you despises me." Whence those who despised John, who was God's messenger, despised the divine counsel. Such were the Pharisees, so that the Wisdom of God could reproach them: "You have despised all our counsel"; and that passage of Isaiah chapter one was verified in them: "I have nourished and brought up children, but they have despised me." And therefore the Apostle counseled in First Thessalonians, last chapter: "Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophecies." - But in this they despised the divine counsel, because they refused baptism, through which divine wisdom counseled for human salvation. A figure of this preceded in the ark of Noah constructed during the flood, Genesis chapter six. On account of which it is said in First Peter chapter three: "Which also now saves you in a similar form, namely baptism."
56. And note that the Pharisees despised the counsel of God against themselves for six reasons. First, because they preferred human statutes to divine ones: Matthew chapter fifteen: "Why do you transgress the Law of God for the sake of your tradition?" - Second, because they preferred the justice of the Law to the justice of faith: Romans chapter ten: "Being ignorant of God's justice and seeking to establish their own," etc.
Third, because they preferred appearance to truth: Matthew chapter twenty-three: "Woe to you! who cleanse what is on the outside." - Fourth, because they preferred affluence to poverty: below in chapter sixteen: "The Pharisees, who were avaricious, heard all these things and derided him," etc. - Fifth, because they preferred vain glory to humility: John chapter twelve: "They loved the glory of men more than the glory of God."