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performing through faith in Christ are set free, no longer numbered among slaves, but among sons. 284 {3Jο 8, 34}3Every sin, having taken the soul captive as it were, makes it a slave of passion. 285 {3Jο 8, 35}3He who does not abide forever and is not always the same is by nature a slave and can free neither himself nor another; for all things are slaves of the Creator; but the Son abides forever, being the same, as He is God by nature. 286 {3Jο 8, 36}3Here he alludes to the cleansing of sin, which God alone gives, which is true freedom and no other, which have freedom only in name. 289 {3Jο 8, 42}3If you loved me, this would be a sign that you were from God; for if love leads to adoption as sons, how can you be numbered among the sons of God, not loving me who refashions into his own form the one who believes in him, or that he is God by nature and Son of God. However, those who live piously call God father blamelessly. 290 {3Jο 8, 42}3The "I came forth" signifies the ineffable and unoriginate generation from the Father, while the "I am come" [signifies] the arrival in this world with flesh. 291 {3Jο 8, 42}3By the good pleasure, he says, of the Father I was made flesh and came into the world to declare to you the things from the Father. 292 {3Jο 8, 43}3The "you cannot" instead of "you are not willing" is to imagine nothing great. 293 {3Jο 8, 44}3He said this, not because the devil is the cause of their being, but of their having become evil, which comes from their ways, as the meaning of the saying signifies this in brief. Even if it is obscure, more fittingly the devil, the murderer, might be named your father, and having a liar as a father. 294 {3ςο 8, 44}3 294He calls Cain the father of the Jews, who first of men became the originator of envy and murder and falsehood and deceit after Satan, of whom he might rightly also be named a son, to whom the Jews are similar and everyone who imitates them. Therefore it is not unlikely that I too, who speak the truth, am the Son of the true God, and you ought to believe me who speaks the truth. This one through disobedience killed Adam and through him the rest of mankind. 295 {3Jο 8, 44}3He himself first begot falsehood, saying one thing in place of another to Eve. 296 {3Jο 8, 46}3He said this so that he might shame them at least by the purity of his life; you have no accusation to make either against what has been done or what has been spoken by me. He did not say this expecting to be convicted, but declaring that being unchangeable God he cannot fall into sin; for every sin passes from a turning aside from the better to the worse. 297 {3Jο 8, 47}3He says the faithful are from God not according to essence, but according to receiving the pattern of piety from him <and> being made his own through virtue and a lawful life. And "hears," not with the physical ears, but with the assents of the soul. 298 {3Jο 8, 47}3He shows that for this reason they did not believe him, not that they paid attention to him as an opponent of God, but that they were alien to God. 299 {3Jο 8, 48}3They call him who commands demons possessed by a demon, out of immeasurable madness. It is likely that they also called him a Samaritan, even if the evangelist did not mention it in the preceding passages. 300 {3Jο 8, 48}3They called the Lord a Samaritan as one indifferent to the commandments of the law and breaking the sabbath; for the Samaritans do not judaize precisely. 301 {3Jο 8, 49}3Here he is insulted and bears it gently, teaching us to overlook insults against ourselves. But where they said of themselves "God is our father," he rebukes them sharply, teaching us to avenge [insults] against God. 302 {3Jο 8, 50}3Even if I through humility overlook my own honor, yet the Father seeks my glory and honor. 303 {3Jο 8, 50}3If I were seeking glory, I would not, "being in the form of God," have taken "the form of a slave" and humbled myself for your salvation, nor would I have overlooked the insults against me, but would have exacted punishment immediately. But now <you sin> against God the Father, the sin ascending to him; for there is nothing at all between the Father and the Son, as regards identity of essence and in particular

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ἐπιτελοῦντες διὰ τῆς εἰς Χριστὸν πίστεως ἐλευθεροῦνται μηκέτι ἐν δούλοις, ἀλλ' ἐν υἱοῖς καταταττόμενοι. 284 {3Jο 8, 34}3Ἑκάστη ἁμαρτία αἰχμάλωτον ὥσπερ λαβοῦσα τὴν ψυχὴν δούλην αὐτὴν τοῦ πάθους ποιεῖ. 285 {3Jο 8, 35}3Ὁ μὴ μένων εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα καὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχων ἀεὶ δοῦλός ἐστι τῇ φύσει καὶ οὔτε ἑαυτὸν οὔτε ἄλλον ἐλευθερῶσαι δύναται· πάντα γὰρ δοῦλα τοῦ κτίσαντος· μένει δὲ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ὡσαύτως ἔχων ὁ υἱὸς ὡς φύσει θεός. 286 {3Jο 8, 36}3Ὧδε τὴν κάθαρσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας αἰνίττεται, ἣν μόνος ὁ θεὸς δίδωσιν, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἀληθὴς ἐλευθερία καὶ οὐδεμία ἄλλη, αἵτινες μέχρι μόνης τῆς προσ ηγορίας ἔχουσιν τὴν ἐλευθερίαν. 289 {3Jο 8, 42}3Εἰ ἠγαπᾶτέ με, τοῦτο σημεῖον ἦν, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἦτε· εἰ γὰρ ἡ ἀγάπη εἰς υἱοθεσίαν ἄγει, πῶς ὑμεῖς ἐν υἱοῖς θεοῦ δύνασθε ἀριθμεῖσθαι οὐκ ἀγαπῶντες ἐμὲ τὸν μεταπλάττοντα εἰς ἰδίαν μορφὴν τὸν εἰς αὐτὸν πιστεύοντα ἢ ὅτι θεός ἐστι φύσει καὶ υἱὸς θεοῦ. πλὴν ἐκεῖνοι ἀνεγκλήτως καλοῦσι πατέρα τὸν θεὸν οἱ εὐσεβῶς πολιτευόμενοι. 290 {3Jο 8, 42}3Τὸ ἐξῆλθον τὴν ἐκ πατρὸς ἄρρητον καὶ ἄναρχον σημαίνει γέννησιν, τὸ δὲ ἥκω τὴν ἐν τῷδε τῷ κόσμῳ πάροδον μετὰ σαρκός. 291 {3Jο 8, 42}3Εὐδοκίᾳ, φησίν, τοῦ πατρὸς ἐσαρκώθην καὶ ἦλθον ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ διαλεχθη σόμενος ὑμῖν τὰ παρὰ τοῦ πατρός. 292 {3Jο 8, 43}3Τὸ οὐ δύνασθε ἀντὶ τοῦ οὐ βούλεσθε οὐδὲν μέγα φαντάζεσθαι. 293 {3Jο 8, 44}3Τοῦτο εἶπεν, οὐχ ὅτι τοῦ εἶναι αὐτοὺς ὁ διάβολος αἴτιος, ἀλλὰ τοῦ πονηροὺς γεγονέναι, ὅπερ ἐκ τρόπων γίνεται ὡς ἐν συντόμῳ ὁ νοῦς τοῦ λόγου τοῦτο σημαίνει. εἰ καὶ ἀσαφές ἐστιν, πρεπωδέστερον ὁ διάβολος ὀνομάζοιτο ὑμῶν ὁ πατὴρ ὁ ἀνθρωποκτόνος καὶ ψεύστην ἔχων πατέρα. 294 {3ςο 8, 44}3 294Πατέρα τῶν Ἰουδαίων καλεῖ τὸν Κάϊν, ὃς πρῶτος ἀνθρώπων φθόνου καὶ φόνου καὶ ψεύδους καὶ ἀπάτης ἀρχηγὸς γέγονε μετὰ τὸν σατανᾶν, οὗπερ ἂν δικαίως ὀνομάζοιτο καὶ υἱός, οἷς ὅμοιοι οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ πᾶς ὁ τούτους μιμού μενος. οὐκοῦν οὐδὲν ἀπεικὸς κἀμὲ υἱὸν εἶναι τοῦ ἀληθοῦς θεοῦ τὸν τὰ ἀληθῆ λαλοῦντα καὶ ὑμᾶς δεῖ πιστεύειν ἐμοὶ τῷ τὰ ἀληθῆ λαλοῦντι. οὗτος διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς ἀπέκτεινε τὸν Ἀδὰμ καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἀνθρώπους. 295 {3Jο 8, 44}3Αὐτὸς πρῶτος ἔτεκε τὸ ψεῦδος ἕτερα ἀνθ' ἑτέρων εἰπὼν πρὸς τὴν Εὔαν. 296 {3Jο 8, 46}3Τοῦτο εἶπεν, ἵνα κἂν ἐκ τῆς τοῦ βίου καθαρότητος δυσωπήσῃ αὐτούς, οὔτε τοῖς γεγονόσιν οὔτε τοῖς λαληθεῖσι παρ' ἐμοῦ ἔχετε ἐγκαλεῖν. οὐ προσ δοκῶν ἐλεγχθῆναι τοῦτο εἶπεν, ἀλλ' ἀποφαινόμενος, ὅτι οὐ δύναται θεὸς ὢν ἄτρεπτος περιπεσεῖν ἁμαρτίᾳ· πᾶσα γὰρ ἁμαρτία ἐκ παρατροπῆς τοῦ βελτίονος ἐπὶ τὸ φαῦλον μεταβαίνει. 297 {3Jο 8, 47}3Τοὺς πιστοὺς ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ λέγει οὐ κατ' οὐσίαν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὸν τύπον τῆς εὐσεβείας λαβεῖν <καὶ> κατοικειωθῆναι αὐτῷ ἐξ ἀρετῆς καὶ ἐννόμου πολιτείας. τὸ δὲ ἀκούει, οὐ τοῖς αἰσθητικοῖς ὠσίν, ἀλλὰ ταῖς τῆς ψυχῆς συγκαταθέσεσιν. 298 {3Jο 8, 47}3∆είκνυσιν, ὅτι διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐπίστευον αὐτῷ οὐχ ὅτι ὡς ἀντιθέῳ προσεῖχον, ἀλλ' ὅτι ἀλλότριοι ἦσαν τοῦ θεοῦ. 299 {3Jο 8, 48}3∆αιμονῶντα καλοῦσι τὸν δαίμοσιν ἐπιτάττοντα ἐκ μανίας ἀμέτρου. εἰκός, ὅτι καὶ Σαμαρείτην αὐτὸν ἔλεγον, εἰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὀπίσω οὐκ ἐμνήσθη ὁ εὐαγγελιστής. 300 {3Jο 8, 48}3Σαμαρείτην ἐκάλουν τὸν κύριον ὡς ἀδιαφοροῦντα περὶ τὰς νομικὰς ἐντολὰς καὶ λύοντα τὸ σάββατον· οἱ γὰρ Σαμαρεῖται οὐκ ἀκριβῶς ἰουδαΐζουσιν. 301 {3Jο 8, 49}3Ἐνταῦθα ὑβρίζεται καὶ πρᾴως φέρει, διδάσκων ἡμᾶς τὰς εἰς ἑαυτοὺς ὕβρεις παρορᾶν. ἔνθα δ' ἔλεγον ἑαυτῶν «πατέρα τὸν θεόν», σφοδρῶς αὐτῶν καθάπτεται παιδεύων ἡμᾶς τὰ εἰς θεὸν ἐκδικεῖν. 302 {3Jο 8, 50}3Εἰ καὶ ἐγὼ διὰ ταπεινοφροσύνην παρορῶ τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ τιμήν, ἀλλ' ὁ πατὴρ ζητεῖ τὴν ἐμὴν δόξαν καὶ τιμήν. 303 {3Jο 8, 50}3Εἰ δόξης ἐφιέμην, οὐκ ἂν «ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων» ἐλάμβανον «δούλου μορφὴν» καὶ ἐταπείνουν ἐμαυτὸν διὰ τὴν ὑμῶν σωτηρίαν, ἀλλ' οὐδ' ἂν παρεῖδον τὰς εἰς ἐμὲ ὕβρεις, ἀλλὰ δίκας παραυτίκα εἰσεπραττόμην. νυνὶ δὲ τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ <ἁμαρτάνετε> τῆς ἁμαρτίας εἰς αὐτὸν ἀναβαινούσης· οὐδὲν γὰρ ὅλως τὸ μεσολαβοῦν πατέρα καὶ τὸν υἱόν, ὅσον εἰς οὐσίας ταὐτότητα καὶ ἰδίᾳ