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Tractate 85
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TRACTATE 85 On John 15.14–15 hen the Lord Jesus had commended the love that he displayed to us by dying for us and had said, “Greater love than this no one has, that he lay down his life for his friends,”1 he said, “You are my friends if you do the things that I command you.” A great expression of esteem !2 Since one cannot be a good servant unless he has done his lord’s commandments, [Jesus] wanted them to be regarded as his friends from the very circumstances from which they can be proved to be good servants. But, as I said, this is an expression of esteem, that the Lord deems it befitting to call those whom he knows are his servants his friends. For, that you may know that to do their Lord’s commandments belongs to the duty of servants, in another place he expressly reprimands the servants, saying, “But why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things that I say?”3 “When, therefore, you say, ‘Lord,’” he says, “show what you are saying by doing the things ordered.” Will he not say to the obedient servant, “Well done, good servant; because you have been faithful in a few things, I will place you over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord”?4 The servant, therefore , who is good can be a servant and a friend. 2. But let us pay attention to what follows. “I no longer speak of you as servants; for the servant does not know what his lord is doing.” How, then, are we to understand that the good servant is both a servant and a friend, since he says, “I 1. Jn 15.13. 2. Both Innes and Browne take this to mean “great condescension.” 3. Lk 6.46. 4. Mt 25.21. 137 138 no longer speak of you as servants; for the servant does not know what his lord is doing”? He assigns the name of friend in such a way that he removes that of servant, not that both remain in one man, but that one succeeds the other receding . (2) What is this? Is it true that when we have done the Lord’s commandments we shall not be servants? Is it true that we shall not be servants then when we have been good servants? And who can contradict the Truth, who says, “I no longer speak of you as servants”? And he teaches why he said this: “For the servant,” he says, “does not know what his lord is doing.” Can it indeed be said that his lord does not also entrust his secrets to a good and proven servant? What, then, do his words mean: “For the servant does not know what his lord is doing”? Well, all right! “Does not know what he is doing.” Can it be said that he also does not know what he is teaching? For if he also does not know this, how does he serve? Or how is he a servant, if he does not serve? And yet the Lord says, “You are my friends if you do the things that I command you. I no longer speak of you as servants.” O wondrous situation! Since we cannot serve unless we do the Lord’s commandments, how, in doing the commandments , shall we not be servants? If I should not be a servant by doing the commandments, and yet unless I do the commandments , I shall be unable to serve, then by serving I shall not be a servant. 3. Let us understand, brothers, let us understand. And let the Lord do this in us, that we understand; and let him also do [this in us], that we do what has been understood. But, if we know this, assuredly we know what the Lord is doing; for that we ourselves are such only the Lord makes [it so], and in this way we are associated with his friendship. (2) For as there are two fears5 that make6 two kinds of those who fear, so there are two servitudes, which make two ST. AUGUSTINE 5. Cf. Tractate 43.5–7. 6. In this section the difficulty in translating the Latin verb facere, which means both to do and to make, surfaces again; see Tractates 18.5, 20.10, and 21.1. [44.205.3.18] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 13:12 GMT) TRACTATE 85 139 kinds...