Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aguinas
16:5–11
5. But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?
6. But because I have said these tilings unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart.
7. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
8. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
9. Of sin, because they believe not on me;
10. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;
11. Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxviii. 1) The disciples, not as yet perfected, being overcome by sorrow, our Lord blames and corrects them, saying, But now I go My way to Him that sent Me; and none of you asketh Me, Whither goest Thou? They were so struck down at hearing that whosoever killed them would think that he was doing God service, that they could say nothing. Wherefore He adds, But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your hearts. It was no small consolation to them to know, that the Lord knew their superabundant sorrow, because of His leaving them, and because of the evils which they heard they were to suffer, but knew not whether they should suffer manfully.
AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xciv) Or whereas they had asked Him above, whither He was going, and He had replied that He was going whither they would not come; now He promises that He will go in such a way that no one will ask Him whither He goeth: and none of you asketh Me, Whither goest Thou? Going up to heaven, they questioned Him not in words, but followed with their eyes. But our Lord saw what effect His words would produce upon their minds. Not having yet that inward consolation which the Holy Ghost was to impart, they were afraid to lose the outward presence of Christ, and so, when they could no longer doubt from His own words that they were going to lose Him, their human affections were saddened, for the loss of their visible object. Wherefore it follows; But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. But He knew that it would be for their good, forasmuch as that inward sight wherewith the Holy Ghost would console them, was the better one: Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxviii) As if He said, Though your grief be ever so great, ye must hear how that it is profitable for you that I go away. What the profit is He then shews: For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you.
AUGUSTINE. (i. de Trin. c. 9.) This He says not on account of any inequality between the Word of God and the Holy Ghost, but because the presence of the Son of man amongst them would impede the coming of the latter. For the Holy Ghost did not humble Himself as did the Son, by taking upon Him the form of a servant. It was necessary therefore that the form of the servant should he removed from their eyes; for so long as they looked upon that, they thought that Christ was no more than what they saw Him to be. So it follows: But if I depart, I will send Him unto you.
AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xciv) But could He not send Him while here, Him, Who, we know, came and abode on Him at His baptism, yea Him from Whom we know He never could be separated? What meaneth then, If I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but, ye cannot receive the Spirit, so long as ye know Christ according to the flesh? Christ departing in the body, not the Holy Ghost only, but the Father, and the Son also came spiritually.
GREGORY. (viii. Moral. c. xvii.) As if He said plainly, If I withdraw not My body from your eyes, I cannot lead you to the understanding of the Invisible, through the Comforting Spirit.
AUGUSTINE. (de Verb. Dom. serm. lx) The Holy Ghost the Comforter brought this, that the form of a servant which our Lord had received in the womb of the Virgin, being removed from the fleshly eye, He was manifested to the purified mental vision in the very form of God in which He remained equal to the Father, even while He deigned to appear in the flesh.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. xxviii) What say they here, who entertain unworthy notions of the Spirit? Is it expedient for the master to go away, and a servant to come? He then shews the good that the Spirit will do: And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.
AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xcv. 1) But how is it that Christ did not reprove the world? Is it because Christ spoke among the Jews only, whereas the Holy Spirit, poured into His disciples throughout the whole world, reproved not one nation only, but the world? But who would dare to say that the Holy Ghost reproved the world by Christ’s disciples, and that Christ did not, when the Apostle exclaims, Do ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in Me? (2 Cor. 13:3. Vulg.) Those then whom the Holy Ghost reproves, Christ reproves also. He shall reprove the world, means, He shall pour love into your hearts, insomuch, that fear being cast out, ye shall be free to reprove. He then explains what He has said: Of sin, because they believed not in Me. He mentions this as the sin above all others, because while it remains, the others are retained, when it departs, the others are remitted.
AUGUSTINE. (de Verb. Dom. s. lxi) But it makes a great difference whether one believes in Christ, or only that He is Christ. For that He was Christ, even the devils believed: but e believes in Christ, who both hopes in Christ and loves Christ.
AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xcv. 2) The world is reproved of sin, because it believes not in Christ, and reproved of righteousness, the righteousness of those that believe. The very contrast of the believing, is the censure of the unbelieving. Of righteousness, because I go to the Father: as it is the common objection of unbelievers, How can we believe what we do not see? so the righteousness of believers lies in this, Because I go to the Father, and ye see Me no more. For blessed are they which see not, and believe. The faith even of those who saw Christ is praised, not because they believed what they saw, i. e. the Son of man, but because they believed what they saw not, i. e. the Son of God. And when the form of the servant was withdrawn from their sight altogether, then only was fulfilled in completeness the text, The just liveth by faith. (Heb. 10:38) It will be your righteousness then, of which the world will be reproved, that ye shall believe in Me, not seeing Me. And when ye shall see Me, ye shall see Me as I shall be, not as I am now with you, i. e. ye shall not see Me mortal, but everlasting. For in saying, Ye see Me no more (jam non videbitis me Vulg.), He means that they should see Him no more for ever.
AUGUSTINE. (de Verb. Dom. s. lxi) Or thus: They believed not, He went to the Father. Theirs therefore was the sin, His the righteousness. But that He came from the Father to us, was mercy; that He went to the Father, was righteousness; according to the saying of the Apostle, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him. (Philip. 2:9) But if He went to the Father alone, what profit is it to us? Is He not alone rather in the sense of being one with all His members, as the head is with the body? So then the world is reproved of sin, in those who believe not in Christ; and of righteousness, in those who rise again in the members of Christ. It follows, Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged: i. e. the devil, the prince of the wicked, who in heart dwell only in this world which they love. (s. lx). He is judged in that he is cast out; and the world is reproved of this judgment; for it is vain for one who does not believe in Christ to complain of the devil, whom judged, i. e. cast out, and permitted to attack us from without, only for our trial, not men only but women, boys and girls, have by martyrdom overcome.
AUGUSTINE. (Tr. xcv) Or, is judged, i. e. is destined irrevocably for the punishment of eternal fire. And of this judgment is the world reproved, in that it is judged with its prince, the proud and ungodly one whom it imitates. Let men therefore believe in Christ, lest they be reproved of the sin of unbelief, by which all sins are retained; pass over to the number of the believing, lest they be reproved of the righteousness of those whom justified they do not imitate; beware of the judgment to come, lest with the prince of this world whom they imitate, they too be judged.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxviii) Or thus: Shall reprove the world of sin, i. e. cut off all excuse, and shew that they have sinned unpardonably in not believing in Me, when they see the ineffable gift of the Holy Ghost obtained by calling upon Me.
AUGUSTINE. (de Qu. N. et V. Test. qu. 89) In this way too the Holy Ghost reproved the world of sin, i. e. by the mighty works He did in the name of the Saviour, Who was condemned by the world. The Saviour, His righteousness retained, feared not to return to Him Who sent Him, and in that He returned, proved that He had come from Him: Of righteousness, because I go to the Father.
CHRYSOSTOM. (Hom. lxxviii. 2) i. e. My going to the Father will be a proof that I have led an irreproachable life, so that they will not be able to say, This man is a sinner; this man is not from God. (c. 9:24, 16) Again, inasmuch as I conquered the devil, (which no one who was a sinner could do,) they cannot say that I have a devil, and am a deceiver. But as he hath been condemned by Me, they shall be assured that they shall trample upon him afterwards; and My resurrection will shew that he was not able to detain Me.
AUGUSTINE. (de Qu. V. et N. Test. qu. 89) The devils seeing souls go from hell1 to heaven, knew that the prince of this world was judged, and being brought to trial in the Saviour’s cause, had lost all right to what he held. This was seen on our Saviour’s ascension, but was declared plainly and openly in the descent of the Holy Ghost on the disciples.
Catena Aurea John 16
NAVARRE BIBLE COMMENTARY (RSV)
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
From: Acts 16:22-34
Imprisonment of Paul and Silas
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[22] The crowd joined in attacking them; and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. [23] And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. [24] Having received this charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
The Baptism of the Jailer
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[25] But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, [26] and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and every one's fetters were unfastened. [27] When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. [28] But Paul cried with a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." [29] And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, [30] and brought them out and said, "Men, what must I do to be saved?" [31] And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." [32] And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all that were in his house. [33] And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once with all his family. [34] Then he brought them up into his house, and set food before them; and he rejoiced with all his household that he had believed in God.
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Commentary:
19-40. This is the first time St Paul comes into conflict with Gentiles. As might be expected, the incident does not take the form of a riot, as happened in cities of Asia Minor (13:50; 14:5, l9), but of a civil suit before local magistrates. The people who bring the charge say nothing about their real reason--loss of profit. They accuse Paul of two things. Their first charge is disturbance of the peace. The second seems to be based on regulations forbidding Roman citizens to practise alien cults, especially where these conflict with Roman custom. They see Paul's exorcism and his preaching as an attempt to propagate what they see as an unacceptable religion. It may well be that the charge also had to do with specific prohibitions on the propagation of Judaism to non-Jews. However, there is no hard evidence that any such prohibition existed; therefore, the charge against Paul must have been based on regulations in the colony separating Roman from alien religious practices.
23. St Paul refers specifically to this punishment in 1 Thess 2:2. It was one of the three beatings mentioned in 2 Cor 11:25.
24. St John Chrysostom, reflecting on the punishment Paul and Silas underwent, sees them as sitting or lying on the ground, covered with wounds caused by the beating. He contrasts this suffering with the way many people avoid anything which involves effort, discomfort or suffering: "How we should weep over the disorders of our time! The apostles were subjected to the worst kinds of tribulation, and here we are, spending our time in search of pleasure and diversion. This pursuit of leisure and pleasure is the cause of our ruin. We do not see the value of suffering even the least injury or insult for love of Jesus Christ.
"Let us remember the tribulations the saints experienced; nothing alarmed them or scared them. Severe humiliations made them tough, enabled them to do God's work. They did not say, if we are preaching Jesus Christ, why does he not come to our rescue?" ("Hom. on Acts", 35).
25. Paul and Silas spend the night praying and singing hymns. Commenting on this passage St John Chrysostom exhorts Christians to do the same and to sanctify night-time rest: "Show by your example that the night-time is not just for recovering the strength of your body: it is also a help in sanctifying your soul. [...] You do not have to say long prayers; one prayer, said well, is enough. [...] Offer God this sacrifice of a moment of prayer and he will reward you" ("Hom. On Acts", 36).
St Bede notes the example Paul and Silas give Christians who are experiencing trials or temptations: "The piety and energy which fires the heart of the apostles expresses itself in prayer and brings them to sing hymns even in prison. Their praise causes the earth to move, the foundations to quake, the doors to open and even their fetters to break. Similarly, that Christian who rejoices when he is happy, let him rejoice also in his weakness, when he is tempted, so that Christ's strength come to his aid. And then let him praise the Lord with hymns, as Paul and Silas did in the darkness of their prison, and sing with the psalmist, 'Thou does encompass me with deliverance' (Ps 32:7)" (St Bede, "Super Act Expositio, ad loc.").
30-34. This incident so affects the jailer with religious awe that he comes to be converted. He has been helped to react in this way as a result of listening to the prayers and hymns of the apostles: "Notice how the jailer reveres the apostles. He opens his heart to them, when he sees the doors of the prison open.
He lights the way further with his torch, but it is another kind of torch that lights up his soul. [...] Then he cleans their wounds, and his soul is cleansed from the filth of sin. On offering them material food, he receives in return a heavenly one. [...] His docility shows that he sincerely believed that all his sins had been forgiven" (Chrysostom, "Hom. on Acts", 36).
A person can meet up with God in all kinds of unexpected situations—in which case he or she needs to have the same kind of docility as the jailer in order to receive the grace of God through the channels which God has established, normally the sacraments.
33. As happened with Lydia and her family, the jailer's household is baptized along with him. Noting that these families probably included children and infants, the Magisterium of the Church finds support here for its teaching that baptism of children is a practice which goes right back to apostolic times and is, as St Augustine says, "a tradition received from the Apostles" (cf. "Instruction on Infant Baptism", 20 October 1980, 4).
