Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153 AD) ..................................................................................................... 384
many earthly
Can the Father refuse testimony to one to whom he sees the Son testifying? Surely he will acknowledge what he himself sees in secret. And the Spirit will not fail to agree with the Father and the Son, since he is the Spirit of the Father and the Son. How then can one lack testimony in heaven who has been found worthy of it on earth? "There are three that testify in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit." And, lest you should imagine any disagreement, "these three are one."
IN OCTAVA PASCHAE. SERMO I. De fide vincente, et tribus testimonis in coelo et in terra. (I Joan. V, 4-11)
● [Sermon] For us therefore, my brothers, if we want to show ourselves faithful to our God, in the absence of
martyrdom of blood, now martyrdom means testimony, let us seek the testimony of water, and God will not reject
it. “There are three which bear witness on earth: 'the Spirit, the water and the blood”. Happy are
those who can bear this threefold witness, for a threefold bond is broken. hardly (Eccle. iv, 12). If we do not have
the testimony of the blood, we at least have that of the water and of the spirit, dull, without the testimony of the
spirit, neither that of the blood nor that of the water would be sufficient, much more, if the spirit is. alone, without
water and blood, his testimony is still sufficient, for the testimony of the Spirit is that of the truth; it is neither the
blood nor the water which is useful for anything by itself, it only serves by the spirit which bears witness in them.
But I do not think that we find, or at least it can very rarely be, the spirit itself without the water and the blood. This
is why, my beloved, we must seek water, since we have not the blood. But, as I told you about the ballot boxes
earlier, let's see what those two or three measures that each of them could contain mean. Jesus Christ serves
three kinds of water, and whoever among us will do like him, that is, can have three measures, will be perfect. If it
is said, with a disjunctive, two or three bars, it is so that we know that there are at least two absolutely essential,
and that the third is not absolutely required to all.
(Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermon for the Feast of Saint Clement, pope and martyr. The three waters, 5; Translated by M. L'Abbé Charpentier, 1867, vol 3, p. 471)
• 6. So today he comes to us by water and blood, that the water and blood may be testimony to his
coming as well to the faith that overcomes. Not only this, though, but there is a testimony still greater
than this, which the Spirit of truth provides. The testimony of these three is true and certain, and happy
is the soul worthy to receive it: "There are three that testify on earth, the Spirit, the water, and the
blood." Take the water as baptism, the blood as martyrdom, and the Spirit as love. "It is the Spirit
that gives life," and the life of faith is love. If you ask what links the Spirit and love, let Paul reply:
"because God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to
us." And so the Spirit must be added to the water and the blood since, as the same apostle testifies,
without love whatever you have profits you nothing.
• 7. Now we have said that baptism is represented by the water and martyrdom by the blood. Remember
that baptism and martyrdom both happen once for all, and yet both are experienced every day. There is
a kind of martyrdom and a certain shedding of blood in the daily suffering of the body; there is also a
baptism in the compunction of the heart and constant tears. Thus the weak and fearful, who are not up
to laying down their lives for Christ once and for all, must at least shed their blood in a milder but daily
martyrdom. So, too, the sacrament of baptism, since it may not be repeated, must be complemented by
frequent washing on the part of those who offend often in many things. For this reason the prophet
says, "Every night I will wash my bed; I will water my couch with tears." Do you want to know "who it is
who overcomes the world?" Give careful attention to what must be overcome in it. Blessed John tells us
this when he says, "Beloved, do not love the world or the things in the world. All that is in the world is
the desire of the flesh, the desire of eyes, and worldly ambition." These are the three squadrons that
the Caldeans made. But I remember that holy Jacob also made three squadrons when, returning from
Mesopotamia, he feared to face Esau. You too need a threefold defense against the three kinds of
temptation, so that the desire of the flesh may be overcome by its mortification which, if you remember,
we said must be understood by the testimony of the blood. The exertion of compunction and constant
tears may conquer the desire of the eyes. The virtue of love, which alone makes the soul chaste and
alone purifies the intention, may cut off vain ambition. It is a sure testimony to triumph over the world if
you punish the body and bring it into subjection lest in its destructive freedom it becomes subject to
pleasure; if you give your eyes over to weeping rather than to wantonness and curiosity; and finally, if
you do not give your mind to vanity but burn with spiritual love.
• 8. Truly there is one Spirit that testifies equally on earth and in heaven that even if bodily affliction shall
cease, even if the fountain of tears dries up, "love never fails." There is some foretaste in the present,
but the completion and fullness are still to come. But although the Spirit remains after the blood - water
and blood will not possess the kingdom of God - yet for the present the Spirit is scarcely, or not at all,
found without them because "these three," John says, "are one." Thus if any of these three is absent
you cannot assume that the others are present. Yet these witnesses, when joined together, are
totally credible, nor can one to whom these things were present on earth lack testimony in
heaven. Such a one acknowledges the Son of God before humans, not by word or speech but in action
and truth, and the Son will also acknowledge that one before the angels of God. Can the Father refuse
testimony to one to whom he sees the Son testifying? Surely he will acknowledge what he himself sees
in secret. And the Spirit will not fail to agree with the Father and the Son, since he is the Spirit of the
Father and the Son. How then can one lack testimony in heaven who has been found worthy of it
on earth? "There are three that testify in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit." And,
lest you should imagine any disagreement, "these three are one." Those the Father will receive in
heaven as children and heirs, whom the Son will receive as brothers and sisters and fellow-heirs, and
whom, as they are united to God, the Holy Spirit will make one with himself, will possess a great
testimony. The Spirit himself is the indestructible bond of the Trinity, through whom, as the Father and
Son are one, so we also may be one in them, through the mercy of him who deigned to pray this for his
disciples, Jesus Christ our Lord.
• IN OCTAVA PASCHAE. SERMO I. De fide vincente, et tribus testimonis in coelo et in terra. (I Joan. V, 4-11)
Sermon : Of the Victory of Faith and the Three Witness in Heaven & Earth
• 1. The reading proclaimed for us today was from the Letter of blessed John. In it we learn that threefold
is the witness given in heaven, and threefold on earth. This suggests to me that the former is the sign of
stability, the latter of restoration; the one refers to angels, the other to humans; one divides the blessed
from the wretched, the other the righteous from the ungodly. The vision of the Trinity bears witness to
the angels who, in the first trespass when Lucifer became proud, stood in the truth. To human beings,
whom divine mercy saves, the Spirit, the water, and the blood bear witness. Why does the Father not
bear witness to those who honor him as a father? Instead he says: Wicked one, "If I am a father, where
is my honor?" You must do without the witness of the Father whose glory you try to usurp for yourself
when you desire to equal him rather than to honor him. "I will sit," he says, "on the mountain of the
covenant; I will be like the most high." Really? Created just now, will you sit with the Father of spirits?
Surely he has not yet told you, "sit at my right hand!" If you don't know, shamelessone, he is the Only-
Begotten, to whom equality with the Father and sitting with him are conferred by an eternal begetting.
You, thinking equality with God something to be grasped, begrudge the Son his glory, "glory as of the
only-begotten of the Father," so that you do not deserve witness from him. Indeed can a person
abhorred by the Father and the Son be justified by the Spirit of both? Such a one is held in abomination
as proud and restless by the lover of peace who rests upon the peaceful and humble; he who is
dedicated to unity strives against you in his zeal for peace and unity.
• 2. Should it surprise us, my brothers, if we are afraid that an individual wild beast may begin to feed on
this little vineyard of the Lord? How many shoots of the heavenly vine has that individualism trodden
down? You can easily notice the pride in him, but not individualism. So I ask, whereas the whole
angelic creation was standing, the vice of individualism wasn't lacking the one that presumed to try to
sit, was it? But perhaps you ask how I know about this standing of angels? I have two sure witnesses,
each of whom testifies to what he says. "I saw the Lord sitting," says Isaiah, "and the seraphim were
standing;" and Daniel says, "A thousand thousands served him, and then thousand times ten thousand
stood attending him." Do you want a third, so that every word may be established by the mouth of three
witnesses? I refer you to the Apostle who was caught up to the third heaven and when he returned
said, "Are they not all ministering spirits?" Thus where they all stand, they all minister. Will you sit then,
you enemy of peace? Clearly you grieve the Spirit, who makes people of one mind to dwell in a house;
you offend against love, you rend unity, and you break the bond of peace. Rightly does the Spirit attest
to the love, unity, and peace. Rightly does the Spirit attest to the love, unity, and peace of the angels,
who have abandoned neither their rank nor their abiding place; by them your envy, individualism, and
restlessness are condemned. And this is the evidence given in heaven.
• 3. That given on earth is different. It is for distinguishing between exiles and those who belong on earth
- that is, between citizens of heaven and those of Babylon. I mean, when does God leave his elect
without evidence? What consolation would there be for them, wavering as they are anxiously between
hope and fear, if they were thought undeserving to have any evidence at all to their own election? "The
Lord knows those who are his," and he alone knows whom he has chosen from the beginning. Who
knows whether a person is worthy of love or hatred? If certainty is altogether denied us - and it certainly
is! - then the signs of this election, if we should happen to find any, will be that much more delightful,
won't they? What rest would our spirit have so long as it held no evidence of its predestination? "The
saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance," by which the evidence of salvation are given. By this
word consolation truly is provided to the elect, and excuses are withdrawn from the condemned. If the
signs of life are known, those who disregard them are plainly convicted of taking their souls in vain and
proven to have despised the pleasant land.
• 4. "There are three," he says, "that give evidence on earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood."
You know, brothers, that we all sinned in the first man, and in him also we all fell. We fell into a prison
full of mud and of stones; there lay captive, filthy and broken, until the desires of the nations came to
redeem, wash, and help us. He gave us his own blood for our redemption, he poured forth water
from his side to wash us, and he sent his Spirit from on high to help our weakness. Take care to
know whether or not these things are at work on your so that you do not become guilty of the blood of
the Lord by emptying it of its preciousness, and so the water that ought to cleanse does not instead
collect in dirty puzzles as a judgement of everlasting damnation , and lest the Spirit, too, whom you
resist "does not acquit those who slander with their lips." Be careful, then, because if these things bear
no fruit in you, they will work against you.
• 5. Who has the evidence that the blood of Christ was not shed in vain except one who refrains from
sin? Those who sin are slaves of sin, so that if they can refrain from sin and cast away the yoke of
miserable slavery, they will be a most certain evidence of redemption that the blood of Chrsit
accomplishes. True, refraining from sin is not enough for a sinner unless repentance is present too.
Those who are weary with their moaning, who flood their bed with tears every night, have evidence
from the water. Just as the blood redeems so that sin will not rule in our mortal body, so the water
washes us from those sins we committed before. But what will happen to us if, broken and beaten by
the long use of chains and cruel imprisonment, we become disheartened on the way of life? Let us call
upon the Spirit, the Life-Giver and Supporter, confident that the Father who is in heaven will give the
good Spirit to those who ask. Clearly a new way of life is evidence that a new Spirit has arrived.
Now, to sum up, you have evidence from the blood, the water, and the Spirit, if you refrain from
sin, bear fruit worthy of repentance, and do the works of life.
• In the Octave of Easter. Sermon 2. Of the Words of the Same Reading: "There are three that testify in
heaven."
