Very many persons have written commentaries upon the gospel of S. John, and among them, the principal Greek and Latin fathers. Among the Greeks, after Origen, who composed thirty-two tomes, or books, upon this gospel, was S. Cyril, patriarch of Alexandria, who has written a learned and very excellent commentary. He has written a didactic work, and is especially able and skillful in expounding the literal sense. S. Cyril’s commentary on S. John’s gospel consisted originally of twelve books. But of these the middle four, that is, the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth, perished through the ravages of time. Their loss has been supplied by Clictovaeus, a doctor of Paris. When you hear the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth book of Cyril on this gospel being cited [by earlier scholars], know that they are not by Cyril, but by Clictovaeus—many, even learned men have mistaken them for the original. Moreover the fifth and sixth books of Cyril, written in Greek, were recently found on the island of Khios by the rector of the College of the Society of Jesus there, who conveyed them to Palermo in Sicily, whence the Reverend Father Jean-Baptiste Jattin, S.J. brought them along to our Roman College, where he is professor of mathematics; he also translated them into Latin. He is searching for the remaining two books, the seventh and eighth, so that a Latin edition of them all may be published. I consulted the fifth and sixth books in Rome and will cite them from time to time; for it is plain that they are redolent with the doctrine, the style, and the genius of S. Cyril.
A second commentator is S. Chrysostom, who, as I said earlier, in receiving the book of the gospels from S. John, seems to have been imbued with his spirit as well. He wrote eighty-seven homilies on this gospel, which are found in volume three of his works.
A third is Theophylact, and a fourth, Euthymius. These two, as is their custom, follow S. Chrysostom, almost as his disciples. Theophylact is the more rambling and rhetorical; Euthymius is more concise, and he expressly acknowledges that he has gathered his material from S. Chrysostom, Origen, S. Basil and Gregory Nazianzen.
A fifth commentator is Nonnus Panopolitanus, an Egyptian, and a very eloquent writer, who, as Suidas says, explained the virgin theologian, that is, John the Evangelist, in heroic verses. Sixtus of Siena ranks him as the most important Greek literary figure among the Christians and says that 48 volumes of his Dionysiaká, [an epic on pagan themes] written in heroic couplets, have been preserved; he walks upon the high cothurnus, like Homer. Although the commentary of Nonnus can properly only be called a paraphrase, nevertheless in many places he points out and illustrates the meaning of the Evangelist in pithy sentences. Jesuit Father Nicolaus Abramus has published an annotated Greek-Latin edition of Nonnus’ paraphrase, although the work had been published first by Aldus Manutius and then later by Franciscus Nansius.
Among the Latins the first and chief commentator on the gospel of S. John is S. Augustine, who has written systematically upon the whole gospel in 124 tractates. This commentary is found in volume nine of his works.
The second is Venerable Bede, who follows S. Augustine passim, and often word-for-word.
A third commentary is what is called the Gloss. Where observe that the Gloss is tripartite. The first is the Interlinear Gloss, so-called because written between the lines of the sacred text. For that reason it is brief, but pithy, and treats many things in the gospel learnedly and usefully. The second is the Marginal Gloss, because written on the margin of the text of sacred scripture; it is also called the Ordinary Gloss. To this is subjoined the Gloss of Nicolas Lyra. The author of the first, the Interlinear Gloss, is Anselm of Laon, known as the scholastic; this is the opinion of Sixtus of Siena, Franciscus Ribera and others. This Anselm flourished in the year of the Lord 1110.
The author of the second, or Ordinary Gloss, is deemed by the same Sixtus, Ribera and other authors to be Strabo, a monk of Fulda, a student of Rabanus Maurus around the year A.D. 820, who compiled it from Rabanus, S. Gregory, and other fathers.
The third Gloss bears the name of Nicolaus of Lyra, who was called “Lyra” from a village in Normandy. He was a Jew by birth, and was converted to Christianity. He entered the Franciscan order, and taught scholastic theology, A.D. 1320. He was a learned man, and skilled in Hebrew. Around that time he wrote his important Gloss, in which he explains the literal meaning of John’s gospel and that of the other sacred writers. He became so celebrated that it has passed into a proverb:
If Lyra’s hand had erst not swept his lyre,
Our Theologians had not danced in choir.
But we must note this about Lyra and beware, that he is too credulous with regard to Jewish fables and puerilities, occasionally giving too much heed to writers of his own nation, to the rabbin, and especially to R. Salomon, who is a great retailer of fables.
In later ages, and especially in our own day of great erudition, many commentaries have been written upon this gospel. Preeminent among them are Joannes Maldonatus, of the Society of Jesus, who is copious, acute, elegant, and learned: Cornelius Jansen, who is exact, solid, and dependable: Franciscus Toletus, who is judicious, wise, and eloquent, especially in the application of metaphors and similitudes and the like, e.g., in explaining why Christ is called a vine, bread, life, light, a gate, a shepherd; why the Holy Spirit is spoken of as living water, a dove, fire, etc. Sebastian Barradi has written a good literal commentary, mingling with it moral reflections. He is useful to preachers in affording materials for sermons, and showing how to treat them. Franz Lucas is entirely literal, but he uses the letter to draw the reader to pious affections. Franciscus Ribera’s commentary is brief, but written in his distinguished, erudite style; it was published posthumously.
Among the heretics, Martin Bucer, Wolfgang Musculus, Bullinger, Brentius, Calvin, and Theodore Beza have written upon S. John’s gospel. Of all these authors Augustinus Marloratus has made a catena, which I read through and refuted when I was in Belgium.