Commentary on John

What it is

Nearly fifty passages quoted by Origen, who set out to refute them and ended up preserving them. The Samaritan woman's five husbands are the senses; the royal official is the craftsman-god; the descent to Capernaum is a descent into matter.

Why it lasted

The first commentary on a New Testament book ever written, by a heretic, surviving only inside the refutation of a man later condemned himself.

Scripture it works from

Where to read it

Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.

• Christian Classics Ethereal Library
• Project Gutenberg
• Internet Archive

These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.