Saint John - Chapter 14
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| The bridge of Kedron, coming from Gethsemane. J-J Tissot |
Thomas saith to him: Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?
Thomas saith unto Him, &c. Since we know not whither Thou goest, how can we know the way? For he who knows not the goal to which a way leads, cannot be said to know the way to that goal. We indeed have heard Thee say that Thou art going to Thy Father’s house, where there are many mansions, to prepare us a place. But where is this Father’s house? Where are those many mansions? If this house is heaven, as we suppose it is, declare the matter to us more fully and explicitly. Explain to us concerning these mansions where and in what region they are. For the vastness of heaven, or rather of the many heavens, is infinite. Thus Thomas. “But Christ,” as Cyril says, “gave no response to this overweening curiosity. For He does not explain the whole subject, but leaving that for a fitting season, He unfolds only what is necessary for the present time.”
[6] Dicit ei Jesus : Ego sum via, et veritas, et vita. Nemo venit ad Patrem, nisi per me.
Jesus saith to him: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me.
Jesus saith to him, &c. Briefly the genuine meaning is this: “Thou askest. O Thomas, two questions, viz., about My way and its terminus, whither I am going, and what road? I answer thus, ‘I am the way which thou seekest, a way not deceitful, but true, a way which leads to true life, even to God the Father in heaven, where is My Father’s house, in which are the many mansions I have spoken of.’ ” Wherefore He adds, by way of explanation, No one cometh to the Father but by Me. The Father, therefore, is the goal or terminus. I am the way to it. I am the way, i.e. I am the teacher, the guide, and the leader of the true way which leads straight to the eternal and beatific life. I am the way, because I point out and teach the true faith and the holy living, which is the true way to everlasting life. There is an allusion to Isa. 30:20, 21, “Thine eyes shall see thy teachers, and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying. This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.”
But because some ways are true and right, others false and erroneous, therefore is Christ called the way and the truth, i.e. the true and right way according to the words in Isa. 35:8, “And this shall be to you the direct way, so that fools shall not err in it.” (Vulg.) As though Christ said, both Jewish and Gentile philosophers have taught many things concerning blessedness and the virtues which as a road lead to blessedness, yet they have fallen into many errors, and so have led men not to life, but to the destruction of hell. For as they made blessedness—not true indeed, but false blessedness—to consist in riches, honours, and vain science, so they have gone themselves, and led others into no good, or true, but into a false way. But I teach true faith and unity and those other virtues by which you may arrive by a direct way at that true and eternal life which is with the Father, and therefore with Me. For I and the Father are one. For as the Father is beatific life, both formal and causative, because He communicates the same to us, and also objective life, because He is the author of the beatific vision, so likewise am I the very self-same life and truth. I therefore am He who points out to you the right road to heaven. I am He who as the Truth delivers you from every error of the mind. I am He who leads you to true life.
From hence it is plain that Christ is the way:—
1. Because by the merit of His Passion He has opened to us the way to heaven.
2. Because by His doctrine He shows us the same way.
3. Because He inspires us with faith and grace and good works and merits, by which as by a path we walk to life eternal.
4. Because by this way of a holy life and by His Passion He has gone before us, treading it first Himself, that we might follow Him in the same, and imitating Him, arrive at the heaven whither He has gone.
This is the genuine meaning of this passage. But since this is a golden saying of Christ, let us listen to various comments and observations of the Fathers upon it.
1. S. Leo (Serm. 2, de Resur.) says, “Christ is the way of holy conversation, the truth of Divine doctrine, the life of everlasting blessedness.”
2. S. Cyril saith, “Christ is our way by the actions of His life, the truth by a right faith, the life by the well-spring of sanctification.” The meaning is, No one cometh to the Father, who is the true life and blessedness, except by love he walk in Me, who am the way; and by faith believe in Me, who am the truth; and by hope confide in Me, who am eternal life.
3. S. Bernard (Serm. 2, de. Ascens.), “Let us follow Thee, O Lord, by Thee, to Thee: for Thou art the way, the truth, and the life—the way by example, the truth by promise, the life by reward.” And the same S. Bernard (Serm. 2, de. Cœna. Dom.) says, “I am the way by which you must go; the truth, to which you must come; the life, in which you must abide.”
4. S. Augustine says, “Christ is the way according to His humanity by which He comes to us, and returns to the Father. The same is the truth and the life according to His Divinity.” Again he says (Serm. 55, de. Verb. Dom.), “What road dost thou wish to go? I am the way. Whither wilt thou go? I am the truth. Where wilt thou abide? I am the life. Every man desires truth and life. Even the philosophers saw in some dim way that God was truth and life, but not all found the way. Therefore the Word of God who is with the Father is truth and life, by becoming man is made the way. Walk by this Man, and thou wilt arrive at God. It is better to limp in the way than to walk bravely outside of the way.” The same S. Augustine (Tract. 69) further says, “By the form of a servant the Lord came to us, and returned to Himself, taking back flesh from death unto life. By the flesh He came as God to man, the Truth to liars. For let God be true, but every man a liar.”
5. S. Hilary (lib. 7, de Trin.) says, “He who is the way cannot lead us wrong. Nor does He who is the truth deceive by illusions. Nor does He who is the life leave us in the terror of death. If I am the way, ye need no other guide. If I am the truth, I cannot declare what is false. If the life, even though ye die, ye shall come to Me.”
6. S. Chrysostom says, “I am the way, because by Me ye shall come. I am the truth, because the things which I have spoken are beyond questioning. I am the life, because not even death itself can hinder you from coming to Me.”
7. S. Ambrose (lib. de bono mort.), “Christ saith, I am the way, &c. Let us walk in this way, let us hold the truth, let us follow the life. It is the way which brings us, the truth which confirms us, the life which is given them that persevere.” And again he saith, “We follow Thee, O Lord Jesus; but call us that we may follow, for no one ascends without Thee. Receive us as the way, confirm us as the truth, quicken us as the life.”
Symbolically, Christ is the way of beginners, purifying them by a hatred of sin, and a detestation of their past life. The same is the truth of the more advanced, illuminating them by the examples of virtues, and the desire of a new and holy conversation. The same is the life of the perfect, uniting them to God by the affections of pure love. Hear S. Bernard, summing up many things. “I am the way of light and calm, truth that liveth without pain, life that is happy and pleasant. I am the way upon the cross, the truth in the pit itself, the life in the joy of resurrection. I am the way, in which there are neither thorns nor thistles. The truth, in which there is no sting of falsehood. The life, in which he that is dead lives again. I am the right way, the perfect truth, the life that shall never end. I am the way of reconciliation, the truth of recompense, the life of eternal blessedness. No man cometh to the Father but by Me, i.e. no man cometh to Me, the truth and the life, except by Me the way.”
Tropologically, S. Basil remarks “that Christ is called the way, to denote that Christians ought daily to walk and proceed in the path of virtue, according to the words in the Psalms, ‘They shall go from virtue to virtue’ (Vulg.) For in truth this is the good way, knowing no devious wanderings; I mean our Lord Jesus Christ, who truly is good, who leads us to the Father. For no one, saith He, cometh to the Father but by Me. Such is the way of our return to God through His Son.” Thus far S. Basil, who says that Christ is the way, not only by faith, but by the exercise of virtues.
Anagogically, S. Augustine (de Sent. num. 268). “The Lord saith, I am the way, the truth, and the life, i.e. by Me you must walk, to Me you must come, in Me you must remain. For when we come to Him we arrive also at the Father, because by means of His equal He to whom He is equal is known. And the Holy Spirit binds and most closely unites us to Him, so that we may abide in the perfect and unchangeable Good for ever.”
Hence S. Bernard, when he was dying, appeared to a certain absent friend saying that he was going upwards, “for the truth is above.” For below in earth there is nothing but vanity and falsehood, as we are taught in Ecclesiastes. “Here,” said S. Bernard, “there is no knowledge, no recognition of the truth; above is there plenitude of science, above is the true knowledge of the truth.” And two of S. Benedict’s monks had this vision of him when he was dying. They beheld a path stretching direct from his cell to heaven, eastwards. This path was spread with tapestry, and bright with innumerable lamps. A man of venerable aspect, and clad in glorious apparel, stood over the monks, and asked them, Whose was the path which they beheld? They replied that they knew not. Then he said, “This is the way by which Benedict, the beloved of the Lord, ascendeth to heaven” (S. Greg: Dial. l. 2 c. 37).
No one cometh, &c. Because I am the way to the Father, who is the goal and terminus. No one, i.e. of men; but Suarez adds, of angels also. For he thinks that all the angels have received all their graces and glory from Christ and His merits.
[7] Si cognovissetis me, et Patrem meum utique cognovissetis : et amodo cognoscetis eum, et vidistis eum.
If you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also: and from henceforth you shall know him, and you have seen him.
If ye had known Me, &c. Christ meets an objection. The disciples might have objected, “Thou, O Christ, declarest that Thou art the way, but the Father is the goal to which thou goest. But we do not know the Father, wherefore neither do we know the goal to which both Thou and we are going. Cause us therefore to know the Father. Again, if the Father is the goal, Thou the way, how sayest Thou, I am the way, the truth, and the life? That is both the way and the goal?” Christ answers that both are true. “For I,” saith He, “have one essence with the Father, one and the same Godhead. Wherefore, if ye had known Me clearly and fully, ye would have known My Father also;” for the Apostles knew indeed and believed that Christ was the Son of God, but they did not as yet believe that He was consubstantial with the Father; but they did know this after they had received the Holy Ghost. Wherefore He adds,
And from henceforth ye shall know Him, and have seen Him. Ye shall know is the reading of the Vulgate, of S. Chrysostom, and S. Hilary. He means, Ye shall know the Father at Pentecost by the illumination of the Holy Ghost; yea, ye have already seen Him in Me, for he who seeth Me seeth My Father also, as Christ subjoins. The Greek, Syriac, and Arabic read γινώσκετε, ye know, in the present tense. “Even now ye know the Father, because ye have seen Him in Me working so many miracles. For although ye have not seen Him as He is in His Essence and Godhead, ye have seen Him veiled in My humanity, as with a cloud, by means of the signs and miracles, which, like thunderings and lightnings, come forth from It.” So S. Cyril.
[8] Dicit ei Philippus : Domine, ostende nobis Patrem, et sufficit nobis.
Philip saith to him: Lord, shew us the Father, and it is enough for us.
Philip saith unto Him, &c.—Philip did not understand Christ’s answer; how, namely, he who knows Christ knows also the Father. He urges therefore Christ to show them the Father Himself. “Thou sayest that the Father is in Thee, as it were lies hid in Thee. Open Thyself, and shew Him to us.”
And it sufficeth us. 1st. Says S. Chrysostom, we desire nothing else but to be shown the Father.
2d. S. Cyril, It sufficeth us, viz., for blessedness, that we should be delivered from all trouble and sorrow; for since the Father is God He will bless us.
3d. It sufficeth us, for confounding the Jews, who deny that Thou art the Son of God.
4th. And more simply, as though it were said, “instead of all the reasons which Thou, O Christ, bringest together, to console us in our sorrow for Thy death, we ask one, that Thou wouldst show us the Father. This one will suffice us instead of all the rest.”
Anagogically. Hear S. Augustine, “With that joy which shall fill us with His countenance nothing more will be required.” This Philip well understood when he said, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. But he did not yet understand that he might say, Lord, show us Thyself, and it sufficeth us. But that he might understand this, he received the answer, Have I been so long time with you? &c.
Herein is that saying of S. Augustine true, “Thou sufficest for God, let God be sufficient for thee.” “For God is Saddai, i.e., sufficiency, abundance of all good things.” Wherefore the Psalmist says, “We shall be satisfied when Thy glory shall appear” (17:15); and, “They shall be inebriated from the richness of Thy house, and Thou shalt give them drink from the torrent of Thy pleasure” (35:9); and, “Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever” (73:25, 26).
The reason à priori is, because God made man after His own image and likeness, wherefore He gave him an infinite capacity, and infinite desires, such as cannot be satisfied with any finite goods. Therefore it is necessary that God alone, who is infinite Good, should fill and satisfy that capacity. As S. Augustine says (lib. 1, Conf. c. 1), “O Lord, thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee.” And the same saith (in Ps. 62), “Lovest thou riches? God Himself will be thy riches. Lovest thou a fountain of good? What is more excellent than wisdom? What more full of light? Whatever here can be loved, He who made all things shall be Thine instead of all things.”
[9] Dicit ei Jesus : Tanto tempore vobiscum sum, et non cognovistis me? Philippe, qui videt me, videt et Patrem. Quomodo tu dicis : Ostende nobis Patrem?
Jesus saith to him: Have I been so long a time with you; and have you not known me? Philip, he that seeth me seeth the Father also. How sayest thou, shew us the Father?
Jesus saith to him, Have I been so long time—three years and a half—conversing with you I have taught you who I am, and yet ye have not known Me? The Greek S. Chrysostom and S. Cyril make thou hast not known Me in the sing., that indeed I am not only man, but the Son of God; not diverse in essence and existence from Him, but Consubstantial with God the Father. For therefore having seen Me, you still desire to see the Father, because you think that I have a nature wholly different from the Father. As though Philip said, I have seen Jesus the Son of God: it remains for me to see His Father, as being different from Him, as is the case with men. This was the root of Philip’s mistake, which Christ removes by what follows.
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| Philip, he that seeth me seeth the Father also. J-J Tissot |
1. That Jesus was really God, so that those who saw that Man likewise saw God.
2. That there was one Person of the Father, another of the Son, which the Sabellians denied. For diversity of Persons is denoted by the words Me and Father.
3. That the Son is Consubstantial with the Father. For unless They were Consubstantial, the Son might be seen without seeing the Father: and vice versa, the Father might be seen without beholding the Son, even as happens with men. “You err therefore, O Philip, when having seen Me, you desire to see the Father, as though you were about to see another God, and another Deity, when there is but one and the same. How then sayest thou, Show us the Father, when I have shown Him unto thee in Myself?”
This is the true sense in which Christ answers directly the question and meaning of Philip. But because Christ, taking occasion, as He is wont, from the question to rise and to carry His hearers with Him to a loftier height, this passage may, as to its second intention, be taken to apply to the perfect and proper cognition of the Father and the Son, whether by faith or by sight. As it were, He who seeth Me according to the Divinity, seeth also the Father. Because, although He is distinct from Me, yet am I in Him and He in Me by identity of nature. Wherefore He who sees, i.e. who believes, that I am the Son of God, also sees, i.e. believes, that God is my Father. And he who through the beatific vision intuitively beholds Me, intuitively beholds the Father also. So S. Cyril, Augustine, Chrysostom, Maldonatus, and others. Also Suarez, who shows from this passage that the Blessed who see the Divine Essence see also Three Persons in It.
[10] Non creditis quia ego in Patre, et Pater in me est? Verba quae ego loquor vobis, a meipso non loquor. Pater autem in me manens, ipse fecit opera.
Do you not believe, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you, I speak not of myself. But the Father who abideth in me, he doth the works.
Believe ye not that I am in the Father, &c. Observe
1. Here again the distinction of the Divine Persons is signified. Nor is any one properly said to be in himself, but in another.
2. The oneness of the Divine Nature is signified. For because the Father and the Son are, and exist in one and the same Divine Nature, therefore the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father. Christ proved this by the effect. For He had His doctrine and works from the Father, and common with the Father. Therefore He had the same common Nature with Him. Hence,
3. By this saying is consequently signified the perfect and intimate union and indwelling of one Divine person in the Other, and the converse. By which it comes to pass that the Father is in the Son and the Holy Ghost, the Son in the Father and the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost in the Father and the Son. Damascene (l. de Fid. c. 11) calls this, περιχώρησις, and from him the schoolmen call it circumincessio. Concerning which mystery S. Augustine treats (l. 6, de Trin. c. ult.) and S. Hilary (lib. 4, de Trin.) Each one of the Divine Persons is in each of the others, not only as regards Their Essence, but also as regards Their relation and proper Person, because all are most intimately conjoined and united with One Another. Whence it follows that he who fully knows and beholds one Divine Person—as, for example, the Son—as the Blessed see Him, not only sees the Godhead common to the Father and the Son, but sees also the very Person of the Father, both because the Person of the Father is most intimately related to the Person of the Son, and also because in that relationship is included the essential order. For it is the Father who of His Essence begetteth the Son. And this is what Christ here means when He saith, Believe ye not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?
The words which I speak, &c. They are not human but Divine words. They proceed not from My Humanity, but from My Divinity, which I have received of the Father. Wherefore whoso heareth Me speak, heareth not so much Me as God the Father speaking in Me and by Me. Observe, the Godhead common to the Father and the Son was the efficient cause of the Divine words which Christ uttered. Yet the thing signified by the words was often peculiar to the Person of the Son, not of the Father, as when He said, “I am the Son of God,” “I have taken flesh,” “The things which I say and do I have received of the Father.” For these things He said concerning Himself, not the Father, as is plain. For not the Father was made man, but the Son. And yet the Father equally with the Son was the efficient cause as well of the Incarnation, as of the words uttered by the Word Incarnate. For the works of the Holy Trinity, ad extra, as theologians say, are undivided, and common to all the Three Divine Persons.
But the Father abiding in Me, &c. The Father, as the prime source not only of creatures, but of the other Divine Persons, that is, the Son and the Holy Ghost. For when the Father by begetting communicated His Divinity to the Son, He communicated also His omnipotence, virtue, and power of working. Wherefore, if not the Son but the Father Himself had assumed Humanity, He would have spoken and done the self-same things which the Son spoke and did. For the Father both spoke and wrought in the Son: and also there is one Godhead and omnipotence of the Father and the Son, which spoke and wrought all things through the Humanity which He assumed. Wherefore Christ left it to be gathered by the Apostles that when they saw and heard Him speaking they were to think that they saw and heard the Father. “From these My words and deeds,” as Ribera paraphrases, “ye are able to understand how good My Father is, how kind, how much He loves you. From My miracles ye may know My omnipotence, and that I know all things, and have in Me all good. From whence ye understand that the Father likewise hath the same. And since these external things lead you to the knowledge of such great good things, what, think ye, will be yours when ye shall behold My and the Father’s Essence without glass, or figure?”
[11] Non creditis quia ego in Patre, et Pater in me est?
Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?
Believe ye not that I am in the Father? &c. For believe ye not? the Greek has πιστέυετέ μοι, Believe Me. But the meaning is the same, and one includes the other. Believe ye not that I am in the Father, &c. i.e., “Believe, because I assert this to you.” “But if ye do not believe this simply on My assertion, at least believe on account of the works themselves, because the Father by working in Me and by Me so many and so great miracles, shows by those very works that He dwelleth in Me, and doeth by Me such mighty things.”
[12] alioquin propter opera ipsa credite. Amen, amen dico vobis, qui credit in me, opera quae ego facio, et ipse faciet, et majora horum faciet.
Otherwise believe for the very works' sake. Amen, amen I say to you, he that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shall do; and greater than these shall he do.
Amen, I say unto you, whoso believeth in Me, &c. Christ wishes to prove that He is in the Father, and the Father in Him. The force of the argument stands thus: he that believeth that the Father is in Me, by this faith, or by the power and virtue of this faith, shall do similar Divine works and miracles to those which I do; yea, he shall do greater than I do. Therefore that faith must needs be true, which believes that the Father is in Me, and worketh in Me. For the Father worketh by true faith, and by miraculous works affords to such an one testimony of the truth, but not to a false faith, for otherwise, He who is the prime Verity would be a witness and approver of a lie.
And greater works, &c. Not every believer, but some of them, such as the Apostles and apostolic men.
What were these greater works?
1. Origen (Hom. 7, in Num.) thinks that such things are meant as feeble men overcoming the flesh, the world, and the devil. For, saith he, it is a greater thing that Christ should overcome in us, than that He should overcome in Himself.
2. S. Chrysostom thinks that the greater works were such as that Peter should heal the sick by his shadow, which Christ did not do.
3. And better: S. Augustine thinks that these greater works were the conversion of all the nations of the whole world by twelve Apostles. For Christ converted a far less number, or only about 500. Listen to S. Augustine, whose diffuse words I have contracted into a few: “What are those greater works? Are they perchance such as that Peter healed by his shadow? For it is a greater thing to be healed by one’s shadow than by the fringe of one’s garment. But when He said those things He was referring to the works of His words. When He said, The Father abiding in Me, He doeth the works, He called the words which He spoke works, the fruit of which was their faith. For when His disciples preached the Gospel, not merely a few in number like themselves, but nations believed. The rich man departed from the Lord sorrowful. Yet afterwards what that one man would not do, many did when He spake by His disciples. ‘Then he speaks of a marvellous paradox.’ I say that herein is something greater than to create the heavens and the earth. For these shall pass away, but the salvation and justification of the elect shall endure. There are also in heaven the angels who are the work of Christ. And although it be an equal display of power to create them and to justify the ungodly, yet is this latter a greater work of mercy. However, there is no need to understand all the works of Christ when He saith, greater works shall he do. For perchance He spoke of those which He was then doing. Now it is a less thing to preach the words of justice which He did for our sake than it is to justify the ungodly, and this He so works in us that we work also.”
You will ask why Christ willed to do greater works by the Apostles than by Himself. I reply,
1. Because He wished the faith in Him to be gradually disseminated, and thus to grow, lest if it should grow up suddenly it should be supposed to be fancy, and He Himself a magician, or impostor. For that which grows by degrees, by degrees gains confidence, and is more durable.
2. That the modesty as well as the power of Jesus might be commended. That it might be seen that He was not only mighty in Himself to work, but that He was able to infuse the same powers of working in an equal, and even in a greater degree, into His Apostles. For the Apostles did not do these works by their own power, but by Christ’s.
3. Because it behoved Christ first to suffer and to die, and by His death to merit those wonderful works, which afterwards He wrought by His Apostles.
4. Because it behoved Christ first to rise and ascend into Heaven, and then to send the Holy Ghost, who should work such great miracles. This reason Christ adds, when He says, Because I go to the Father.
Let prelates and superiors here learn from Christ to keep for themselves the lower and meaner offices, and to leave to their inferiors the greater and more honourable. They will do greater things by their subjects than by themselves. For what the subject doeth, the superior is considered to do through him. S. Ignatius, the Founder of our Society, when he was made General, publicly catechised, whilst he left to his companions under him the honour of filling notable pulpits.
Because I go to the Father. When after death I have obtained the victory, and have triumphed over the world, the devil, and hell. I will ascend in glory to the Father’s throne, and thenceforward I will, through you, show forth greater works than I did whilst I was yet struggling in this life. There is no reason why I should then veil my face in poverty and humility, as I have done when I willed to submit to My Passion for the redemption of mankind. That being accomplished, I shall go up to My Father, who wills that My Name shall be manifested and adored in all the world by the preaching of the Apostles. Wherefore He will work greater things by them than He wrought by Me in this life. So S. Cyril (lib. ix. c. 41).
[13] Quia ego ad Patrem vado: et quodcumque petieritis Patrem in nomine meo, hoc faciam : ut glorificetur Pater in Filio.
Because I go to the Father: and whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, that will I do: that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father, &c. Thus it is in the Latin, and in S. Chrysostom, Cyril, and others. But in the Greek, Arabic, and Syriac the word Father is omitted. These words have reference to what preceded, and greater works shall he do, &c. For after the faith, concerning which He said in the preceding verse, he that believeth in Me, He here subjoins a profession of faith, and the invocation of His Name, and the asking for those greater things. As though He said, “I indeed, O ye Apostles, am going away from you to the Father, but instead of My presence I leave and give you the invocation of My Name, that by means of It ye may ask and obtain those greater things. Wherefore Christ, says Cyril, here signifies that His own Divinity and authority is the same as the Father’s. For it is the glory of the Son that by the invocation of Him the Father should give to the Apostles to do greater works than He wrought by the Son during His earthly life.
In My Name, i.e. by the invocation of My Name.
I will do it. I will cause that the Father will grant unto you. Yea, I in the Father and with the Father will do this thing, and will grant it to you, so that all the power, virtue, and glory of these greater works which ye will do shall be ascribed to Me, not to you. For when prayer is made to the Father, prayer is also made to the Son.
That the Father may be glorified in the Son. Christ out of modesty is wont to ascribe all His glory to the Father, as to the prime Fount and origin. Learn from hence that miracles must not be asked for except for God’s glory, or when the glory of God requires them.
[14] If you shall ask me any thing in my name, that I will do.
Si quid petieritis me in nomine meo, hoc faciam.
If ye shall ask anything in My Name, I will do it. What Christ in the last verse said of the Father He here says of Himself, that He may show that He is the same God with the Father, that He hears those who pray to Him, and that He doeth all things which the Father doeth. Whence S. Cyril asserts that Christ is here speaking of His Divinity. Some are of opinion that the same thing is spoken and confirmed which He had said in the verse preceding. Wherefore Chrysostom and Nonnus omit this verse. But it is found in the Arabic, Syriac, S. Augustine, S. Cyril, Theophylact, &c.
But Toletus and others, with better reason, think that something different is meant from the verse preceding. They think that the words of the former verse relate to the petition for the greater things: but that in this verse Christ says that He will hear particular prayers. He means that although He is going away to the Father, and will be absent in the body, yet He is always present, and will hear their prayers, and help their necessities, so that whatsoever they ask in His name, i.e., through His merits, He will do for them. S. Augustine supposes an objection. S. Paul asked that the angel of Satan might depart from him, but received it not. But consider that it is said, In My Name, i.e. in Jesus! For whatever we ask contrary to our salvation, we do not ask in the name of the Saviour. For He would not be a Saviour to a man, if He did anything to hinder his salvation. The physician knows what is against his patient’s health, and what is in favour of it: and therefore he does not comply with his wishes in what is against his recovery.
[15] Si diligitis me, mandata mea servate :
If you love me, keep my commandments.
If ye love Me, &c. Christ here takes His farewell of His disciples, gives His last commands, which pertain to the exercise of the three chief theological virtues, faith, hope, and charity. Concerning faith He speaks in the 1st verse, Ye believe in God, &c. Concerning hope in the 3d, Whatsoever ye shall ask, &c. Now He speaks of charity, If you love Me, keep My commandments. And these three are united together. For faith begets hope, and hope begets charity. The meaning then is, If ye wish to obtain these My promises, and to gain what ye ask in My name, then love Me in return who love you, and persevere and grow in My love. If ye wish to please Me, and through Me obtain all that ye ask, keep My commandments. And if they do this, He promises them a great reward, saying,
[16] et ego rogabo Patrem, et alium Paraclitum dabit vobis, ut maneat vobiscum in aeternum,
And I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you for ever.
And I will ask the Father, &c., i.e. If ye persevere in My love, and keep My commandments, I will obtain for you by My prayers the Holy Ghost, which the Father will pour upon you at Pentecost. And He will work through you even greater things than I have wrought.
And I will ask, as man. For Christ as man prays for us, says S. Augustine.
Another Comforter, i.e. another than Myself. From hence it is plain that Christ also was the Paraclete of the Apostles and the faithful. That is, He is—
1. an Advocate, an Intercessor, according to those words of Paul, “We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
2. An Exhorter, an Inciter.
3. A Comforter, as the Syriac translates. All these meanings are included in the Greek παράκλητος.
But when Christ went away He sent another Paraclete, even the Holy Ghost, who in these three things took Christ’s place. For, 1. He is the Advocate of the faithful, “Who intercedes for us with groanings unutterable” (Rom. 8:26). He likewise is our Exhorter and Consoler. To these two offices Christ here specially refers. As though He said, I, O ye disciples, have taught you until this present; I have called you, and comforted you, and you are very sad on account of My near departure. But lift up your minds and trust. For I will send you another Comforter in My place, who will teach, console, and protect you, not for a little while, but all through your life. The Holy Spirit then is this Paraclete, i.e., 1. An Exhorter, an Inciter, because He stirred up the Apostles to undertake noble works of virtue for the glory of God, that they should preach the Gospel throughout the whole world, not fearing tyrants or tortures, yea, being ambitious of the most dreadful deaths for Christ’s sake. 2. A Consoler, because He would comfort and support them in adversities, distresses, doubts and temptations. For the Holy Spirit is as it were a burning and shining fire, which drives all darkness, fear, and torpor from the mind. As S. Bernard says (Serm. 2, de. Pent.), “Those whom He fills, He makes to be fervent in spirit, and to have knowledge of the truth.” And again, “The Paraclete gives the pledge of salvation, the light of knowledge; and the strength of life,—that what is impossible by nature should be made possible, yea easy, by grace.”
He will give you, O ye Apostles, at the next Pentecost. From hence S. Jerome (Quæs. 9, ad Hedib.) refutes the heresy of Montanus, whom Tertullian followed, who said that long after the Apostles the Holy Ghost first came down upon the heresiarch Montanus, A.D. 220, and therefore that Montanus was the Paraclete promised by Christ.
That He may abide with you for ever. From this promise of Christ it is that the Holy Ghost always abides in the Church, and assists the faithful, so as to be a Comforter in afflictions, and a stirrer-up to heroic works of virtue. S. Augustine proposes the objection, “How shall we keep the commandments, that we may receive Him, when, unless we do possess Him, we cannot keep them?” He answers, “He who loveth hath the Holy Spirit, and by having Him deserves to have more of Him, that by having more of Him, he may love more.”
[17] Spiritum veritatis, quem mundus non potest accipere, quia non videt eum, nec scit eum : vos autem cognoscetis eum, quia apud vos manebit, et in vobis erit.
The spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, nor knoweth him: but you shall know him; because he shall abide with you, and shall be in you.
The Spirit of Truth. Why is the Holy Ghost called the Spirit of Truth?
First, S. Cyril answers, because He is the Spirit of the Son, proceeding by Spiration from the Son, whose special attributes are wisdom and truth, according to the words, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
2. Because the Holy Ghost has declared to the world that Jesus is God, and the Son of God, the Messiah and Saviour. For this was what Christ pressed home, saying, Philip, he that seeth Me, seeth the Father also. And I am in the Father, and the Father in Me. So S. Basil (lib. 2, de Spirit Sanc. c. 18).
3. Euthymius says, He is called the Spirit of Truth, i.e., most true and excellent, as opposed to an angel, the soul, or wind, which are spirits in a sense.
4. Of truth, because He is worthy of credit, says S. Chrysostom.
5. Others say that the Spirit of Truth means that He is the Spirit of the New Testament. For to it was the Holy Ghost reserved, as the Spirit of liberty and love, whereas in the Old Testament He was the Spirit of bondage and fear.
6. And most plainly, the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Truth, because He is the Author of all truth, and the alone Teacher and Giver of pure and perfect truth. He teaches us all truths necessary for salvation, and delivers us from all errors. And so Christ explains this to us, saying in the 16th chapter, “When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He shall teach you all truth.” So too in Isa. 11:2, the same Spirit is called “the Spirit of wisdom and counsel,” &c., because He inspires us with those virtues.
The Spirit of Truth therefore is opposed to the evil spirit of the world, which is false and deceitful. Wherefore Christ adds, whom the world cannot receive. Whence S. Augustine (lib. de grat. Nov. Test.) says that the Holy Ghost is the soul of the Church. “The Holy Spirit is the love and bond of union of the Father and the Son. To Him pertains the Society by which we are made one. A man’s body consists of many members, and one soul animates them all, causing the eye to see, and the ear to hear. So likewise the Holy Ghost contains and animates the members of the Body of Christ which is the Church.”
Whom the world cannot receive, i.e. worldly and carnal men, who gape after earthly desires and vain riches. Such persons cannot receive the Holy Ghost, because He is altogether heavenly, spiritual, and Divine, who teaches us to despise all earthly things as vanity, and to love and embrace heavenly things as true and solid. For as the Apostle says (Rom. 8), “The prudence of the flesh is the enemy of God.” (Vulg.) Whence S. Basil says (lib. de Spir. Sc.), “As in an unpolished mirror the images of things cannot be received nor discerned, so cannot a man receive the illumination of the Holy Ghost, unless he cast away sin and fleshly lusts.”
Because it seeth Him not, &c. Because it hath the eyes of the mind earthly, and blinded by the lusts of the flesh. Wherefore neither doth it know Him, i.e. practically, so as to love and desire Him.
But ye shall know Him, &c. Know, i.e. His power, efficiency, doctrine, holiness. For He by His presence in you shall exercise His Divine power and grace. By which it shall come to pass that ye shall know Him, love Him when known, and long that He may be known to others. It is as the taste of pepper when it is bruised, or as the hidden power of fire in wood, which bursts forth into a mighty conflagration.
Shall abide with you. The Vulg., with S. Augustine and Nonnus, reads μενεῖ in the fut. The Greek with a different accent has μένει, abides. With this agree the Syriac and Theophylact. Listen to S. Bernard (Serm. 20, inter Parv.), “The Holy Ghost proceeds, breathes, inhabits, fills, glorifies. He is said to proceed in two ways, from whence, and whither. From whence? From the Father and the Son. Whither? To the creature. By proceeding He predestinates. By breathing He calls those whom He has predestinated. By inhabiting He justifies those whom He has called. By filling He heaps merits upon those whom He has justified. By glorifying He enriches with rewards those upon whom He has accumulated merits.”
[18] Non relinquam vos orphanos : veniam ad vos.
I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you.
I will not leave you orphans, &c. Forasmuch as Christ called His disciples sons, He now says to them, I will not leave you orphans, i.e. without a Father. Because, although I am going away from you to the Father, I will send you another Comforter in My stead. It is not that going away I will desert you, but that going away I will return, and will come unto you.
Christ did this—
1. And especially, when after the resurrection He appeared to His apostles in bodily presence, and taught them, and made them glad.
2. He did it, when at Pentecost He visibly sent them the Holy Ghost in the appearance of tongues of fire.
3. He did it invisibly, by often spiritually visiting them from heaven, and communicating to them His heavenly gifts. 4. He will do it visibly in the day of judgment when He will make His Apostles assessors with Himself. All this Christ further explains in what follows.
[19] Adhuc modicum, et mundus me jam non videt. Vos autem videtis me : quia ego vivo, et vos vivetis.
Yet a little while: and the world seeth me no more. But you see me: because I live, and you shall live.
Yet a little while. &c. But a short period of life remains to Me, only a few hours, after which I shall die upon the cross, and be withdrawn from this world; but ye shall see Me, because the third day I shall rise from the dead, and show Myself to you. This is the literal meaning.
Tropologically, as the world shall not see Me with the eye of sense, so neither shall it see Me with the eye of the mind, because it will not believe in Me, nor recognise Me as the Messiah.
Anagogically. The world shall not see Me after the day of judgment gloriously reigning in heaven.
Because I live, ye shall live also. Ye shall see Me, because I shall rise from the dead, and live again. Ye also shall live that ye may behold Me living again, that ye may be able to preach My death and resurrection to the whole world. As Theophylact says, When ye shall see Me living again ye shall rejoice, and as though ye had been dead, ye shall live again at My appearing. As Jacob, when he heard that Joseph whom he supposed to be dead was alive, he awoke, as it were out of a deep sleep, and lived again. Christ speaks in the present tense, I live, because He would signify that He would immediately rise again from the dead. As S. Augustine says, “He spoke of Himself as living, in the present, of them as about to live in the future. For His Resurrection was presently to take place, but theirs was to be deferred to the end of the world.”
[20] In illo die vos cognoscetis quia ego sum in Patre meo, et vos in me, et ego in vobis.
In that day you shall know, that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
In that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, &c. After I have risen again, and ascended into heaven, and sent you the Holy Ghost, ye shall by His illumination know these three things more clearly and certainly, viz.,
1. that I am in the Father, by the unity of the Divine Essence, that is to say, that I am true God.
2. That ye may be in Me through Love, through the special guardianship which I have over you. Cyril adds a deeper meaning, “That ye may be in Me through union of substance.” For since I have assumed human flesh, I have united the whole nature of man, and as it were all men to Myself.
3. That I may be in you as inhabiting, illuminating, and directing you to all good, and to everlasting life in heaven by My grace. Wherefore, says the Interlinear, ye shall know that I am in the Father, as a ray of light in the sun, one with Him, and ye in Me as branches in the vine, and I in you, as the vine in a branch, causing (heavenly) sap, and the life of grace to flow into you. S. Hilary adds that Christ is in us in the way of food by participation of the Eucharist.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam
Ad Jesum per Mariam
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