St John Chapter v : Verses 39-47
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| For if you did believe Moses, you would perhaps believe me also. J-J Tissot, Jewish Museum, New York. |
40 And you will not come to me that you may have life.
41 I receive glory not from men.
42 But I know you, that you have not the love of God in you.
43 I am come in the name of my Father, and you receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive.
44 How can you believe, who receive glory one from another: and the glory which is from God alone, you do not seek?
45 Think not that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you, Moses, in whom you trust.
46 For if you did believe Moses, you would perhaps believe me also; for he wrote of me.
47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?
39 Ἐραυνᾶτε τὰς γραφάς, ὅτι ὑμεῖς δοκεῖτε ἐν αὐταῖς ζωὴν αἰώνιον ἔχειν· καὶ ἐκεῖναί εἰσιν αἱ μαρτυροῦσαι περὶ ἐμοῦ·
39 Scrutamini Scripturas, quia vos putatis in ipsis vitam aeternam habere : et illae sunt quae testimonium perhibent de me :
40 καὶ οὐ θέλετε ἐλθεῖν πρός με ἵνα ζωὴν ἔχητε.
40 et non vultis venire ad me ut vitam habeatis.
41 δόξαν παρὰ ἀνθρώπων οὐ λαμβάνω,
41 Claritatem ab hominibus non accipio.
42 ἀλλὰ ἔγνωκα ὑμᾶς ὅτι τὴν ἀγάπην τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἔχετε ἐν ἑαυτοῖς.
42 Sed cognovi vos, quia dilectionem Dei non habetis in vobis.
43 ἐγὼ ἐλήλυθα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ πατρός μου καὶ οὐ λαμβάνετέ με· ἐὰν ἄλλος ἔλθῃ ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τῷ ἰδίῳ, ἐκεῖνον λήμψεσθε.
43 Ego veni in nomine Patris mei, et non accipitis me; si alius venerit in nomine suo, illum accipietis.
44 πῶς δύνασθε ὑμεῖς πιστεῦσαι, δόξαν παρ’ ἀλλήλων λαμβάνοντες, καὶ τὴν δόξαν τὴν παρὰ τοῦ μόνου θεοῦ οὐ ζητεῖτε;
44 Quomodo vos potestis credere, qui gloriam ab invicem accipitis, et gloriam quae a solo Deo est, non quaeritis?
45 μὴ δοκεῖτε ὅτι ἐγὼ κατηγορήσω ὑμῶν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα· ἔστιν ὁ κατηγορῶν ὑμῶν Μωϋσῆς, εἰς ὃν ὑμεῖς ἠλπίκατε.
45 Nolite putare quia ego accusaturus sim vos apud Patrem : est qui accusat vos Moyses, in quo vos speratis.
46 εἰ γὰρ ἐπιστεύετε Μωϋσεῖ, ἐπιστεύετε ἂν ἐμοί, περὶ γὰρ ἐμοῦ ἐκεῖνος ἔγραψεν.
46 Si enim crederetis Moysi, crederetis forsitan et mihi : de me enim ille scripsit.
47 εἰ δὲ τοῖς ἐκείνου γράμμασιν οὐ πιστεύετε, πῶς τοῖς ἐμοῖς ῥήμασιν πιστεύσετε;
47 Si autem illius litteris non creditis, quomodo verbis meis credetis?
Annotations
39. Search the scriptures, for you think in them to have life everlasting; and the same are they that give testimony of me. The word for Search in Greek, as well as Latin, may be taken either in the indicative, or the imperative mood. Cyril takes it in the indicative: “Ye, O ye scribes, assiduously turn and search the Scriptures which bear testimony concerning Me, but ye do not care to understand them, because ye will not come unto Me.” But SS. Augustine and Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius, and others, take it in the imperative: “Search ye the Scriptures, and in them ye will find God the Father bearing witness to Me.”
Moreover, by the word Search, Christ, says S. Chrysostom, pressed upon the Jews not merely the bare reading of the Scriptures, but a thorough and diligent examination of them. He did not say, Read the Scriptures, but Search them. Dig out the hidden treasures which they contain concerning Me and Divine things, just as those who search for veins of gold and silver dig in the earth to find them. Thus the Beræans to whom Paul preached (Acts xvii) searched the Scriptures, with a sincere desire to know nothing but the truth. Therefore in the Scriptures they found Christ whom Paul preached to them.
Because in them, i.e., in understanding and believing them, you think, &c. Because if any one believes and does what the Scriptures bid him, he will attain eternal life. From this it is plain that most of the Jews, and especially the Pharisees, believed in the immortality of the soul, and in an existence after death, in which God would give eternal life to the just, and death eternal to the unjust.
and (Vulg.), i.e., because, for the Hebrew vau, or and often has a causative force, meaning because, for Christ now gives the reason why He said, Search the Scriptures: because they are they which testify of Me. Many parts do this literally, many more in an allegorical and mystical sense. For the end of the law is Christ (Rom. x. 4). And as S. Peter says, “To him all the prophets give testimony, that by his name all receive remission of sins, who believe in him.” (Acts x. 43). Let therefore the reader of Holy Scripture, but especially interpreters, doctors, and preachers search the Scriptures, and they will find Christ in them all, either openly revealed, or else veiled in shadows and figures.
40. And [yet] you will not come to me that you may have life. “Ye do not wish to cleave to Me, to believe in Me, to receive My doctrine and My law.”
41. I receive glory not from men, Greek, δόξαν, i.e., glory, from men. There is an anticipation, “Ye, O ye Scribes, suspect, and object that I preach such great things of Myself, and so carefully endeavour to prove My dignity and authority out of the desire of vain glory, that I may catch the breeze of popularity, being desirous of being taken to be the Son of God. I answer that I do not preach these things about Myself in order that I may get glory from men, but for your own sakes, that I may save you. For I am even athirst for your salvation. For I know that no one can be saved, and possess eternal life, but by Me, whom God has appointed the Saviour of the world.” So S. Cyril.
42. But I know you, that you have not the love of God in you. “I know and penetrate the inmost recesses of your hearts (for I, being God, am the Searcher of hearts), and I see in them nothing of Divine love, but that they are full of ambition, avarice, and pride. And this is the reason why ye will not receive those clear testimonies which I bring forward in My favour. The root from whence your unbelief and obstinacy spring is not ambition of glory in Me, but your own lack of charity. For if ye truly loved God, ye would indeed acknowledge that I have been sent by Him, and am clearly described in the Scriptures.” Thus even now the cause of heresy in many is a vitiated love, because indeed many love the liberty of the flesh which heresy teaches, and do not love God, who forbids it.
Cyril connects this verse with what precedes, thus,—“I have not proclaimed these great things about Myself for the sake of glory, that I may gain human praise, but that ye may learn (as I know) that the love of God is not in you, deprived of which, how can ye come to Me who am the Son of God?”
Differently also Maldonatus and Toletus: “I preach that I am Messiah, and the Son of God, not because I seek the vain glory of men, but because I know that ye have not that love of God which leads to eternal life, so that I may lead you to this love by faith, by which ye may believe in Me.”
43. I am come in the name of my Father, and you receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive.
in the name of my Father, as the Son sent by God the Father, that by His authority I may fulfil those things which He has promised to you concerning Messiah, to His alone praise and glory, so that through Him there may be showered upon you the knowledge of God, grace, salvation, and eternal life. This I have clearly proved to you by the many testimonies which the Father hath given Me. Yet ye do not receive Me, but treat Me as a false prophet. Wherefore by the just judgment of God it shall come to pass, that if another, who is really a false prophet, shall come to you, one who is not sent by God, but who shall come in his own name, i.e., in his own authority, falsely boasting himself to be the Messiah, such an one ye will receive. Another therefore will be that Antichrist whom the Jews will receive, though they rejected Christ. To this apply the words of Paul (2 Thes. ii. 10), “And in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Therefore God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying.” So SS. Chrysostom, Cyril, Augustine, and the ancient writers, passim. Again, another may mean any false prophet, pretending to be Christ, and therefore a forerunner of Antichrist, like that Egyptian, shortly after the time of Christ, who led thousands of men to destruction (see Jos. Bell. Jud. lib. 2, c. 12).
44. How can you believe, who receive glory one from another: and the glory which is from God alone, you do not seek? “Ye love human glory, brief and poor: wherefore ye contemn Me, who despise human glory, and teach that it ought to be contemned; and that the Divine and eternal glory ought to be aimed at, which God will begin in the saints on earth, and bring to perfection in Heaven.”
45. Think not that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuseth you, Moses, in whom you trust. Listen to Cyril, “He declares that there was no need of any other accuser, for that although all others were silent, the law of Moses by itself was sufficient for the condemnation of the Jews who did not believe in Him.” He names Moses because the Jews placed all their faith and trust in him. As they said, “They reviled him therefore, and said: Be thou his disciple; but we are the disciples of Moses.” (John ix. 28).
46. For if you did believe Moses, you would perhaps believe me also; for he wrote of me.
perhaps; so the Vulgate often translates the Greek, ἄν: but it is here used in the sense of assuredly. It is an expression of confirmation, not of doubt. “Assuredly ye would have believed Me.” Hence some copies omit the word perchance.
for he wrote of me: both in Leviticus, and the whole Pentateuch; for all his ceremonies and narrations prefigured Me. Also he clearly and expressly wrote of Me (Deut. xviii. 15, 18), saying, “The Lord thy God will raise up to thee a PROPHET of thy nation and of thy brethren like unto me: him thou shalt hear: I will raise them up a prophet out of the midst of their brethren like to thee: and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him.”
Again Moses wrote of Christ (Gen. xlix.10), when he speaks of the time at which Messiah was to come. “The sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the expectation of nations.” (Vulg.)
For already the sceptre had failed from Jacob, and had been transferred to Herod. Therefore it was the time of Messiah’s Advent.
47. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? This is an argument ad hominem. For the Jews preferred Moses to Christ. Wherefore He rightly reasons against them thus: “If ye do not believe the writings of Moses (of whom ye make the highest account) which he wrote concerning Me, far less will ye believe My own words. In vain therefore do I bring so many testimonies, since I see you confirmed and obstinate in your hatred and rebellion against Me. Therefore I conclude My discourse. I will keep silence and depart.’
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SUB tuum præsidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genitrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta. Amen.
The Vladimirskaya Icon. >12th century.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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