St John Chapter vi : Verses 36-43
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| Every one who seeth the Son, and believeth in him, may have life everlasting. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
37 All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will not cast out.
38 Because I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me.
39 Now this is the will of the Father who sent me: that of all that he hath given me, I should lose nothing; but should raise it up again in the last day.
40 And this is the will of my Father that sent me: that every one who seeth the Son, and believeth in him, may have life everlasting, and I will raise him up in the last day.
41 The Jews therefore murmured at him, because he had said: I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
42 And they said: Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then saith he, I came down from heaven?
43 Jesus therefore answered, and said to them: Murmur not among yourselves.
36 ἀλλ’ εἶπον ὑμῖν ὅτι καὶ ἑωράκατέ με καὶ οὐ πιστεύετε.
36 Sed dixi vobis quia et vidistis me, et non creditis.
37 πᾶν ὃ δίδωσίν μοι ὁ πατὴρ πρὸς ἐμὲ ἥξει, καὶ τὸν ἐρχόμενον πρός ⸀με οὐ μὴ ἐκβάλω ἔξω,
37 Omne quod dat mihi Pater, ad me veniet : et eum qui venit ad me, non ejiciam foras :
38 ὅτι καταβέβηκα ⸀ἀπὸ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ οὐχ ἵνα ποιῶ τὸ θέλημα τὸ ἐμὸν ἀλλὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πέμψαντός με·
38 quia descendi de caelo, non ut faciam voluntatem meam, sed voluntatem ejus qui misit me.
39 τοῦτο δέ ἐστιν τὸ θέλημα τοῦ πέμψαντός ⸀με ἵνα πᾶν ὃ δέδωκέν μοι μὴ ἀπολέσω ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἀλλὰ ἀναστήσω ⸀αὐτὸ τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ.
39 Haec est autem voluntas ejus qui misit me, Patris : ut omne quod dedit mihi, non perdam ex eo, sed resuscitem illud in novissimo die.
40 τοῦτο ⸀γάρ ἐστιν τὸ θέλημα τοῦ ⸂πατρός μου⸃ ἵνα πᾶς ὁ θεωρῶν τὸν υἱὸν καὶ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον, καὶ ἀναστήσω αὐτὸν ⸀ἐγὼ τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ.
40 Haec est autem voluntas Patris mei, qui misit me : ut omnis qui videt Filium et credit in eum, habeat vitam aeternam, et ego resuscitabo eum in novissimo die.
41 Ἐγόγγυζον οὖν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι περὶ αὐτοῦ ὅτι εἶπεν· Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος ὁ καταβὰς ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ,
41 Murmurabant ergo Judaei de illo, quia dixisset : Ego sum panis vivus, qui de caelo descendi,
42 καὶ ἔλεγον· ⸀Οὐχ οὗτός ἐστιν Ἰησοῦς ὁ υἱὸς Ἰωσήφ, οὗ ἡμεῖς οἴδαμεν τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν μητέρα; πῶς ⸀νῦν ⸀λέγει ὅτι Ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβέβηκα;
42 et dicebant : Nonne hic est Jesus filius Joseph, cujus nos novimus patrem et matrem? quomodo ergo dicit hic : Quia de caelo descendi?
43 ⸀ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· Μὴ γογγύζετε μετ’ ἀλλήλων.
43 Respondit ergo Jesus, et dixit eis : Nolite murmurare in invicem :
Annotations
36. But I said unto you, that you also have seen me, and you believe not.
said, elsewhere, even if it had been nowhere recorded by S. John. So S. Chrysostom and others. Again said, i.e., sufficiently, and more than sufficiently, I have shown and proved to you, because ye have seen, i.e., have known, i.e., by the many signs and miracles which I have wrought, ye could and ought to have known Me. And yet through the obstinacy of your minds ye do not believe in Me. For (c. 5 v. 3, &c.) He at length confutes the Jews, because though they had seen so many signs they did not believe in Him. As Euthymius says, “Ye have seen Me, or ye have known who I am, both from the witness of John, and the miracles which I have wrought, and the witness of the Scriptures which I have unfolded to you; but voluntarily doing evil ye believe not.”
37. All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will not cast out. There is an anticipation, thus, “Ye will object against Me, ‘If Thou knewest that we would not believe Thy preaching, why dost thou preach to us?’ I reply, ‘Because there are some of you who will believe in Me, namely those whom the Father hath chosen, and hath given Me to be My disciples and children.’ ” By this He tacitly intimates that most of the Jews on account of their incredulity had not been given to Him, nor elected to the Faith by God, but that in their stead God had elected many others, especially of the Gentiles. Wherefore He saith, every thing, in the neuter gender, which the Father giveth Me, not the masculine, the rather to express the universality of all nations. All that the Father giveth to me (omne), i.e., all of every nation, every race, every age and sex, on whom the Father breathes the spirit of faith, that they may of their own free will believe in Me, these by faith shall come to Me, and become Christians and my disciples. Wherefore I will not repel them from Me, nor banish them from My house, i.e., my Church: but you, O ye unbelieving and rebellious Jews, I do repel from Me and My Church, and will banish you to hell: but those I will lovingly embrace, and take with Me to the Church triumphant in heaven.
Observe: when Christ here smites backward and terrifies the unbelieving and captious Jews, He rises to the secret will and predestination of God. For He means to teach that the faith which they lacked was God’s gift. The Father therefore gives unto Christ the faithful from eternity by predestinating, and in time by calling them to the faith, after this manner and plan, that being called freely by God, they obey the call, and believe, and so come unto Christ. For this is the actual cause of faith, or why any one here and now in act believes in Christ. This cause, I say, is the grace of God stirring a man up to believe, when man of his own free will consents to the grace of God, and believes. Therefore the Father giveth us to Christ when by His prevenient and co-operating grace He causes us to be converted in act, and freely to believe in Christ. For as He here says Himself, every one who by the Father is given to Christ does in reality come to Christ. So SS. Augustine, Cyril and others.
Observe: Christ here speaks properly concerning predestination to faith and grace, not to glory, just as Paul does. There is an allusion to Ps. ii. 8. “Ask of me, and I will give thee the Gentiles for thy inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.” Wherefore Christ speaks in the future tense shall come to Me, to intimate that the Gentiles by the preaching of the apostles would come to Him. Hear Cyril; “He signifies that the Gentiles were already about to come; and He threatens the loss of grace which the Jews were about to experience.”
Moreover God the Father gives believers to Christ, because He merited this by His obedience and Passion. For the merits of Christ are the cause not only of the calling in time, but even of the eternal predestination of the faithful. For God on account of the foreseen merits of Christ predestined and chose the faithful, as Paul teaches (Eph.i. 4-5), saying, “As he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and unspotted in his sight in charity. Who hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children through Jesus Christ unto himself: according to the purpose of his will:”
I will not cast out.: I will not drive him from Me, from My Church, My heaven, but with great care I will cherish him. There is an allusion to a host, who receives to His hospitality well disposed travellers and friends. As Euthymius says, “Here I will not cast him away from My friendship, nor there from the heavenly kingdom.” And Cyril says, “He shall not be disappointed, nor with shame cast out, neither shall he be deprived of my kindness, but he shall be stored in My garner, and shall rest in the heavenly mansions, and shall come whither the mind of man hath not even conceived.”
Observe: SS. Chrysostom and Cyril (lib. 3, c. 39) say that they who are given by the Father to the Son are those who by a good use of their free-will have rendered themselves worthy the vocation and grace of God. Pelagius afterwards crudely taking up this teaching, denied the necessity of grace, saying that free-will was sufficient for him to do good works. But this is an error which S. Augustine confutes. “To believe,” he says, “is of the grace of God; to be able to believe, of nature.” Wherefore Christ Himself here and elsewhere teaches that all indeed are able to believe, do good works, and be saved, because free-will in all is capable of receiving the grace of God, and often does receive from God grace sufficient for salvation: and yet that only those in act believe and are saved, to whom God gives efficacious or congruous grace, such indeed as He foresees will persuade free-will so that it will co-operate with Himself. On this more is said (ver. 44).
38. Because I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. Christ gives the reason why He will not cast out him whom the Father hath given Him, viz., because He Himself came in flesh, and into the world, for this end alone, that He might do the Father’s will, which is, that those whom the Father will to give to Him, and to save, Christ should accept and save. This is why He adds in explanation, And this is the will of my Father. Listen to S. Cyril in the Council of Ephesus, profoundly handling these things. “When He adds that He was accomplishing not His own, but His Father’s will, He quells indirectly the madness of the Jews, who were always labouring to bring about their own will, and holding cheap the Divine laws, and making of no value what was pleasing to their Lord—whilst, I say, He here openly commends their prompt profession of obedience, He nevertheless darkly rebukes their rebellion.”
39. Now this is the will of the Father who sent me: that of all that he hath given me, I should lose nothing; but should raise it up again in the last day.
all, i.e., all altogether, of every nation, rank, age, or sex, as I have said, verse 37. I will not cast out. (perdam), i.e., I will not suffer to perish. He explains what He had said, I will not cast out. This He expounds and completes by adding, but raise it up again in the last day, i.e., at the day of judgment, that I may admit (my servant) into heaven, and there bless him with immortality and glory both of body and soul for ever. Then indeed shall come to an end the motion of the heavens, and by consequence time, which is the measuring of their motion, shall cease. Wherefore then shall be the stay and the end of all days and months and years.
40. And this is the will of my Father that sent me: that every one who seeth the Son, and believeth in him, may have life everlasting, and I will raise him up in the last day.
every one who seeth, Greek, θεωρῶν, i.e., who considers and contemplates the Son, seeing Him with the eyes not of the body, but of the mind, i.e., believing in Him, and obeying Him. Lactantius (lib. 7, c. 9) observes out of Trismegistus that the word θεωρῶν especially applied to Divine things.
and I will raise him up in the last day: the Greek ἀναστήσω may be translated either by the future indicative, I will raise; or by the aorist conjunctive, that I may raise (as the Vulgate has it in ver. 39). Christ teaches the Resurrection because “the hope of Christians is the resurrection of the dead,” as Tertullian says. Hear S. Chrysostom (Hom. 46): “Everywhere He makes mention of life: for we are drawn by the desire of it, and there is nothing sweeter than not to die. In the Old Testament, indeed, long life and many days were promised: but now is promised not merely a long life, but endless life. At the same time also He wishes to show that He now revokes the punishment produced by sin, by remitting the sentence of death, and bringing in eternal life, contrary to the decree of the former times.”
41.-42, The Jews therefore murmured at him, because he had said: I am the living bread which came down from heaven. And they said: Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then saith he, I came down from heaven? Murmuring at benefits, says Cyril, is a sort of ancestral inheritance with the Jews, coming down from their fathers under Moses to Christ. Theophylact gives the cause of the murmuring, “Up to this point they thought He was speaking of material bread, and listened to Him cheerfully, but now when He revealed to them that He was speaking to them of spiritual bread, they despised Him, and murmured.” They did not understand how Christ was Living Bread, and how He had descended from heaven, and how they might eat Him, for they craved for something for their throats.
43. Jesus therefore answered, and said to them: Murmur not among yourselves (Vulg. in invicem). It is intimated that some were for Him, and others against Him: and through some attacking Him, and others defending Him, they murmured among themselves.
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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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