ACC ~ Acts 1 v6 - 7

THE FATHER’S AUTHORITY. CHRYSOSTOM: Without saying anything to him of the Holy Spirit, they put this question, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” They did not ask when, but whether it would be at this time, so eager were they to learn the day. But it seems to me they had no clear notion of the nature of that kingdom, for the Spirit had not yet instructed them. … For their affections were still formed by sensible objects. They had not yet become better than they were before. Thus from now on they had higher conceptions concerning Christ. Therefore, since their minds were elevated, he also speaks to them on a higher level. For he no longer tells them, “Not even the Son knows the day,”but says, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.” … Just as when we see a child crying and stubbornly wishing to take something from us that is not indispensable for him, we hide the thing, show him our empty hands and say, “See, we do not have it.” Likewise Christ acted also towards the apostles. And when the child, even after we have shown him our empty hands, continues to cry, knowing he has been deceived, we leave him with the excuse, “Someone is calling me,” and, in our desire to divert him from his first choice, we give him something else, which we tell him is wonderful, and then we hasten away. This is what Christ also did. The disciples asked to have something, and he said he did not have it. And on the first occasion he frightened them. When they asked a second time, again he said he did not have it, except now he did not frighten them, but, after showing his empty hands, he gave them a plausible reason, that “the Father has set it by his own authority.” HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 2.

RESPECT FOR THE DISCIPLES. CHRYSOSTOM: And this he says, because he was very careful to honor them and to conceal nothing from them. Therefore he refers it to his Father, both to make the matter awesome and to dispel further inquiry on what was said. If this were not the reason, but he is ignorant, when will he know? Will he only know at the same time we do? Who would say this? He knows the Father clearly, just as the Father knows the Son. Is he then ignorant of the day? Furthermore, “the Spirit searches everything, even the depth of God.” But are we to say that he does not even know the time of the judgment? But he knows how he must judge, and he understands the secrets of each. Was he to be ignorant of this, which is much more general? And, if “all things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being,”how was he ignorant of the day? For he who made the ages clearly made the times also, and if the times, then also the day. How, then, is he ignorant of what he made? HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 77.1.

IT IS NOT FOR YOU TO KNOW. BEDE: He was telling them that the time of that kingdom is secret, that it is accessible only to the Father’s knowledge. And, when he said, “It is not for you to know,” he showed them that he himself also knew (since all things are his which are the Father’s), but that it would not be expedient for them, as mortals, to know. Thus, being always uncertain about the coming of the Judge, they should live every day as if the next day they were to be judged. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.7.

KEEPING WATCH. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: “It is not for you to know times or seasons.” He has hidden that from us so that we might keep watch and that each of us might think that this coming would take place during our life. For, if the time of his coming were to be revealed, his coming would be in vain, and it would not have been desired by the nations and the ages in which it was to take place. He has indeed said that he will come, but he did not define when, and thus all generations and ages thirst for him. COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON.

WHY THE SON KNOWS. HILARY OF POITIERS: The Son is not lacking in the knowledge of anything that the Father knows, and the Son is not ignorant, because the Father alone knows, since the Father and the Son remain in the unity of the nature. What the Son, in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden, does not know is in harmony with the divine plan for maintaining silence. The Lord bore testimony to this when he replied to the apostles who had questioned him about the times, “It is not for you to know the times or dates which the Father has fixed by his own authority.”

The knowledge is denied them. Not only is it denied, but they are forbidden to be anxious about the knowledge, since it is not for them to know these times. Naturally, after the resurrection, they now interrogate him about the times, since they had been informed previously when they broached the question, that not even the Son knows, and they could not believe that the Son did not know in the literal meaning of the term, because they again question him as one who does not know. Since they are aware that the mystery of not knowing is according to the divine plan for maintaining silence, they conclude that now, after the resurrection, the time for speaking has at length arrived, and they bring forth their questions.

And the Son does not tell them that he does not know but that it is not for them to know, because the Father has settled this matter by his own authority. Consequently, if the apostles realize that this statement, that the Son does not know, is in keeping with the plan of salvation and is not a weakness, shall we assert that the Son, therefore, does not know the day because he is not God? God the Father has determined it by his own authority, therefore, in order that it may not come to the knowledge of our human comprehension, and the Son, when previously interrogated, had said that he did not know and now he does not make the same reply that he does not know, but that it is not for them to know, and that the Father, however, has decided upon these times not in his knowledge but in his authority. Since the day and moment are included in the idea of time, it is impossible to believe that the day and moment for restoring the kingdom of Israel is unknown to him who is to restore it. But, to lead us to the knowledge of his birth through the Father’s unique power, he answered that it was known to him and, while revealing that the right to acquire this knowledge had not been conferred on them, he declared that this knowledge itself is dependent upon the mystery of the Father’s authority. ON THE TRINITY 9.75.

THE UNITY OF THE GODHEAD. AMBROSE: But neither is the Father deceived nor does the Son deceive. It is the custom of the holy Scriptures to speak thus, as the examples I have already given, and many others testify, so that God feigns not to know what he does know. In this then a unity of Godhead and a unity of character is proved to exist in the Father and in the Son; seeing that, as God the Father hides what is known to him, so also the Son, who is the image of God in this respect, hides what is known to him. ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 5.17.218.

KNOWLEDGE OF THE KINGDOM. BASIL THE GREAT: That is to say, the knowledge of such a kingdom is not for them that are bound in flesh and blood. This contemplation the Father has put away in his own power, meaning by “power” those that are authorized, and by “his own” those who are not held down by the ignorance of things below. LETTER 8.7.

THE TRINITY POSSESSES UNFAILING KNOWLEDGE. CASSIODORUS: People did not realize what they should not know, and the Son of God was not in any sense unaware of this through weakness of the flesh. But if we were to suspect that the divine Majesty cloaked ignorance (a thing it would be irreverent to say), then that ignorance would be found stronger than the divine nature, and could—to speak foolishness—bring down the providence by which all things were created. But since we are taught that this is quite ridiculous, we must believe that the whole Trinity, whose nature is one and all-powerful, has always an unfailing knowledge of all things. EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 9.39.

Acts