ACC ~ John 12 v37 - 43

OVERVIEW:

Isaiah had foretold the glory of Christ and the opposition of the Jews (EUSEBIUS, THEODORE), who he said were incurable in their unbelief (CHRYSOSTOM). More specifically, the arm of the Lord, of which Isaiah spoke, is the Son of God by whom all things were made (AUGUSTINE). But is God, then, the cause of their unbelief since he has blinded them (AUGUSTINE)? Or is it rather that because they willed not to believe, they could not believe (CHRYSOSTOM)? It is true that when God blinds and hardens, he does so in righteousness by withdrawing his help through a judgment that is hidden (AUGUSTINE). It is also true that Israel had blinded itself in its pride (AUGUSTINE), and that God also allows an evil people to be blinded by the devil (TERTULLIAN, CYRIL). When the prophet Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on his Father’s throne in divine glory, he first foretold his coming and then how his knowledge and praise would be over all the earth (EUSEBIUS). Those who came to believe in Jesus did indeed grow in faith, which Jesus seeks to confirm in his words of deference to the Father that follow (THEODORE). But the love of human praise in these leaders made them slaves to human opinion (CHRYSOSTOM).

12:37 | The Leaders Did Not Believe in Jesus

THE OPPOSITION OF THE JEWS

EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: Here he expressly foretells the opposition of the Jews to him and how they will see him and not understand who he is. He foretells how they will hear him speaking and teaching them but will be quite unable to grasp who it is that speaks with them or the new teaching he offers them. And John the Evangelist witnesses to the fulfillment of these words referring to our Savior where he says, “Though he had done so many signs before them, yet they believed not on him, that Isaiah the prophet’s words might be fulfilled which he spoke, ‘Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’ Therefore they were not able to believe, because again Isaiah said, ‘He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they should not see with their eyes, and understand with their heart and be converted, and I should heal them.’ [1] Isaiah said these things when he saw his glory and bore witness of him.” Thus the Evangelist most certainly referred the theophany in Isaiah to Christ and to the Jews who did not receive the Lord that was seen by the prophet, according to the prediction about him. PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 7.1. [2]

[1] See Is 6:10.

[2] POG 2:51-52*.

12:38 | The Prophecy of Isaiah Fulfilled

ISAIAH SAW THE GLORY

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: What did he see? In the spiritual vision, in the revelation of divine nature, which is incomprehensible, Isaiah saw the glory that, since it is common to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Scripture cannot establish precisely whether it is the glory of the Son or the Holy Spirit, and therefore neither the Evangelist nor the apostle [1] are in contradiction by saying that it is the glory of the Son or of the Holy Spirit. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 12.38-41. [2]

[1] Acts 28:25-26.

[2] CSCO 4 3:248.

ISAIAH PROPHESIED THEY WERE INCURABLE

CHRYSOSTOM: Here again observe that the words “because” and “spoke” refer not to the cause of their unbelief but to the event. For it was not “because” Isaiah spoke that they did not believe. Rather, it was because they were not about to believe, which is why [Isaiah] spoke. Why then doesn’t the Evangelist express it this way instead of making the unbelief proceed from the prophecy, not the prophecy from the unbelief? And further on he puts this very thing more emphatically, saying, “Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah had said.” He wants to establish by many proofs the unerring truth of Scripture, and that what Isaiah foretold happened in no other way than what he said would happen. For in case anyone should say, “Why did Christ come? Didn’t he know that they would not listen to him?” he introduces the prophets, who knew this also. But he came that they might have no excuse for their sin. For what the prophet foretold, he foretold that it would certainly happen. If they were not most certainly going to happen, he could not have foretold them. And they were certainly going to happen because these people were incurable. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 68.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:252**.

THE ARM OF THE LORD IS THE SON OF GOD

AUGUSTINE: It is evident here that the arm of the Lord is the Son of God himself. Not that the Father has a human fleshly form. He is called the arm of the Lord because all things were made by him. … If someone had power like this so that, without any motion of his body, what he said was then done, the word of that person would be his arm. … There is no ground here to justify, however, the error of those who say that the Godhead is one person only, because the Son is the arm of the Father, and a person and his arm are not two persons, but one. These people do not understand that the most common things are required to be explained often by applying language to them taken from other things in which there happens to be a likeness. … But some mutter and ask, What fault was it of the Jews if it was necessary that the sayings of Isaiah should be fulfilled when he said, “Lord, who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” [1] We answer that God, foreseeing the future, predicted by the prophet the unbelief of the Jews, but did not cause it. God does not compel people to sin, because he knows they will sin. He foreknows their sins, not his own. … The Jews committed the sin that he who knows all things foretold they would commit. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 53.2-4. [2]

[1] Is 53:1.

[2] NPNF 1 7:291-92**; CCL 36:452-53.

12:39 | Therefore They Could Not Believe

BECAUSE THEY WOULD NOT, THEY CANNOT BELIEVE

CHRYSOSTOM: And if, “on account of this, they could not [believe]” [1] is put instead of “they were not willing [to believe],” do not be surprised. … He does not say that it is the doing of virtue that is impossible for them, but that because they would not practice virtue therefore they cannot practice it. And by what he says, the Evangelist means that it was impossible for the prophet to lie. And yet, this was not the reason why it was impossible for them to believe. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 68.2. [2]

[1] Gk dia touto ouk ēdynanto pisteuein.

[2] NPNF 1 14:252**.

IS GOD THE CAUSE OF UNBELIEF?

AUGUSTINE: But the words of the Gospel also that follow are still more pressing and start a question of more profound import. For he goes on to say, “Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again, ‘He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart so that they should not see with their eyes or understand with their heart and be converted, and I should heal them.’” For it is almost as if he said, If they could not believe, what sin is it in a person not to do what he cannot do? And if they sinned in not believing, then they had the power to believe and did not use it. If, then, they had the power, how does the Gospel say, “Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again, ‘he has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart,’” so that (and this is very important) to God himself is referred the cause of their not believing, inasmuch as it is he who “has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart”? TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 53.5. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:292*; CCL 36:454.

MERCY AND RIGHTEOUSNESS

AUGUSTINE: But the prophet, you say, assigns another cause than that of their will. What cause does the prophet assign? That “God has given them the spirit of remorse, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear. And has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart.” This also, I reply, their will deserved. For God thus blinds and hardens, simply by letting alone and withdrawing his aid. And God can do this by a judgment that is hidden, although not by one that is unrighteous. This is a doctrine that the piety of the God-fearing ought to preserve unshaken and inviolable in all its integrity: even as the apostle, when treating of the same intricate question, says, “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.” [1] If, then, we must be far from thinking that there is unrighteousness with God, this only can it be, that, when he gives his aid, he acts mercifully. And when he withholds it, he acts righteously. For in all he does, he does not act rashly but in accordance with judgment. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 53.6. [2]

[1] Rom 9:14.

[2] NPNF 1 7:293*; CCL 36:454-55.

BLINDED BY PRIDE

AUGUSTINE: It is no wonder, then, that they could not believe when such was their pride of will, that, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, they wished to establish their own [righteousness]. As the apostle says of them, “They have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.” [1] For it was not by faith, but as it were by works, that they were puffed up. And blinded by this very self-elation, they stumbled against the stone of stumbling. And so it is said, “They could not,” by which we are to understand that they would not. This is the same as when it was said of the Lord our God, “If we do not believe, yet he remains faithful, he cannot deny himself.” [2] It is said of the Omnipotent, “He cannot.” And so, just as it is a commendation of the divine will that the Lord “cannot deny himself,” that they “could not believe” is a fault chargeable against the will of humankind.

See, I also say, that those who have such lofty ideas of themselves as to suppose that so much must be attributed to the powers of their own will, that they deny their need of the divine assistance in order to attain to a righteous life, cannot believe on Christ. For the mere syllables of Christ’s name and the Christian sacraments are of no profit where faith in Christ is itself resisted. For faith in Christ is to believe in him that justifies the ungodly. [3] It means to believe in the Mediator, without whose intervention we cannot be reconciled to God. It means to believe in the Savior who came to seek and to save that which was lost, [4] to believe in him who said, “Without me you can do nothing.” [5] Because, then—being ignorant of that righteousness of God that justifies the ungodly—he wishes to set up his own [righteousness] to satisfy the minds of the proud, such a person cannot believe on Christ. And so, those Jews “could not believe” [so to speak,] not that people cannot be changed for the better. But so long as their ideas run in such a direction, they cannot believe. And so they are blinded and hardened. For, denying the need of divine assistance, they are not assisted. God foreknew this regarding these Jews who were blinded and hardened, and the prophet by his Spirit foretold it. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 53.9-10. [6]

[1] Rom 10:3.

[2] 2 Tim 2:13.

[3] See Rom 4:5.

[4] See Lk 19:10.

[5] Jn 15:5.

[6] NPNF 1 7:294*; CCL 36:456.

12:40 | Blinded Eyes and Hardened Hearts

WE DESERT GOD AND CAUSE OUR OWN DESTRUCTION

CHRYSOSTOM: Just as the sun blinds the eyes of the weak … this is also what happens to those who do not listen to the words of God. As so, in the case of Pharaoh, he is said to have hardened his heart, [1] and so it is with those who are at all contentious against the words of God. This is a peculiar mode of speech of Scripture, as in, “He gave them over to a reprobate mind,” [2] … that is, he allowed or permitted them to go. For the writer does not here introduce God as himself doing these things but shows that they took place through the wickedness of others. For when we are abandoned by God, we are given up to the devil. … It is to terrify the hearer that the writer says “he hardens” and “he gave over.” For to show that he does not give us over or even leave us unless we want him to, listen to what he says, “Isn’t it your iniquities that separate me and you.” [3] … Isaiah also says, “I came, and there was no one; I called, and there was none who listened.” [4] He says these things, showing that we begin the desertion and become the causes of our destruction. For God not only desires not to leave or to punish us, but even when he punishes, he does it unwillingly. “I desire not,” he says, “the death of the sinner but that he should turn and live.” [5] … Knowing this, let us do everything we can so as not to remove ourselves from God. Let us instead be concerned about the care of our souls and about our love toward one another. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 68.2-3. [6]

[1] See Ex 10:1.

[2] Rom 1:28.

[3] Is 59:2 LXX. He also cites Ps 73:27 (72:27 LXX); Hos 4:6 LXX; Lk 13:34.

[4] Is 50:2 LXX.

[5] Ezek 18:32 LXX.

[6] NPNF 1 14:253**.

BLINDED BY THE DEVIL

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: In this instance the prophet Isaiah is not quoted as saying that “God” blinded the people.” [1] However, it is likely that someone else did the blinding in order that the Jews should not convert and find healing. But, even though we should accept the supposition that God blinded them, it must be understood that God allowed them to suffer blinding at the hands of the devil as a result of their evil character. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 8. [2]

[1] See Is 6:9.

[2] LF 48:161**.

12:41 | Isaiah Saw God’s Glory

THE PROPHET’S WITNESS OF GOD’S GLORY

EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: In approaching the account of his coming to humanity, the prophecy before us tells first of his divine kingdom, in which it says that the prophet saw him sitting on a throne high and exalted. This is that throne that is mentioned in the psalm of the Beloved. [1] … John the Evangelist supports my interpretation of this passage, when he quotes the words of Isaiah, where it is said, “For this people’s heart has become fat, and their ears are dull of hearing, and they have closed their eyes,” [2] referring them to Christ, saying, “This is what Isaiah said when he saw his glory and bore witness of him.” The prophet then seeing our Savior sitting on his Father’s throne in the divine and glorious kingdom, and moved by the Holy Spirit and being about to describe next his coming among humanity and his birth of a Virgin, foretells that his knowledge and praise would be over all the earth. PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 7.1. [3]

[1] Ps 110:1 (109:1 LXX).

[2] Is 6:10 (LXX).

[3] POG 2:49-50*.

12:42 | Many Believed

JESUS SEEKS TO CONFIRM THEIR FAITH

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Then the Evangelist said that many among the authorities who believed in him hid their opinion about him because of the Pharisees, because they feared they might lose their privileges and because they valued the glory of people more than the glory of God. What did our Lord say? While some believed, others did not even accept the accomplished miracles, others only came to know the truth through the miracles but hid their opinion because of their fear of the Pharisees as they pursued human glory. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 5.12.44. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:248-49.

12:43 | Praise of People

NOT RULERS BUT SLAVES TO PRAISE

CHRYSOSTOM: See how these men were broken off from the faith through their love of honor. It says that many of the chief rulers believed on him, “but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the synagogue.” … So then, they were not really rulers at all but slaves subject to the utmost slavery [of human opinion]. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 69.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:254**.