ACC ~ John 12 v38

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.