ACC ~ John 12 v39

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.