ACC ~ John 12 v45

FROM THE HUMAN TO THE DIVINE

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: [Our Lord] gradually accustoms their minds to penetrate the depth of the mysteries concerning himself, [leading them] not to the human person but to that which was of the divine essence. He does this inasmuch as the Godhead is apprehended completely in the person of God the Father, for he has in himself the Son and the Spirit. With exceeding wisdom he carries them onward, … for he does not exclude himself from being believed on by us because he is God by nature and has shone forth from God the Father. But skillfully (as has been said) he handles the mind of the weak to mold them to godliness in order that you might understand him to say something like this: “When you believe on me—I who, for your sakes, am a man like yourselves, but who also am God by reason of my own nature and because of the Father from whom I exist—do not suppose that it is on a man you are setting your faith. For I am by nature God, notwithstanding that I appear like one of yourselves, and I have within myself him who begat me. Forasmuch therefore as I am consubstantial with him that has begotten me, your faith will assuredly pass on also to the Father himself.” As we said therefore, the Lord, gradually trains them to something better and profitably interweaves the human with what is God-befitting. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 8. [1]

[1] LF 48:162**.

SEEING GOD

CHRYSOSTOM: What then! Is God a body? [1] By no means. The “seeing” of which he here speaks is that of the mind. This demonstrates the consubstantiality. And what does it mean when he says “he that believes on me”? It is as though one should say, “He that takes water from the river does not take it from the river but from the spring that supplies the river.” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 69.1. [2]

[1] Avoiding anthropomorphisms concerning God is a common theme in patristic commentary.

[2] NPNF 1 14:254*.

A GREAT DIFFERENCE AND A PERFECT SIMILARITY

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: [In verse 44], he said, “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me.” He said this because they allege they were prosecuting him in order to avenge God. And so he says in effect, “I refer you to [the Father] because, you see, the one who believes in me is the one who comes to know the Father fully through me.” That is why he said what he did there. On the other hand, “whoever sees me sees him who sent me” seems to contradict what had just been said. The statement in [verse 44] shows the difference between Father and Son, while [verse 45] shows their perfect similarity. Because the first statement showed such great humility, however, he logically concluded the second in order to declare his similarity with the Father. Both statements, however, show that he never stood far apart from the Father. The first he said for the unbelievers. The second was to indicate how precise his likeness was to the Father’s. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 5.12.45. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:249.

APOSTLES ARE SEEN, BUT WE DO NOT BELIEVE IN THEM

AUGUSTINE: There is so little difference between me [i.e., the Son] and him who sent me [i.e., the Father] that he that sees me sees him. Certainly, Christ the Lord sent his apostles … yet none of them dared to say, “He who believes in me.” … We believe an apostle, but we do not believe in an apostle, for it is not an apostle who justifies the ungodly. … An apostle might say, “He who receives me receives him who sent me,” or “He who hears me hears him who sent me,” for the Lord tells them so himself. [1] … For the master is honored in the servant and the father in the son. But then the father is as it were in the son, and the master as it were in the servant. But the Only Begotten could rightly say, “Believe on God, and believe on me,” [2] as what he also says here, “He who believes in me does not believe in me but on him that sent me.” Here he does not deflect the believer’s faith from himself but gives him a higher object than the form of a servant for that faith. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 54.3. [3]

[1] Mt 10:40.

[2] Jn 14:1.

[3] CCL 36:460; NPNF 1 7:296-97**.

BELIEVING AND BEHOLDING

ORIGEN: Notice in the passage before us that there are two aspects about the Savior: first, believing in him, and second, what is above believing, that is, to behold (contemplate) [1] the Word and in beholding the Word to behold the Father. Believing occurs even among the multitude of those who come to religion. [2] But to behold the Word, and in him to regard the Father, does not pertain to all who believe but only to the pure in heart. This is how I understand “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” For it is not the one who applies the power of vision lying in the eyes of the body to Jesus and his body who has seen his Father and God. And I think that time and training were needed in order to see Jesus, and seeing the Son to behold also the Father. [3] …

For one believing on the Son believes not on the Son but on God the Father of all. But one beholding the Word and Wisdom and Truth beholds not this alone but also the Father. And I think that it is in order to show the greatness of the mystery involved first in believing on the Son and secondly in beholding him that it is prefixed, “Jesus cried and said.” For the mystical pronouncement about these things was indeed great. And the Evangelist makes clear elsewhere that it is possible to believe without beholding. [4] FRAGMENT 93 ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN. [5]

[1] Gk theorein.

[2] Gk theosebeia.

[3] See Jn 14:9.

[4] See Jn 8:31-32.

[5] AEG 5:109-10*; GCS 10(4):556-57.