ACC ~ John 14 v30

THE IDENTITY OF THE RULER

ORIGEN: Also mentioned is a prince of this world, but it is not yet clear whether this is the devil himself or someone else. [1] There are also certain princes of this world spoken of as possessing a kind of wisdom that will come to nothing. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 1.5.2. [2]

[1] 1 Cor 2:6.

[2] ANF 4:257**; GCS 2(5):70.

THE RULERS OF THIS AGE

AMBROSIASTER: The rulers of this age are not to be understood as merely people of the Jews and Romans but also those princes and powers referred to above, [1] to whom this saying pertains and against whom is our struggle. … The rulers of this age crucified the Lord of majesty through their ignorance. For how can the rulers of this age be understood as the rulers of the Jews who were subject to the Roman Empire? COMMENTARY ON 1 CORINTHIANS 2.8.1-2. [2]

[1] See Rom 8:38.

[2] CSEL 81 2:24-25.

CHRIST LEAVES NO TRAIL OF SIN

HIPPOLYTUS: As a serpent cannot leave a trail on a rock, so the devil could not find sin in the body of Christ. For the Lord says, “Behold, the prince of this world comes and will find nothing in me.” For as a ship, sailing in the sea, leaves no traces of her way behind it, so neither does the church, which is situated in the world as in a sea, leave its hope on the earth, because it has its life reserved in heaven. And as [the church] holds its way here only for a short time, it is not possible to trace out its course. FRAGMENTS ON PROVERBS 22-23. [1]

[1] ANF 5:174; GCS 1 2:165.

THERE IS NO FAULT IN JESUS THAT SATAN CAN EXPLOIT

AUGUSTINE: Why be surprised that Christ died, although Christ committed no sin whatever? He wanted to pay back for you what he did not owe himself, in order to deliver you from debt. The devil, having taken in the human race, was in possession of it by right. He possessed what he had taken; he had taken what he had taken in. Christ brought along in his mortal flesh his blood to be shed, with which to cancel the bill of our sins. That other one would still be holding the guilty if he had not put the innocent to death. But now see with what justice he is told, “You have put to death one who had no debt. Now hand over the debtors.” “Behold,” he says, “the prince of this world is coming, and in me he will find nothing.” “How nothing? Haven’t you got a soul, haven’t you got flesh? Aren’t you also the Word? Is all that nothing?”

Of course not. Nothing of his [1] own, because [I have] no sin. He is the prince of sinners. The prince of sinners will find nothing in me. I have not sinned, I have contracted nothing from Adam, because I came to you from the Virgin. I did not add anything, because I did not have anything to add it to, and by living a just life I committed no sin. Let him come and find something of his own in me, if he can. But he will find nothing of his own in me. I have no sin. Born innocently, I have led an innocent life. Let him come, he will find nothing. “So why are you dying, if he is coming and will find nothing?” And he gives the reason why he must die: “Behold, the prince of this world is coming, and he will find nothing in me.” And if we might hypothetically ask, “So then, why are you dying?” he would answer, “So that all might know that I am doing the will of my Father. Arise, let us go from here”; [2] That is, let us go to [my] passion. He was willing to die because if was the will of his good Father, not because he owed it to the evil prince. SERMON 265D.4. [3]

[1] The devil’s.

[2] Jn 14:30-31.

[3] WSA 3 7:257; MiAg 1:661-62. See also Hilary On the Trinity 9.55.