ACC ~ John 16 v26

FATHER AND SON BOTH INTERCEDE

AUGUSTINE: But this sense seems to be interfered with by what follows: “At that day you shall ask in my name.” In that future world, when we have reached the kingdom where we shall be like him … what will we have to ask for when all our desires will already be satisfied with good things? [1] … Asking implies the lack of something, which can hardly be the case where there will be such an abundance. It remains then that we understand Jesus as having promised to change his disciples from being carnal and natural beings to making them spiritual beings. … The natural person does not perceive the things of the Spirit of God, and so when he hears something about the nature of God, he can conceive of nothing else but some bodily form, however spacious or immense, however lustrous and magnificent, yet still as a body. And so, whatever Wisdom said of the incorporeal, immutable substance are proverbs to him, not that he considers them as proverbs but understands them as if they were proverbs. But when the spiritual person begins to discern all things, … though in this life he see but through a glass and in part, still he perceives—not through his bodily senses or by an idea of the imagination but by the clearest understanding of the mind—that God is not material but spiritual. This is how the Son shows us so plainly of the Father, that [the Son] who shows is seen to be of the same nature with [the Father] who is shown. Then, those who ask, ask in his name, because by the sound of that name they understand nothing else than the reality itself that is expressed by that name. … They are able, to a certain extent, to perceive that our Lord Jesus Christ, in so far as he is human, intercedes with the Father on our behalf. But in so far as he is God, they also recognize that he hears [and answers] us together with the Father. This is what I think he means when he says, “And I say not that I will pray the Father for you.” To understand this, that is, how the Son does not ask the Father but Father and Son together hear those who ask, is beyond the reach of any but the spiritual vision. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 102.3-4. [2]

[1] Ps 103:5 (102:5 LXX, Vg).

[2] NPNF 1 7:390-91**.

THE SON IS CONSUBSTANTIAL WITH THE FATHER

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Knowing that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, they would, therefore, petition from the Son what he was asking from the Father. By saying, “I do not ask,” he indicated that he is God, able also to give “whatever you may ask,” without petitioning the Father. You see, when he said above, “And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Paraclete,” he spoke as a human, according to the divine plan. [1] After all, why would he ask for that which the Father already intended? COMMENTARY ON JOHN, FRAGMENT 132.16.26-27. [2]

[1] Or, “he spoke incarnationally.”

[2] ECS 7:128.