ACC ~ John 16 v28

FIRST HIS GENERATION FROM THE FATHER, THEN HIS INCARNATION

HILARY OF POITIERS: A perfect faith in the Son, which believes and loves the fact that he has come forth from God, has access to the Father without any need of his intervention. The confession that the Son was born and sent from God entitles such a person to a direct audience with God and to love from him. And so the narrative of Jesus’ birth and coming must be taken in the strictest and most literal sense. He says, “I went forth from God,” [1] conveying the fact that his nature is exactly what was given to him by his birth. For what being other than God could go forth from God, that is, could enter upon existence by being born from him? And then he continues, “And I have come from the Father into this world.” In order that he might assure us that this going forth from God means his birth from the Father, he tells us that he came from the Father into the world, referring here to his incarnation. When he said prior to this that he “went forth from God,” however, there he was referring to his [birth by] nature. Since he put on record first the fact of his going forth from God, and then his coming from the Father, we cannot say that the going and the coming are the same thing. Coming from the Father and going forth from God are not synonymous. Perhaps we might paraphrase them instead as “birth” and “presence,” knowing that they are as different in meaning as these two words. It is one thing to have gone forth from God, entering into a substantial existence [with him] by birth. It is quite another, however, to have come from the Father into this world [by birth] in order to accomplish the mysteries of our salvation. ON THE TRINITY 6.31. [2]

[1] The RSV has “Father” here at the end of verse 27, but the Greek and Latin have “God,” which for Hilary is an important distinction.

[2] NPNF 2 9:109**.

THE FATHER AS CAUSE OF CHRIST’S ORIGIN

JOHN OF DAMASCUS: Some of the things said concerning Christ make known the fact of his origin from the Father as cause. … For from him he derives both his being and all that he has. His being was by generative and not by creative means, as, “I came forth, and I have come,” and “I live because of the Father.” [1] But all that he has is not by free gift or by teaching, but in a causal sense, as “the Son is not able to do anything of himself, unless he sees the Father doing anything.” [2] For if the Father does not exist, neither does the Son. For the Son is of the Father and in the Father and with the Father, and not after the Father. In a similar way also what he does is of him and with him. For there is one and the same—not similar but the same—will and energy and power in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. ORTHODOX FAITH 4.18. [3]

[1] Jn 6:57.

[2] Jn 5:19.

[3] NPNF 2 9:90*.

CHRIST IS NEVER FAR AWAY

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: When Jesus says that he came into this world and again left the world and went to the Father, he does not mean that he either abandoned the Father when he became man or that he abandoned the human race when, in the flesh, he went to the Father. For he is truly God and with his ineffable power fills all things and is not far from anything that exists. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 11.2. [1]

[1] LF 48:472*.

HE DOES NOT ABANDON HIS FATHER OR US

AUGUSTINE: In coming to the world, he came forth in such a sense from the Father that he did not leave the Father behind. And when he leaves the world, he goes to the Father in such a sense that he does not forsake the world. For he came forth from the Father because he is of the Father. And he came into the world in showing to the world his bodily form that he had received from the Virgin. He left the world by a bodily withdrawal, he proceeded to the Father by his ascension as man, but he did not forsake the world in the ruling activity of his presence. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 102.6. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:391**.

THE DISCIPLES’ FAITH IN CHRIST VALIDATED

CHRYSOSTOM: Since his teaching about his resurrection and how he came from God and went to God did not, at the time, cheer them up, he dwells on these subjects again and again. The first was proof that their faith in him was not vain; the second that they would still be under his protection. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 79.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:292**.

CHRIST BRINGS HUMAN NATURE INTO HEAVEN

BEDE: He came forth from the Father and came into the world because he made himself visible to the world in his humanity, who in his divinity was invisible along with the Father. He came forth from the Father, because he appeared not in that form in which he is equal to the Father but in the lesser one of a created being that he took on himself. And he came into the world because, in the form of a servant that he accepted, he offered himself to be seen even by those who love this world. Again, he left the world behind and returned to the Father because he removed from the sight of those who love the world what they had seen, and he taught to those who love him that he should be believed to be equal to the Father. He left the world behind and returned to the Father because by his ascension he brought the humanity that he had put on to the place of invisible realities. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.12. [1]

[1] CS 111:114*. See also Augustine Tractates on the Gospel of John 102.6.