ACC ~ John 17 v1 - 5

OVERVIEW:

Tribulation should drive us to prayer as it did Jesus (CHRYSOSTOM). And when we pray, our prayer should first seek to bring glory to our Father, and then we can bring our concerns to God (CYRIL). The prayer Jesus offers is as effective a source of edification as his discourse (AUGUSTINE). He speaks of the hour that has come, indicating that anything he did or allowed to be done to him was by his own arrangement (AUGUSTINE). He asks the Father to glorify him, but the glory Jesus is going to experience is that of the cross, whose humiliation seems anything but glorious (CHRYSOSTOM). When those who nailed him to the cross confess that he truly is the Son of God, his prayer has been answered (HILARY). But if he was glorified in his passion, he was even more so in his resurrection (AUGUSTINE). The Son glorifies the Father, demonstrating mutual glorification and mutual divinity (HILARY). The Father’s eternal glory is not increased, but his glory among the world is increased as the gospel is spread throughout the world (AUGUSTINE). In asking to be glorified, Jesus is asking his Father not to give him glory so much as to reveal the honor the Father had already given him (THEODORE). The Son’s willing obedience and his glorious deeds, then, reflect well on his Father who begat him and are passed on to us as we enjoy the benefits of the salvation won for us (DIDYMUS).

The Father had given Christ the power over all flesh, the power to give eternal life, which is a power given to Christ’s human nature (AUGUSTINE) as his flesh restores our flesh (HILARY). The fact that Christ receives power to give life in no way diminishes his divinity; rather, it posits the fatherhood of the giver and the divinity of the receiver (HILARY). The Son speaks of giving life to all flesh, which he always could do. But now he also includes the Gentiles when he says “all flesh.” If there are some who did not believe, however, that is not the fault of the teacher (CHRYSOSTOM). To be ignorant of the Father is death (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA), but to truly know him and the Son is eternal life because it brings us into participation with the divine in the Eucharist (CYRIL). In this way, we are moved to worship of the Trinity (THEODORE), which, in turn leads ultimately to an eternal life spent contemplating the great “I am.” Our faith then sees its object while eternity possesses our changed mortality (AUGUSTINE).

Eternal life is to know “the only true God,” (ORIGEN), thus distinguishing him from the false gods of the Gentiles to whom the apostles would be sent (CHRYSOSTOM). “Only,” however, does not preclude the divinity or honor of the Son (ATHANASIUS), nor is it a barrier to the sharing of attributes since Christ evidences the properties of divinity in the works he does, such as creation (HILARY). Further, in adding the words “and Jesus Christ whom you have sent,” Christ in fact asserts his divinity since, while linking the statement to the Father, he nowhere offers any further qualification with reference to his humanity (NOVATIAN). The hope of life, then, rests in the Father and the Son (HILARY), as well as the Spirit (AUGUSTINE).

Knowledge of God is eternal life, and the more we grow in his knowledge the greater the advances we make toward a life that most fully glorifies God (AUGUSTINE). His name had already been glorified in heaven and by the worship of the angels, but this glorification was accomplished on earth when he came to serve humankind by doing the work that had been given him to do by the Father (CHRYSOSTOM). He speaks of having finished the work already in the sense that he has done his part and is now already looking toward the future when it will have been accomplished; or he implies that at least the roots have been laid for the fruits that will follow (CHRYSOSTOM).

When Christ asks his Father to glorify him, he is not abdicating his divine position but elevating ours (HILARY) as his human nature receives the glory that the Word always had (DIDYMUS). The glory that was Christ’s before the creation of the world now seeks to restore once again what had fallen through Adam’s sin (EPHREM). Christ also speaks here of the order of glorification, that is, that the Father was first to be glorified by the Son on earth by preaching about him to the nations, and then the Son is to be glorified by the Father when he is placed at the Father’s right hand (AUGUSTINE). He was predestined to glorification before the world began and now prays for the consummation of that glorification when he sits at the right hand of the Father (AUGUSTINE).

17:1a | Jesus Faces the Hour of Tribulation with Prayer

HE TEACHES HOW TO RELY ON THE FATHER IN TRIALS

CHRYSOSTOM: Christ not only speaks about the endurance of evil but puts himself forward as an example. After his admonition that “in the world you will have tribulation,” he himself turns to prayer in order to teach us that in our testing we are to leave everything behind and flee to God. He had shaken their souls in his admonition but raised them up again by this prayer. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 80.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:296**. Theodore of Mopsuestia believes this chapter is not a prayer but only in the form of a prayer.

HOW WE SHOULD PRAY

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: When an occasion calls us to prayer, it is fitting for us to pray for that which increases God’s glory before we pray for that which concerns ourselves. … The Savior indeed spoke these words to show how very necessary his own glory was to the Father so that he might be known to be consubstantial with him … for the Father is glorified in the glory of his offspring. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 11.3. [1]

[1] LF 48:479, 481*.

PRAYER TEACHES AS WELL AS DISCOURSE

AUGUSTINE: Our Lord, the only begotten who is co-eternal with the Father but who also took the form of a servant, could have prayed in silence if need be. But by praying out loud he wanted to show himself as one who prayed to the Father; he remembered that he not only had to pray but to teach. And so, the prayer that he offered for us, he also made known to us. For it was not only his discourse but also his prayers that were a source of edification for his disciples—and for us who read it today. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 104.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:394**; CCL 36:602.

CHRIST SELECTED THE TIME TO BE BORN AND DIE

AUGUSTINE: In saying, “Father, the hour is come; glorify your Son,” he showed that all time, and every occasion when he did anything or suffered anything to be done, was arranged by him who was subject to no time … Let no one think that this hour came through any urgency of fate but rather by divine appointment. It was no necessary law of the heavenly bodies that tied the passion of Christ to its timetable. How could anyone think that the stars compelled their own maker to die? It was not the time, therefore, that drove Christ to his death, but Christ who selected the time to die. He also fixed the time when he was born of the Virgin, with the Father, of whom he was born independently of time. … He then may say, “Father, the hour is come,” who has arranged every hour with the Father saying, as it were, “Father, the hour,” which we fixed together for the sake of humanity and of my glorification among them, “is come; glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you.” TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 104.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:394**; CCL 36:602.

17:1b | Mutual Glorification

GLORY AND THE CROSS

CHRYSOSTOM: Again he shows us that he willingly comes to the cross. For how could someone who prayed that this might happen be unwilling, calling what would happen “glory” not only for himself the crucified but also for the Father? This was indeed the case, since not only the Son but also the Father too was glorified. For before the crucifixion, not even the Jews knew him. “Israel,” it says, “has not known me.” [1] But after the crucifixion, the whole world flocked to him. Then he also speaks of how the glory would take place and how [the Father] will glorify him. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 80.1. [2]

[1] Is 1:3.

[2] NPNF 1 14:296**.

PROVED AS SON BY NATURE, NOT ADOPTION

HILARY OF POITIERS: He does not say that the day or the time but that the hour has come. An hour contains a portion of a day. What was this hour? … He was now to be spit on, scourged, crucified. But the Father glorifies the Son. The sun, instead of setting, fled, and all the other elements felt that same shock of the death of Christ. The stars in their courses, to avoid complicity in the crime, escaped by self-extinction from beholding the scene. The earth trembled under the weight of our Lord hanging on the cross and testified that it did not have the power to hold within it him who was dying. … The centurion proclaimed, “Truly this was the Son of God.” Creation is set free by the mediation of this sin offering. The very rocks lose their solidity and strength. Those who had nailed him to the cross confess that truly this is the Son of God. The outcome justifies the assertion. Our Lord had said, “Glorify your Son,” testifying that he was not the Son in name only but properly the Son. “Your Son,” he said. Many of us are sons [children] of God. But he is Son in another sense. He is the proper, true Son by nature, not by adoption; in truth, not in name; by birth, not by creation. After he was glorified, that centurion’s confession touched on the truth. And so, when the centurion confesses him to be the true Son of God, none of his believers might doubt what one of his persecutors could not deny. ON THE TRINITY 3.10-11. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:64-65**; CCL 62:81-83.

GLORIFIED IN HIS RESURRECTION

AUGUSTINE: But if he was glorified by his passion, how much more was he glorified by his resurrection? For his passion showed his humility more than his glory. … Humility is the earning of glory. Glory is the reward of humility. [1] … So we must understand “Father, the hour is come, glorify your Son” to mean, the hour is come for sowing the seed—humility. Do not defer the fruit—glory. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 104.3. [2]

[1] See Phil 2:5-11.

[2] NPNF 1 7:395**; CCL 36:602-3.

MUTUAL GLORIFICATION, MUTUAL DIVINITY

HILARY OF POITIERS: But perhaps this proves weakness in the Son. He waited to be glorified by one superior to himself. And who does not confess that the Father is superior, seeing that he himself said, “The Father is greater than I”? But beware that you do not let the honor of the Father impair the glory of the Son. … But the prayer, “Father glorify your Son,” is completed by “that your Son also may glorify you.” So then the Son is not weak, inasmuch as he gives back in his turn glory for the glory that he receives. … This petition for glory to be given and paid back is neither a robbery of the Father nor a depreciation of the Son. Rather, it shows the same power of divinity to be in both. ON THE TRINITY 3.12. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:65**; CCL 62:83-84.

INCREASED GLORY AMONG US, NOT IN THE FATHER

AUGUSTINE: It is worthy of inquiry how the Son can glorify the Father when the eternal glory of the Father neither suffered diminution in any human form nor could be increased in respect of its own divine perfection. In itself, indeed, the glory of the Father could neither be diminished nor enlarged. But without any doubt it was less among people when God was known only in Judea. [1] … Therefore the Son glorified the Father when the gospel of Christ spread the knowledge of the Father among the Gentiles. Had the Son, however, only died, and not risen again, he would without doubt have neither been glorified by the Father nor have glorified the Father. But now, having been glorified through his resurrection by the Father, he glorifies the Father by the preaching of his resurrection. “Glorify your Son so that your Son also may glorify you.” In other words, raise me from the dead, that by me you may be known to the whole world. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 105.1. [2]

[1] Ps 76:1 (75:2 LXX, Vg).

[2] NPNF 1 7:395-96**; CCL 36:603-4.

REVEAL MY GLORY

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Jesus says, in effect, You gave the Son the kind of honor that accorded him universal dominion—although he would have received such honor later. And what a great honor it was already being the one chosen by God! Nonetheless, he says, you gave me this [honor], so glorify me, that is, in a way fitting to the honor of which you made me worthy. Reveal me before everyone at the time of my passion so that through the events that will happen on the cross everyone may know the greatness of my honor. They will recognize that I did not deserve to suffer, nor did I do so unwillingly, but I did it for the greater benefit of all people. So the words “glorify me” do not mean “give me glory.” Rather, they mean “reveal my glory” that was given to me by you. With the same meaning he added, “So that the Son may glorify you,” that is, from those things that were done to me [i.e., the Son], you also will be seen to be great and glorious through me. The more my works appear to be admirable, the more your dignity becomes known. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 6.17.1. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:307.

THE GLORY PASSES TO US

DIDYMUS THE BLIND: The Father glorified his own Son, having put everything under the sun under his rule. The Father in turn was glorified through the Son. The Son was glorified by the Father, for he was entrusted with all things, because he is the Son and offspring of the one who can do everything. The Father in turn was glorified, just as a father is glorified by his own son [child]. When the Son was known to have accomplished willingly every mighty deed, the favor of his reputation passes on to the one who begat him. … This glory, then, passes on to us. That which is altogether subordinate, which has been put under the hand of the Word of God (who is mightier than all things) and which has been saved once and for all must remain for the good, since it is no longer ruled by death or governed by corruption or made subject to sins and ancient evils. FRAGMENTS ON JOHN 18. [1]

[1] JKGK 185.

17:2 | The Power to Give Eternal Life

POWER GIVEN TO HUMAN NATURE

AUGUSTINE: The fact that power over all flesh was given to Christ by the Father is to be understood in respect of his humanity. For in respect of his Godhead all things were made by himself, and in him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. [1] TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 105.2. [2]

[1] Col 1:16.

[2] NPNF 1 7:396**; CCL 36:604.

FLESH RESTORES FLESH

HILARY OF POITIERS: The glory [that the Son would give to the Father] was that the Son, being made flesh, received power over all flesh from the Father, along with the charge of restoring eternal life to ephemeral beings like us who are burdened with the body. ON THE TRINITY 3.13. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:65**; CCL 62:84.

FATHERHOOD OF GIVER, DIVINITY OF RECEIVER

HILARY OF POITIERS: Perhaps the Son is weak in that he receives power over all flesh. And indeed the receiving of power might be a sign of weakness if he were not able to give eternal life to those whom he receives. Yet the very fact of receiving is used to prove inferiority of nature. It might prove such is the case if Christ were not true God by birth as truly as is the Unbegotten. But if the receiving of power signifies neither more nor less than the birth by which he received all that he has, that gift does not degrade the Begotten, because it makes him perfectly and entirely what God is. God Unbegotten brought God only-begotten to a perfect birth of divine blessedness. It is, then, the mystery of the Father to be the author of the birth, but it is no degradation to the Son to be made the perfect image of his author by a real birth. The giving of power over all flesh—and this giving is done in order that eternal life might be given to all flesh—postulates the fatherhood of the giver and the divinity of the receiver. For giving signifies that the One is the Father and, in receiving the power to give eternal life, the other remains God the Son. All power is therefore natural and congenital to the Son of God. And though it is given, that does not separate him from his author. For that which is given is the property of his author, that is, power to bestow eternal life and to change the corruptible into the incorruptible. The Father gave all; the Son received all. ON THE TRINITY 9.31. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:165-66**; CCL 62A:404-5.

MISSION TO GENTILES IS NO INNOVATION ON JESUS’ PART

CHRYSOSTOM: But what is the meaning of “you have given him power over all flesh”? I will ask the heretics, “When did he receive this power? Was it before he formed them, or after?” He himself says that it was after he had been crucified and had risen again. At least it was then that he said, “All power is given unto me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” [1] What then? Didn’t he have authority over his own works? Did he make them and yet not have authority over them after having made them? Yet he is seen doing everything in times of old, punishing some as sinners [2] … and honoring others as righteous. Is it that he had the power at that time but now had lost it, but was going to receive it again? What devil could assert this? But if his power was the same both then and now—for he says, “as the Father raises up the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he will” [3] —what is the meaning of the words? The answer lies in the fact that he was about to send them to the Gentiles. In order therefore that they might not think that this was an innovation, because he had said, “I am not sent, except unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” [4] he shows that this seemed good to the Father also. …

But what does he mean by “of all flesh”? For certainly not all believed. Yet, as far as his mission was concerned, all could have believed. And if some did not listen to his words, the fault was not in the teacher but in those who did not receive his words. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 80.1-2. [5]

[1] Mt 28:18-19.

[2] Gen 18:17.

[3] Jn 5:21.

[4] Mt 15:24.

[5] NPNF 1 14:296-97**.

17:3a | Eternal Life Is Knowing Father and Son

WE KNOW THROUGH PARTICIPATION IN DIVINITY

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: One who does not have the knowledge of good is wicked: for there is one good, the Father. And to be ignorant of the Father is death, just as to know him is eternal life, through participation in the power of the incorrupt One. And to be incorruptible is to participate in divinity. But revolt from the knowledge of God brings corruption. STROMATEIS 5.10. [1]

[1] ANF 2:459.

KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUE GOD NURTURES US TO ETERNAL LIFE

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Are we saying that knowledge is eternal life? Are we saying that to know the one true and living God will suffice to give us complete security for the future without need of anything else? Then how is “faith apart from works dead”? [1] When we speak of faith, we mean the true knowledge of God and nothing else, since knowledge comes by faith. The prophet Isaiah tells us this: “If you do not believe, neither shall you understand.” [2] But he is not talking about a knowledge that consists in barren speculations, which is entirely worthless. For one of the holy disciples said, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder.” [3] What then shall we say to this? How is it that Christ speaks the truth when he says that eternal life is the knowledge of God the Father, the one true God, and with him of the Son? I think, indeed, we must answer that the saying of the Savior is completely true. For this knowledge is life, laboring as it were in birth of the whole meaning of the mystery and granting to us participation in the mystery of the Eucharist, whereby we are joined to the living and life-giving Word. And for this reason, I think, Paul says that the Gentiles are made fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of Christ, [4] inasmuch as they partake in his blessed body and blood. And our members may in this sense be conceived of as being members of Christ. [5] This knowledge, then, which also brings to us the Eucharist by the Spirit, is life. For it dwells in our hearts, reshaping those who receive it into sonship with him and molding them into incorruption and piety toward God through life, according to the Gospel. Our Lord Jesus Christ, then, knowing that the knowledge of the one true God brings to us and promotes our union with the blessings of which we have spoken, says that it is eternal life. It is the mother and nurse of eternal life, being in its power and nature pregnant with those things that cause life and lead to life. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 11.5. [6]

[1] Jas 2:26.

[2] Is 7:9.

[3] Jas 2:19.

[4] See Eph 3:6.

[5] See 1 Cor 6:15.

[6] LF 48:488-89*.

ETERNAL LIFE IS TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRINITY

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: The cause of eternal life is steadfast faith, and to believe in one God, and to not attribute to others the title of God but to believe not only in the Father but also in the Son who was incarnated for us and was sent for the salvation of humankind. This doctrine expels the lie of the polytheistic error. It admits only one God while also surpassing the Jewish belief—inasmuch as the Jews worship only the Father. They surely do not understand that from the Father, by means of an unspoken word, his Son was born. It also teaches Christians to worship both the God begotten from the Father and the Spirit that is provided from the Father through the Son [1] and is in its own existence consubstantial with the Father and the Son—the very one who is perfect life and the cause of eternal life. COMMENTARY ON JOHN, FRAGMENT 132.17.3. [2]

[1] As the editors note, in the West, the filioque clause and Augustine’s On the Trinity are introduced about the same time as Theodore’s commentary.

[2] ECS 7:130.

WE WILL CONTEMPLATE THE “I AM

” AUGUSTINE: What he said to his servant Moses, “I am that I am,” … this is what we shall contemplate when we live in eternity. ON THE TRINITY 1.8.17. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 3:26*.

ETERNITY WILL BE OURS WHEN FAITH SEES

AUGUSTINE: We are distanced from eternity to the extent that we are changeable. But eternal life is promised to us through the truth. Our faith, however, stands as far apart from the clear knowledge of the truth as mortality does from eternity. At the present we put faith in things done in time on our account, and by that faith itself we are cleansed. In this way, when we have come to sight, as truth follows faith, so eternity may follow on mortality. Our faith will become truth, then, when we have attained to that which is promised to us who believe. And that which is promised to us is eternal life. And the Truth—not that which shall come to be according to how our faith shall be, but that truth that always exists because eternity is in it—the Truth then has said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” When our faith sees and comes to be truth, then eternity shall possess our now changed mortality. ON THE TRINITY 4.18.24. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 3:81-82**; CCL 50:191-92.

17:3b | The Only True God

PARTAKERS OF THE GODHEAD

ORIGEN: God, [1] accompanied by the article [in Greek], is very God. [2] Therefore also the Savior says in his prayer to the Father, “That they may know you the only true God.” But everything made divine [3] because of the very God by partaking of his divinity would be most properly called not God [4] but god. [5] COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.17. [6]

[1] Gk ho theos.

[2] Gk auto theos.

[3] Gk theopoioumenou.

[4] Gk ho theos.

[5] Gk theos.

[6] FC 80:98-99**; SC 120:216-18.

WHY “ONLY” TRUE GOD?

CHRYSOSTOM: He says “the only true God” in order to distinguish [the true God] from those which are not gods, since he was about to send them to the Gentiles. But if they [1] will not allow this, but on account of this word “only” reject the Son as being true God, then they are denying that he is God at all. For he also says, “You do not seek the glory that is from the only God.” Well then, shall not the Son be God? But if the Son is God and the Son of the Father who is called the only God, it is clear that he also is true, and the Son of him who is called the only true God. Why, when Paul says, “or I only and Barnabas,” [2] surely he was not excluding Barnabas? Not at all. For the “only” is to distinguish him from others. And if he is not true God, how is he “Truth”? For truth far surpasses what is true. What shall we call the condition of not being a “true” one, tell me? Shall we not call it “the not being a person at all?” So if the Son is not true God, how is he God? And how does he make us gods and sons [children], if he is not true God? HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 80.2. [3]

“ONLY” CONTRASTS THE FATHER WITH FALSE GODS, NOT WITH THE SON

ATHANASIUS: The one who believes in the Son believes also in the Father, for he believes in what is proper to the Father’s essence. And thus the faith is one in one God. And the one who worships and honors the Son, in the Son worships and honors the Father. For the Godhead is one. And therefore the honor is one [4] and the worship is one that is paid to the Father in and through the Son. And the one who worships in this way worships one God. For there is one God and none other. … Therefore, these passages [5] are not written in order to deny the Son or with reference to him at all, but to overthrow falsehood. Notice how God did not speak these kinds of words to Adam at the beginning, although his Word was with him by whom all things came to be. For there was no need before idols came in. But when human beings made insurrection against the truth and named for themselves gods such as they did, then the need arose for such words in order to deny the gods that were not. [6] … If then the Father is called the only true God, this is said not to the denial of him who said, “I am the Truth” [7] but of those … who by nature are not true, as the Father and his Word are. And so the Lord himself added at once, “And Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Now had he been a creature, he would not have added this and ranked himself with his creator. For what fellowship is there between the True and the not true? But as it is, by including himself with the Father, he has shown that he is of the Father’s nature. And he has given us to know that of the true Father he is true offspring. DISCOURSES AGAINST THE ARIANS 3.23.6-24.8-9. [8]

[1] The Arians.

[2] 1 Cor 9:6.

[3] NPNF 1 14:297**.

[4] Athanasius On the Incarnation 19; see also Ambrose On the Faith 3.12, 13; Gregory Nazianzus Oration 23.

[5] He had just cited Mk 12:29; Ex 3:14; Deut 32:39 (LXX); Is 44:6 as well as Jn 17:2.

[6] On this point, see also Gregory of Nazianzus Oration 30.13.

[7] Jn 14:6.

[8] NPNF 2 4:397-98**; PG 26:337-39.

IS “ONLY” A BARRIER TO SHARING OF ATTRIBUTES?

HILARY OF POITIERS: For when the [Arians] say that [the Father] alone is true, alone is righteous, alone is wise, alone is invisible, alone is good, alone is mighty, alone is immortal, they are raising up this word alone as a barrier to cut off the Son from his share in these attributes. He who is alone, they say, has no partner in his properties. But if we suppose that these attributes reside in the Father only, and not in the Son also, then we must believe that God the Son has neither truth nor wisdom. We must believe that he is a bodily being composed of visible and material elements, ill-disposed and feeble and void of immortality. For we exclude him from all these attributes of which we make the Father the solitary possessor. ON THE TRINITY 4.9. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:73*; CCL 62:110.

THE SON’S NATURE AND POWERS EVIDENCE HIS DIVINITY

HILARY OF POITIERS: But it must be clear to everyone that the truth or genuineness of something is evidenced in its nature and powers. For instance, true wheat is what grows to maturity with the beard bristling around it which is then purged from the chaff and ground into flour, baked into a loaf and taken for food. [Wheat] demonstrates the nature and uses that bread is known for. … What element of the Godhead, then, is lacking in the Son who possesses both the nature and power of God? For he had at his disposal the powers of the divine nature to bring into being the nonexistent and to create whenever he wanted. [1] ON THE TRINITY 5.3-4. [2]

[1] Col 1:16.

[2] NPNF 2 9:86*.

17:3c | Jesus Christ, the Sent One

CHRIST ASSERTS HIS DEITY

NOVATIAN: If Christ is only a man, why did he lay down for us such a rule of faith as to say, “But this is life eternal, that they may know you the one and true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent”? If he had not wanted himself to be understood also as God, why did he add, “And Jesus Christ whom you have sent” unless it is because he wanted to be accepted as also God? Because, if he had not wanted himself to be understood as God, he would have added “and the man Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” But as it is, neither Christ added this nor did he hand down to us that he is only man. Rather, he joined [himself] to God so that he might also by this union be understood as God, as indeed he is. ON THE TRINITY 16.4. [1]

[1] ANF 5:626**; CCL 4:40.

HOPE OF LIFE RESTS IN FATHER AND SON

HILARY OF POITIERS: But in what does eternal life consist? His own words tell us: “That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Is there any doubt or difficulty here, or any inconsistency? It is life to know the true God. But the bare knowledge of him does not give life. What, then, does he add? “And Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” In you, the only true God, the Son pays the honor due to his Father. By the addition “and Jesus Christ whom you have sent,” he associates himself with the true Godhead. The believer in his confession draws no line between the two, for his hope of life rests in both. And indeed, the true God is inseparable from him whose name follows in the creed. Therefore when we read, “That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent,” these terms of sender and of sent are not intended, under any semblance of distinction either in name or interval [1] [of time], to convey a difference between the true Godhead of Father and of Son. Rather, they are meant to be a guide to the devout confession of them as begetter and begotten. ON THE TRINITY 3.14. [2]

[1] Lat significationis aut dilationis diversitate.

[2] NPNF 2 9:65-66**. CCL 62:85-86. See also Hilary On the Trinity 5.3.

CATHOLIC FAITH CONFESSES THAT FATHER AND SON ARE TRULY GOD

HILARY OF POITIERS: But perhaps by saying “you the only,” Christ severs himself from communion and unity with God. Yes, but after the words “you the only true God,” does he not immediately continue, “and Jesus Christ whom you have sent”? I appeal to the sense of the reader: what must we believe Christ to be when we are commanded to believe in him also, as well as the Father the only true God? Or, perhaps, if the Father is the only true God, there is no room for Christ to be God. It might be so, if, because there is one God the Father, Christ were not the one Lord. [1] The fact that God the Father is one leaves Christ nonetheless the one Lord. And similarly the Father’s one true Godhead makes Christ nonetheless true God. For we can obtain eternal life only if we believe in Christ, as well as in the only true God. … But the faith of the church, while confessing the only true God the Father, confesses Christ also. It does not confess Christ true God without the Father the only true God. Nor does it confess the Father as the only true God without Christ. It confesses Christ true God, because it confesses the Father the only true God. Thus the fact that God the Father is the only true God constitutes Christ also as true God. The only-begotten God suffered no change of nature by his natural birth. And he who, according to the nature of his divine origin was born God from the living God, is, by the truth of that nature, inalienable from the only true God. ON THE TRINITY 9.34, 36. [2]

[1] See 1 Cor 8:6; see also Hilary On the Trinity 9.32.

[2] NPNF 2 9:166-67*; CCL 62A:408-10.

KNOWING THE TRINITY

AUGUSTINE: Passing by [the Arians], however, we must see whether, when it is said to the Father, “that they may know you the one true God,” we are forced to understand it as if he wished to intimate that the Father alone is the true God—in case we should not understand any to be God except the three together, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Are we therefore, from the testimony of the Lord, both to call the Father the one true God, and the Son the one true God, and the Holy Spirit the one true God, and the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit together, that is, the Trinity itself together, not three true Gods but one true God? Or because he added, “And Jesus Christ whom you have sent,” are we to supply “the one true God,” so that the order of the words is this, “That they may know you, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent, the one true God”? Why then did he omit to mention the Holy Spirit? Is it because it follows that whenever we name One who cleaves to One by a harmony so great that through this harmony both are one, this harmony itself must be understood, although it is not mentioned? [1] ON THE TRINITY 6.9.10. [2]

[1] See also Tractate 105.3; NPNF 1 7:396; CCL 36:604 on the Spirit’s inclusion.

[2] NPNF 1 3:102**; CCL 50:239-40.

17:4 | God’s Glory on Earth Accomplished

FULL KNOWLEDGE BRINGS FULL GLORY

AUGUSTINE: If knowledge of God is eternal life, the more we grow in this knowledge, the greater the advances we make toward life. And we shall not die in the eternal life that is to come. For then, when there shall be no death, the knowledge of God shall be perfected. Then God will be most fully glorified because then it will be the completed glory, as expressed in Greek by doxa. … But glory was defined among the ancients as fame accompanied with praise. But if one’s praise depends on what is said of him, how will God be praised when he himself shall be seen? And so it is said in Scripture, “Blessed are they who dwell in your house. They will be praising you forever and ever.” [1] There, where there shall be full knowledge of God, his praise will continue without end. And because it is full knowledge, the glorification will also be full and complete. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 105.3. [2]

[1] Ps 84:4 (83:5 LXX, Vg).

[2] NPNF 1 7:396**; CCL 36:605.

THE EARTHLY GLORY OF SERVICE

CHRYSOSTOM: He says “on the earth,” because in heaven he had been already glorified in respect to his own natural glory and to his being worshiped by the angels. Christ then speaks not of that glory that is bound up with his essence—for he always possesses that glory in its fullness even if no one glorified him—but of that which comes from the worship given him by humankind. And so, “Glorify me” also has this meaning. And listen to what follows so that you may understand that he speaks of this kind of glory: “I have finished the work that you gave me to do.” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 80.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:297**.

THE MEANING OF “I HAVE FINISHED

” CHRYSOSTOM: And yet the action was still in its beginning, or rather had not even yet begun. What did he mean by “I have finished” then? Either he means that “I have done all my part” or he speaks of the future, as having already happened. Or, the most likely explanation is that all had already been accomplished by anticipation because the root of blessings to come had been laid and its fruits would inevitably follow. This is so because Jesus would be present at and assisting in those things that would take place after these did. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 80.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:297**.

17:5 | The Once and Future Glory

LET MORTAL BECOME IMMORTAL

HILARY OF POITIERS: And so, he had not abdicated his own position. And yet, he had taken ours. He prays, then, that the nature that he had assumed may be promoted to the glory that he had never renounced. [1] … This Son, now incarnate, prayed that flesh might be to the Father what the Son had been. He prayed that flesh, born in time, might receive the splendor of the everlasting glory, that the corruption of the flesh might be swallowed up, transformed into the power of God and the incorruption of the Spirit. ON THE TRINITY 3.16. [2]

[1] Novatian On the Trinity 13, 16 (ANF 5:622, 626) notes this as another passage that proves Christ’s divinity.

[2] NPNF 2 9:66*; CCL 62:88.

THE DIVINE WORD IS THE GLORY

DIDYMUS THE BLIND: The splendid glory of the Son of God—what else would it be other than the divine Word himself, the “true Light” itself? He is not glorified by another glory through the agency of another person as if he were someone else other than the glory. No, he is himself the “Lord of glory” and King of glory, as I said previously. But since “he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant”—for he says, “the Word became flesh” and “we saw him” [1] and “he did not have any comeliness or beauty” [2] —and many did not believe that this descent had taken place, since many did not believe that God became man to reveal his divinity to those who had not recognized him, he said, “Father, glorify your Son,” that is, “reveal me to those who have not recognized me, manifest my glory that I had with you as the divine Word.” Therefore, Paul says, “God considered it good to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles.” FRAGMENTS ON JOHN 20. [3]

[1] Jn 1:14.

[2] Is 53:2.

[3] JKGK 186.

CREATOR OF OLD AND NEW

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: The Lord also said, “Give me glory in your presence from that which you gave me before the world was made.” [This was] when the Father was fashioning creatures through his Son, according to the psalmist’s account, “He is clothed with glory and magnificence,” [1] after which he drew them out of nothingness and established them as spotless creatures. “Lord God,” he said, “you are exceedingly great. You are clothed with glory and magnificence, and you have covered yourself with light as with a cloak.”… Following Adam’s fall, [however], creatures were clothed in [Adam’s] humiliation [2] … and the Son of the Creator came to heal them so as to remove, at the moment of his coming, all uncleannesses through the baptism of his death, as he himself has said, “The hour has come and is at hand; glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you.” He asked this not as a beggar wishing to receive something, but wishing to restore and accomplish the first order of creation. [He asked] for the glory with which he was clothed at the time when creatures were clothed [with glory].

For just as he formed the first essence [of creatures] through grace so that [they would be] without stain, in the glory and magnificence with which he himself was clothed, [so] too, by the mercy of God, there will be a new creation of all things, without any stain, in the glory with which he is clothed. What he said, “Give me,” is to be understood of the glory that he possessed before creatures, with the Father and in the Father’s presence. For the Greek text says clearly, “Glorify me with that glory that I possessed in your presence, before the world was made.” Even more, in saying, “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you,” he did not reveal a need but a desire. The Father does not receive glory from the Son as though he had need of it, and the Son is not glorified by his Father as if he were lacking this [glory]. COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 19.17. [3]

[1] Ps 104:1 (103:1 LXX).

[2] Rom 8:20.

[3] ECTD 290-91.

THE ORDER OF GLORIFICATION

AUGUSTINE: For he had said above, “Father, the hour is come; glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” In this arrangement of the words, he had shown that the Father was first to be glorified by the Son, in order that the Son might glorify the Father. But now he says, “I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do. And now glorify me.” This seems to be saying that the Son himself had been the first to glorify the Father by whom he then demands to be glorified. We are therefore to understand that he used both words above in accordance with what was future and in the order in which they were future: “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” But now, he uses the word in the past tense of what was still in the future when he said, “I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work that you gave me to do.”… For in saying that the Father was glorified by [the Son] on the earth but that he himself was glorified by the Father with the Father’s very self, the Son showed them how both glorifications took place. For the Son himself glorified the Father on earth by preaching him to the nations. But the Father glorified the Son with his own self in setting him at his own right hand. But for that very reason, when the Son says afterward in reference to the glorifying of the Father, “I have glorified you,” he preferred putting the verb in the past tense, in order to show that it was already done in the act of predestination, and what was with perfect certainty yet to take place was to be accounted as already done—namely, that the Son, having been glorified by the Father with the Father, would also glorify the Father on the earth. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 105.5. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:397**; CCL 36:605-6.

PREDESTINATION AND CONSUMMATION

AUGUSTINE: The proper order of the words is “[the glory] that I had with you before the world was.”… Some have imagined that this should be understood of the human nature assumed by the Word in such a way that it would be converted into the Word and the man were changed into God, or as if the humanity were lost in the Godhead. For no one would say that the Word of God would by that change be doubled or increased. … But we [avoid this error] if we understand [he is speaking of] the predestination of the glory of his human nature, as previously being mortal, becoming immortal with the Father. And we also understand that this had already been done by predestination before the world was, as also in its own time it was done in the world. … Accordingly, when the Son saw that the time of this, his predestined glorification, had now arrived—in order that what had already been done in predestination might also now actually be accomplished—he prayed, “And now, O Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory that I had with you before the world was,” that is, it is time now for me to have that glory at your right hand that I had with you by your predestination. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 105.6-8. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:397-98**; CCL 36:606-8.