ACC ~ John 17 v5

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.