ACC ~ John 5 v19 - 21

OVERVIEW:

Jesus demonstrates that his will and that of the Father are one since he is of one essence with his Father and cannot act contrary to the nature he shares with the Father (CYRIL, CHRYSOSTOM). The Son does the same things as his Father, which demonstrates their unity of substance (AUGUSTINE). But the fact that they both do these things confirms their distinctiveness as persons in the Trinity (AMBROSE) and their closeness as Father and Son (AUGUSTINE). When Jesus defers to his Father, he turns a seeming weakness into the strength of humility (THEODORET), which in no way affects his own strength or power (THEODORE). There is no battle of wills between this Father and Son (AMBROSE), which is demonstrated in the fact that the Father loves the Son, not that he is disappointed in him (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA).

If the Father, however, shows the Son all that he himself does, doesn’t this imply two craftsmen: the artisan who teaches and the son who learns (AUGUSTINE)? Rather, it is similar to an object and its reflection in a mirror (BASIL). The Father shows himself to the Son as he manifests himself through his Son’s works, not as though the Son were ignorant of any of his Father’s works (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). The Son enjoys bringing glory to his Father through the works he does, even as the Father enjoys our amazement at what his Son accomplishes (BASIL). The Father will show his Son even greater things than the healing of the paralytic (THEODORE). The “greater thing” is the resurrection, a power that only God has; thus Jesus, as the one who resurrects, again establishes his equality with the Father (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA).

5:19 | The Son Cannot Do Anything of Himself

JESUS DOES THE WILL OF GOD THE FATHER

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Jesus, as it were, gently lowers the honor befitting the Only Begotten while at the same time raising the nature of humanity, being at once Lord and also considered among servants. He says that the Son can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do. For whatever works the Father does the Son does as well. Since he is able to accomplish the works of God the Father and to work in concert with the One who begot him, he reveals the identity of his essence. For things that have the same nature with one another will work alike. But for those who do not share a common nature, their mode of working will not be the same. Therefore as true God of true God the Father, he says that he can do those things equally with him. But, so that he may appear not only equal in power to the Father, but like-minded in all things and sharing one will with the Father, Jesus says that he can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.6. [1]

[1] LF 43:246-47**.

BEING OF ONE ESSENCE

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: When… a person says that he cannot carry an enormously heavy piece of wood he establishes his innate weakness. But another says (being by nature a reasonable person and born of a father of a reasonable nature), “I cannot do anything on my own that would contradict the nature of my parent.” The words “I cannot” express the stability of essence and its inability to be anything it is not…. This is how you should hear Christ saying, “The Son can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do.” COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.6. [1]

[1] LF 43:253*.

INABILITY TO ACT CONTRARY TO FATHER

CHRYSOSTOM: But why didn’t he say that “he does nothing contrary” instead of “he cannot do”? It was so that he might again show the invariableness and exactness of the equality, for the expression does not impute weakness to him. On the contrary, it shows his great power. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 38.4. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:134.

SHARED SUBSTANCE IMPLIES SHARED WORK

AUGUSTINE: Now we understood that the Father does not do something separately, which, when the Son has seen it, he, too, does after having examined the work of his Father. Rather, he said, “The Son cannot do anything of himself, but only what he sees the Father doing,” because the whole Son is from the Father, and his whole substance and power is from him who begot him. He had said that he does these things in the same way that the Father does, so that we do not think that the Father does some things and the Son other things. Rather, with the same power [1] the Son does the very same things that the Father does when the Father does them through the Son. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 21.2. [2]

[1] See Ambrose On the Christian Faith 1.2.13 (NPNF 2 10:203).

[2] NPNF 1 7:138*.

NO EQUALITY IF FATHER AND SON ARE THE SAME PERSON

AMBROSE: The Son, therefore, is both entitled and proved the equal of the Father—a true equality, which both excludes difference of Godhead and discovers, together with the Son, the Father also, to whom the Son is equal. For there is no equality where there is difference, nor again where there is but one person, inasmuch as none is by himself equal to himself. And so, the Evangelist has shown why it is fitting that Christ should call himself the Son of God, that is, make himself equal with God. ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 2.8.69. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 10:232*.

LIKE FLAME AND LIGHT

AUGUSTINE: The works of the Father and the Son are inseparable. But this phrase “the Son cannot do anything of himself” is what would be the case if he were to say, “The Son is not of himself.” For if the Son is, he was born; if he was born, he is of him from whom he was born. But, nonetheless, he begot an equal to himself. For nothing was lacking to him who begot; neither did he who begot one coeternal search for a time to beget. He who brought forth the Word from himself also did not search for a mother to beget. Nor did the Father beget a lesser Son by preceding him in age. Perhaps, someone says, after many centuries, in his old age God had a Son. As the Father is without old age, even so the Son is without growth; neither has the one grown old nor has the other grown. But an equal begot an equal; an eternal, an eternal.

How does an eternal, someone says, beget an eternal? It does so in the same way a temporal flame generates temporal light. For the generating flame is of the same duration as the light that it generates. The flame does not precede in time the generated light. Rather, the light begins from the instant when the flame begins. Give me flame without light, and I give you God the Father without the Son. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20.8.1-2. [1]

[1] FC 79:171*.

THE POWERLESS POWER OF CHRIST

THEODORET OF CYR: The Word, therefore, came down, not as he is in himself, but by becoming flesh—not the form of God but the form of a slave. [1] This, then, is the one who said that he could do nothing on his own, because lack of power is a sign of weakness. For as darkness is to light and death is to life, in the same way weakness is opposed to power. And yet Christ is God’s power. [2] Power is usually not powerless, for, if power were weak, what would have power? When the Word proclaims that he can do nothing, therefore, he is clearly not attributing lack of power to the divinity of the only begotten One but is testifying that the lack of power is due to the weakness of our nature. And the flesh is weak, as Scripture says: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” [3] DIALOGUE 48. [4]

[1] See Phil 2:6-8.

[2] See 1 Cor 1:24.

[3] Mt 26:41.

[4] FC 106:80-81*. See also FC 106:227.

NO DIMINUTION IN POWER OR AUTHORITY

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Now, if he had wanted to signify a diminution of his strength and power, he should have said, “But only what the Father orders” or “what [the Father] gives him the power to do.” But now he added, “but only what he sees the Father doing,” which indicates similarity. Actually, if he does only what he sees the Father doing, he evidently possesses a perfect similarity with the Father in his action. And this would be impossible if he did not have the same power. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 2.5.19. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:110-11.

CHRIST’S POWER NOT AT CROSS-PURPOSES WITH THE FATHER’S

AMBROSE: Let unbelievers meditate on the fact that, both by nature and sovereignty, the Son is one with the Father and that his power at work is not at cross-purposes with the Father, inasmuch as “whatever the Father does, the Son does as well.” For no one can do in the same way the same work that another had done unless he shares in the unity of the same nature, but at the same time also is not inferior in the method of working. ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 4.5.60. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 10:269**.

5:20 | The Father Loves the Son

THE FATHER’S LOVE PROVES THE SON’S WORKS ARE APPROVED

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: For if the Father loves the Son completely, it is plain that the Son loves his Father, not in a way that would disappoint him but in a way that would bring his Father joy in what his Son does and works. And so it is pointless for them to persecute him when he refuses not to show mercy on the sabbath…. The Father would never have loved him if he had gone contrary to the will of his Father as if he were accustomed to doing things on his own and doing whatever he wanted by himself. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.6. [1]

[1] LF 43:254-55*.

TWO CRAFTSMEN?

AUGUSTINE: Again mortal thought is troubled. The Father shows the Son what he himself does. “Therefore,” someone says, “the Father does [his work] separately so that the Son may be able to see what he does.” Again there occurs to human thought two craftsmen, as it were, as though an artisan would teach his son his artistic skill and show him whatever he does so that [his son] also may be able to do it himself. He says, “He shows him all that he himself does.” Therefore when the Father does something, is it that the Son does not do [that same thing] so that he can see what the Father is doing? [1] This, at any rate is certain, that “all things were made through him and without him was made nothing.” [2] From this we see how the Father shows the Son what he makes, although the Father makes nothing except what he makes through the Son. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 21.2.2. [3]

[1] Augustine expects this hypothetical question to be answered no.

[2] Jn 1:3.

[3] FC 79:179-80*. See also Sermon 126.10 (WSA 3 4:276).

OBJECT AND REFLECTION IN A MIRROR

BASIL THE GREAT: Let us rather, in a sense befitting the Godhead, perceive a transmission of will, like the reflection of an object in a mirror, passing without note of time from Father to Son. “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all things,” so that “all things that the Father has” belong to the Son, not gradually accruing to him little by little, but are rather with him all together and at once. ON THE SPIRIT 8.20. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 8:14.

THE FATHER DEPICTS HIS OWN WORKS IN THE WORKS OF HIS SON

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The Father again shows the Son what he himself does, not as though setting before him things depicted on a tablet or teaching him as though ignorant (for he knows all things as God). Rather, the Father depicts himself wholly in the nature of his Son and shows in his Son his own natural properties in order that from these properties he [the Father] has and shows, the Son may know what and who his Father is that begat him by nature. Therefore Christ says that “no one knows who the Son is but the Father, or who the Father is, but the Son.” [1] For the accurate knowledge of each is in both, not by learning but by nature. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.6. [2]

[1] Lk 10:22.

[2] LF 43:255-56*.

JESUS ALLUDES TO THE RESURRECTION AND LAST JUDGMENT

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: He said that “greater works than these”—evidently greater than the healing of the paralyzed man—had to be shown by him so that they would be astonished. Here he alludes to the general resurrection and to those things that he will do when he appears [again] to stand in judgment of all things. When he does this, there will be no denying his dignity. At that time, they will be astonished—and for good reason—learning who he [truly] was and what role he has been given. Undoubtedly, after seeing that, they will agree concerning the nature dwelling in him. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 2 5.20-21. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:114. See also Eusebius Proof of the Gospel 9.13 (POG 2:179-80), where he connects Jesus’ words with the prophecies of Is. 35:4, 61:2; Ps 72:1.

THE FATHER ENJOYS OUR AMAZEMENT

BASIL THE GREAT: He says that “the Son can do nothing of his own accord.” Where is the source of his perfect wisdom? “The Father… has himself given me his command of what to say and what to speak.” [1] Through all these words he guides us to the knowledge of the Father; he directs our amazement at everything he has made so that we may know the Father through him. The work of the Father is not separate or distinct from the work of the Son. Whatever the Son “sees the Father doing… that the Son does likewise.” The Father enjoys our awe at everything which proceeds from the glory of the Only Begotten. He rejoices both in his Son who accomplishes such deeds and in the deeds themselves, and he exults in being known as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, “for whom and through whom all things exist.” [2] ON THE SPIRIT 8.19. [3]

[1] Jn 12:49.

[2] Heb 2:10.

[3] OHS 39*.

5:21 | The Son Gives Life to Whomever He Wishes

ONLY GOD CAN RAISE THE DEAD

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: See again in these words clear proof of his equality. For how can he be inferior in anything if he works equally in the reviving of the dead? Or how can he be of another nature and alien to the Father when he is radiant with the same properties? For the power of resurrection, which is alike in both the Father and the Son, is a property of the divine essence. But it is not as though the Father separately and of himself resurrects some, and the Son separately and apart from the Father resurrects others. For since the Son has in himself by nature the Father, the Father does everything and works all things through the Son. But since the Father has the power of resurrection in his own nature, as also does the Son, the Son attributes the power of resurrecting the dead as though accruing to each separately. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.6. [1]

[1] LF 43:257**.