ACC ~ John 5 v25 - 29

OVERVIEW:

Jesus tells his disciples that the future hour of resurrection is not that far off (CHRYSOSTOM), when both the Father and the Son will raise the dead (AUGUSTINE). The creator of Adam will recreate us (APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTIONS) and by his Spirit raise our flesh, which he also had taken on himself and buried in order to resurrect it (TERTULLIAN). Those who believe and obey Christ’s voice, who before were the living dead, are now the ones who shall live (AUGUSTINE).

Christ also states that the Father has life in himself, because as it is with the Father so it is with the Son. Both have life in themselves, and our life is found only in them, not in ourselves. Although the Son already is life according to his divine nature, the Father “gave” him life in the act of begetting so that the Son would have life in himself and not need it from any other source (AUGUSTINE). Life gives birth to life (HILARY). We may also understand these words to refer to his human nature, for life was given to the flesh of Christ, who is himself life (THEODORE).

In the end, Christ will judge in the same form, as Son of man, in which he was judged (AUGUSTINE). He is given this authority not because he is the Son of man but because he is the Son of God (AMMONIUS). His outward appearance as Son of man, however, may evoke skepticism (THEODORE); but the same one who as Son of man has the divine power to raise the dead has the power to judge (CHRYSOSTOM). At that future time, there will be a bodily resurrection, something that heretics deny (TERTULLIAN). But Jesus makes it plain here that not only will this be a bodily resurrection but that it will be a bodily resurrection either to eternal life or to eternal torment (AUGUSTINE). This should give us pause to contemplate our last day (BASIL). Some will be welcomed by the unspeakable brilliance of the Trinity, while others must endure being outcast from God along with the pain of an unrelenting conscience (GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS).

5:25 | The Hour Is Coming and Now Is

THE HOUR IS NEAR

CHRYSOSTOM: Jesus provides proof by his works, saying, “The hour comes” and then adds, “and now is” to let us know that it will not be long before that hour comes…. For just as in the future resurrection we are roused by hearing his voice speaking to us, [1] so it is now. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 39.2. [2]

[1] 1 Thess 4:16.

[2] NPNF 1 14:139**.

BOTH FATHER AND SON RAISE

AUGUSTINE: Some one might ask Jesus: The Father raises the one who believes in him. But what about you? Do you not raise? Observe that the Son also raises whomever he wants… “the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.” TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 23.14. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:157**; CCL 36:243.

THE CREATOR OF ADAM WILL RECREATE US

APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTIONS: The one who made the body of Adam out of the earth will raise up the bodies of the rest, and that of the first man, after their decay… He, therefore, who brings about that decay will himself bring about the resurrection. And he who said, “The Lord took dust from the ground, and formed man and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul,” [1] added after humanity’s disobedience, “Earth you are, and to earth you shall return.” [2] This same one promised us resurrection afterwards, for he says, “All that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those that hear shall live.” CONSTITUTIONS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES 5.1.7. [3]

“THE DEAD” INDICATES THE FLESH

TERTULLIAN: Thus, in the present instance, we have the Spirit giving life to the flesh, which has been subdued by death. For “the hour,” he says, “is coming, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” Now, what is “the dead” but the flesh? And what is “the voice of God” but the Word? And what is the Word but the Spirit, [4] who shall justly raise the flesh that he had once himself become and that too from death, which he himself suffered, and from the grave, which he himself once entered? ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 37. [5]

[1] Gen 2:7.

[2] Gen 3:19.

[3] ANF 7:440*.

[4] Tertullian is speaking of the divine nature of the Son, not to be confused with the third person of the Trinity.

[5] ANF 3:572*.

THOSE WHO BELIEVE WILL LIVE

AUGUSTINE: So those who do not hear [the voice] will not live. What is the meaning of “those who hear it”? Those who believe and obey it, they are the ones who shall live. So before they believed and obeyed, they were lying there dead; they were walking around, and they were dead. What were they good for, walking around dead? And yet if any of them were to die in the body, people would scurry about, dig the grave, put the corpse in a coffin, carry it out—and the dead would bury the dead, of whom it is said, “Let the dead bury their dead.” [1] SERMON 127.7. [2]

[1] Lk 9:60.

[2] WSA 3 4:285*.

5:26 | The Father Has Life in Himself

LIFE “IN HIMSELF”

AUGUSTINE: Why did he add “in himself”? It would suffice for him to say, “For as the Father has life, so he has given to the Son also to have life.” And yet, he has added “in himself.”

For if the Father has life in himself, the Son also has life in himself. He intended for us to understand something when he said “in himself.” A secret is locked up here in this word; let there be knocking that it may be opened. [1] O Lord, what is it that you said? Why did you add “in himself”? For did not the apostle Paul whom you made to live have life? “He did,” he says. Dead people may live again and may pass by believing in your word. When they have passed, will they not have life in you? “They will have; for I said a little before, ‘He who hears my words and believes him who sent me has life everlasting.’” Therefore, those who believe in you have life—and you did not say “in themselves.” But when you were speaking about the Father, you said, “As the Father has life in himself.” Again when you were speaking about yourself you said, “So he has given to the Son also to have life in himself.” As he has, so he has given. Where does he have it? “In himself.” Where has he given it? “In himself.” Where does Paul have it? Not in himself, but in Christ. Where do you, a man of faith have it? Not in yourself, but in Christ. Let us see if the apostle says this: “And I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me.” [2] TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 22.9.1-2. [3]

[1] See Lk 11:9.

[2] See Gal 2:20.

[3] FC 79:205*.

THE FATHER GIVES AND THE SON RECEIVES

AUGUSTINE: “As the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son also to have life in himself.” Therefore, [the Son] does not live by participation; rather, he lives without change and in every respect is, himself, life. The Father has given the Son to have life. As the Father has, so he has given. What difference is there? The difference is that the one has given, the other has received. Did the Son already exist when he received? Do we understand that Christ was once without light when he is himself the wisdom of the Father about which it was said, “It is the brightness of eternal life?” [1]

Therefore, when it says, “He has given to the Son” it is as if he said, “He begat a Son,” since the Father gave by begetting. [2] Just as the Father gave the son to be, he also gave him to be life and he gave him to be life in himself. What does it mean to be life in himself? It means that he would not need life from any other source. It means that he himself would be the fullness of life out of which others, who believe in him, might [truly] have life while they live. Therefore “He has given to him to have life in himself.” He has given to whom? He has given, so to speak, to his Word, to him who “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” [3] TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 22.10.3-4. [4]

[1] Cf. Wis 7:26.

[2] See also Ambrose On the Christian Faith 3.16.133 (NPNF 2 10:261).

[3] Cf. Jn 1:1.

[4] FC 79:207*.

LIFE GIVES BIRTH TO LIFE

HILARY OF POITIERS: He bore witness that life, to the fullest extent, is his gift from the living God. Now if the living Son was born from the living Father, that birth took place without a new nature coming into existence. Nothing new comes into existence when the living is begotten by the living, for life was not sought out from the nonexistent in order to receive birth. And life, which receives its birth from life, must—because of that unity of nature and because of the mysterious event of that perfect and ineffable birth— live always in [Christ], who lives and has the life of the living in himself. ON THE TRINITY 7.27. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:130*.

JESUS SPEAKS OF HIS HUMAN NATURE

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: The Father, he says, gave him his same ability to raise [from the dead] and conferred on him the same power to judge. And, as far as saying these things about the man [Jesus], he is correct because in his union with the Word he received omnipotence like the Father has. [1] COMMENTARY ON JOHN 2.5.26-27. [2]

[1] The Syriac again evidences a sharp distinction between the divine and human natures of Christ.

[2] CSCO 4 3:118.

5:27 | Authority to Execute Judgment

AS HE WAS JUDGED, SO SHALL HE JUDGE

AUGUSTINE: The Son of man will be the judge here. That form will pass judgment here that had judgment passed on it here. Listen and understand. The prophet had long ago said the same thing: “They will see the one whom they pierced.” [1] They will see the very form that they struck with a lance. He will take his seat as judge, the very one who stood before a judge. He will condemn the truly guilty, the very one who was found falsely guilty. He is the one who will come and it is in the form [of man] that he will come [to judge]. SERMON 127.10. [2]

[1] Zech 12:10.

[2] WSA 3 4:287*.

HE IS NOT OUR JUDGE BECAUSE HE IS THE SON OF MAN

AMMONIUS. Some think that it should read, “He gave him authority also to execute judgment because he is the Son of man.” But this connection makes no sense, for he is not our judge “because he is the Son of man,” but rather because he is the Son of God. That is why he is our judge. FRAGMENTS ON JOHN 167. [1]

[1] JKGK 238. In 5:28 below, Chrysostom identifies Paul of Samosata as the one Ammonius has in mind. This passage can, however, also be understood as Theodore interprets it, i.e., the human nature is given the power to judge.

5:28 | Do Not Marvel at This

JESUS’ OUTWARD APPEARANCE MAY CAUSE SKEPTICISM

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: But when he realized that such a lofty speech was quite above his visible nature, he added, “Do not be astonished at this.”… By considering this visible nature, he says, have no doubts about what I said, that is, about the hour that is coming, when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out. There will be division among them, and each will have his retribution according to his merit. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 2.5.28-29. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:119.

DO NOT LET OUTWARD APPEARANCES FOOL YOU

CHRYSOSTOM: Paul of Samosata reads it, “Has given him power to execute judgment because he is the Son of man.” But this connection has no meaning, for Jesus does not receive the power to judge because he was human (otherwise, on this supposition, what would prevent everyone from being judges), but because he is the ineffable Son of God. This is the reason he is called Judge. We must read it then, “Because he is the Son of man, do not marvel at this.” The fact that Christ’s hearers thought he was a mere man, coupled with the fact that what he asserted of himself was too lofty to be true of people (or even angels or of any being short of God himself), was a strong obstacle in the way of their believing. Our Lord notices this and removes this obstacle. “Do not marvel,” he says, “that he is the Son of man. For the hour is coming when all who are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God.” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 39.3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:140**.

THE RESURRECTION WILL BE BODILY

TERTULLIAN: None will, after such words, be able to interpret the dead “that are in the graves” as any other than the bodies of the flesh, because the graves themselves are nothing but the resting place of corpses. It is incontestable that even those who partake of “the old man,” that is to say, sinful people— in other words, those who are dead through their ignorance of God (whom our heretics foolishly insist on understanding by the word graves)—are plainly here spoken of as having to come from their graves for judgment. But how are graves to come forth from graves?

After the Lord’s words, what are we to think of the purport of his actions when he raises dead persons from their biers and their graves? To what end did he do so? If it was only for the mere exhibition of his power or to afford the temporary favor of restoration to life, it was really no great matter for him to raise people to die over again. If, however, as was the truth, it was rather to put in secure keeping people’s belief in a future resurrection, then it must follow from the particular form of his own examples that the resurrection mentioned will be a bodily one. ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 37-38. [1]

[1] ANF 3:572*.

5:29 | The Resurrection of Life and the Resurrection of Condemnation

RESURRECTION TO ETERNAL LIFE OR ETERNAL DEATH

AUGUSTINE: The apostle answers you and says: I know what I am talking about. You say the pagans are delivered from the body of this death, because the last day of this life is coming, and they will be released in due time from the body of this death. The day is also coming “when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice, and those who have done good will come forth to the resurrection of life.” There you have the ones delivered from the body of this death. But he also says, “Those who have done evil will come to the resurrection of judgment.” See, they will return to the body of this death. The body of this death is coming back to the wicked. They will never be released from it. Then it will not be eternal life but eternal death, because it is eternal punishment. SERMON 154.16. [1]

[1] WSA 3 5:77.

PICTURE THE FINAL JUDGMENT

BASIL THE GREAT: Think again of your last day…. The distress, the gasping for breath, the hour of death, the imminent sentence of God, the angels hastening on their way, the soul fearfully dismayed and lashed to agony by the consciousness of sin, turning itself piteously to things of this life and to the inevitable necessity of that long life to be lived elsewhere. Picture to me, as it rises in your imagination, the conclusion of all human life, when the Son of God shall come in his glory with his angels… when he shall come to judge the quick and dead to give to everyone according to what they have done. LETTER 46.5. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 8:151*.

TWO OPPOSITE HUMAN FATES

GREGORY OF NAZIANZUS: Those who have done good shall go into the resurrection of life, now hidden in Christ [1] and to be manifested hereafter with him. And those who have done evil shall go into the resurrection of judgment to which those who have not believed have been condemned already by the word, which judges them. [2] Some will be welcomed by the unspeakable light and the vision of the holy and royal Trinity, which now shines on them with greater brilliancy and purity and unites itself wholly to the whole soul…. The others… must endure the being outcast from God and the shame of conscience which has no limit. ON HIS FATHER’S SILENCE, ORATION 16.9. [3]

[1] Col 3:3.

[2] HE WORD IN THE BEGINNING | JOHN 1:1

[3] NPNF 2 7:250.