ACC ~ John 5 v30 - 47

OVERVIEW:

The Son can do nothing on his own but does everything through the power of the Trinity (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA). Christ’s will is in concert with that of the Father and the Spirit (CHRYSOSTOM), while in our fallen nature we seek to do our own will (AUGUSTINE). No one who comes on the authority of another establishes that authority as his own (TERTULLIAN). And so Christ alludes to another, John the Baptist, as one who testifies on his behalf (THEODORE) and as someone whom the people would believe (CHRYSOSTOM) because he was sent by God (EPHREM). John was only a lamp; everyone, including the apostles and prophets, is only a lamp in comparison with Christ, who is the true light (AUGUSTINE). Christ did not need John’s testimony but welcomed his lamp of testimony, which, even in its increase, prepared for its own extinction with the coming dominance of the sun (EPHREM).

Christ’s works are evidence that he has been sent by the Father since the works he does could be done by no one else. And they demonstrate that Father and Son possess one inseparable nature (HILARY). Despite his appearances to Moses and the prophets, Jesus says that they never heard or saw God. He says this in order to impress on his hearers that God is above our anthropomorphic language (CHRYSOSTOM), but also that his voice and form were standing in front of them (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA) since the Word of God is the form of his Father (ATHANASIUS). This, however, can only be apprehended by faith, which they do not have, and so they miss out on the treasures and the power for life that the Scriptures offer them (CHRYSOSTOM, SAHDONA). But Jesus is not as concerned for the glory they give him as much as their response to his rebuke, which he hopes will turn them toward virtue (THEODORE).

Psalm 118 (117 LXX) prophesied of the one who would come in the name of the Lord his Father but would be rejected (EUSEBIUS).The antichrist will come in his own name and will be received more readily than Christ (HILARY) by those who follow a similar inclination toward their own glory, rather than that of the Father. The antichrist makes this kind of glory look much more appealing (THEODORE), but it will always come up short for those who seek human honor over God’s (CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA).

Jesus appeals to their own authorities in his accusations. They, however, do not even believe Moses, who taught about Christ (CHRYSOSTOM) in the very words of Christ (Irenaeus) and who was given the law by Christ the Mediator (HILARY). But Christ is hidden in the law as a kernel of barley is hidden in the husk (AUGUSTINE).

5:30 | The Son Can Do Nothing on His Own Authority

THE SON WORKS THROUGH THE POWER OF THE HOLY TRINITY

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Since the Son is of one essence with the Father, by his nature he possesses all the characteristics of him who begat him and essentially attains to one Godhead with him by reason of [his] nature. He is in the Father, and likewise he has the Father in himself. Thus, he [properly] attributes to the Father the power of his own works, not excluding himself from the power of doing them but attributing all things to the operation of the one Godhead. For there is one Godhead in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit…. Since he was made man and in the form of a servant he, who as God and Lord is the lawgiver, is himself also made under the law. Therefore, sometimes he exists as though under the law and sometimes as though above the law—and has undisputed authority for both. But, he is speaking now with the Jews as a law-abiding man, as one who is not able to transgress the commands ordered from above or venturing to do anything of his own mind that is contrary to the divine law. This is why he says, “I can do nothing on my own authority; as I hear, I judge.” COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.9. [1]

[1] LF 43:276, 278**.

THE JUDGMENT OF THE FATHER IS THAT OF THE SON ALSO

CHRYSOSTOM: Christ’s meaning is nothing other than this: I do not have a will different and apart from that of the Father. Rather, if [the Father] desires anything, then I do as well. If I desire it, then so does he. Since therefore no one could object to the Father judging, so neither may anyone object to me, for the sentence of each is given from the same mind.” And if [Jesus] utters these words rather as a man, do not be surprised that they still considered him to be a mere man…. “For as in the case of people, [he might say], one who is free from selfishness cannot be justly charged with having given an unfair decision, so neither will you now be able to accuse me. One who has his own ends in view may incur suspicion of injustice, but one who does not have his own interests at heart cannot be suspected of such injustice.” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 39.4. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:141-42**.

WE WANT TO DO OUR OWN WILL

AUGUSTINE: The only Son says, “I seek not my own will,” and yet we want to do our own will! See how low the one who is equal to the Father humbles himself!… Let us then do the will of the Father, Christ and Holy Spirit, for this Trinity has one will, power and majesty. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 22.15. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 7:150*.

5:31 | If I Testify About Myself

A WITNESS DOES NOT TESTIFY ABOUT HIMSELF

TERTULLIAN: No one who comes on the authority of another establishes that authority as his own but rather guards against such an understanding, for first must come the support of the one who gives him his authority. Now, [Christ] will not be acknowledged as Son if the Father never called him this. Nor will people believe he is the sent One if no sender gave him a commission. AGAINST MARCION 3.2. [1]

[1] ANF 3:322*.

5:32 | Another Bears Witness to Me

JESUS HINTS AT THE TESTIMONY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Since they were about to object to the words pronounced by our Lord about himself: “Your words are not true, nor worthy to be accepted, because you bear testimony about yourself”—since in their argument with him they were about to put forward this objection, our Lord forestalled them by saying, “You must not accept me as true, because I bear testimony to myself: this is what you undoubtedly mean. But you would have the right to say such a thing if I were the only one to bear testimony about myself. But now someone else said other things that were similar to my words about me, and he was a very trustworthy witness.” COMMENTARY ON JOHN 2.5.31-32. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:122.

5:33-34 | John Sent as Witness to the Truth

THE WITNESS OF JOHN

CHRYSOSTOM: What Jesus says is like this: I, being God, did not need the witness of John, which is a human witness. And yet, because you listened to him and believe that he is more trustworthy than anyone else, and because you ran to him as to a prophet (for “all the city came out to the Jordan”) and, finally, because you have not believed on me even when I performed miracles, therefore I remind you of that witness of his. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 40.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:145*.

JOHN IS TRUSTWORTHY BECAUSE HE WAS SENT FROM GOD

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: If he [our Lord] was not receiving testimony from human beings, why did he go to John to receive testimony from him? John, however, was sent from God: “He who sent us spoke to me.” [1] Through John, the Father was testifying about him, just as he [our Lord] said, “Moses also wrote about me,” along with other statements. COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 13.11. [2]

[1] See Jn 1:33.

[2] CB709:110..

5:35 | A Burning, Shining Lamp

THE PROPHETS AND APOSTLES ARE LAMPS OF GOD

AUGUSTINE: All people are lamps because they can both be lighted and extinguished…. Only [Christ] is not a lamp. For he is not lighted and extinguished, because “as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son to have life in himself.” Therefore, the apostles, too, are lamps. And they give thanks because they both have been kindled by the light of truth and burn with the Spirit of love, and the oil of God’s grace is available to them. If they were not lamps, the Lord would not say to them, “You are the light of the world.” [1] For after he said, “You are the light of the world,” he shows that they should not think they were such a light as that of which it is said, “It was the true light that enlightens everyone who comes into this world.” [2] TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 23.3.1-2. [3]

[1] See Mt 5:14.

[2] Jn 1:9.

[3] FC 79:213-14*.

JOHN’S LIGHT WAS DIMMING

EPHREM THE SYRIAN: “He [John] was a lamp that was burning,” which even as it grew was also passing away, for he was shining in the night so that he might show that the appointed time of the sun’s power was fading, and its beams of light were vanishing. COMMENTARY ON TATIAN’S DIATESSARON 13.10. [1]

[1] CB709:108.

5:36 | The Works Testify That Christ Is Sent by the Father

THE WORKS ARE EVIDENCE OF SONSHIP

HILARY OF POITIERS: God the Only Begotten proves his Sonship by an appeal not only to the name but to the power. The works that he does are evidence that he has been sent by the Father. What, I [Hilary] ask, is the fact that these works prove? They prove that he was sent. That he was sent, in turn, is used as a proof of his Son-like obedience and of his Father’s authority. For the works that he does could not possibly be done by any other than the one who is sent by the Father…. Open the Gospel volumes and examine the whole range of their content…. No testimony of the Father to the Son is given in any of the books other than that he is the Son. So it is nothing short of deception when people now say that this is only a name of adoption, thus making God a liar and names without meaning. ON THE TRINITY 6.27. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:107**.

CHRIST WORKS THE WORKS, AND THE FATHER TESTIFIES THROUGH THEM

HILARY OF POITIERS: Are they blameless, in that they did not know the testimony of the Father who was never heard or seen among them and whose word was not abiding in them? No, for they cannot plead that his testimony was hidden from them. As Christ says, the testimony of his works is the testimony of the Father concerning him. His works testify of him that he was sent of the Father; but the testimony of these works is the Father’s testimony. Since, therefore, the working of the Son is the Father’s testimony, it follows of necessity that the same nature was operative in Christ, by which the Father testifies of him. So Christ, who does the works, and the Father, who testifies through them, are revealed as possessing one inseparable nature through the birth, for the work that Christ does is shown itself to be the testimony of God concerning him. ON THE TRINITY 9.20. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:161-62.

5:37 | The Father’s Voice Unheard, His Form Not Seen

ANTHROPOMORPHIC LANGUAGE AND GOD

CHRYSOSTOM: How then did God speak and Moses answered? [1] How did David hear a tongue that he did not know? [2] Did people ever hear the voice of God [speaking out of the midst of the fire], as you [Moses] have heard his voice and seen his shape? [3] Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel are said to have seen him, and many others. So what does Christ mean here? He means to impress upon them the philosophical understanding that God has neither voice nor shape but is superior to such modes of speaking about him. For as in saying, “You have never heard his voice,” he does not mean to say that he has a voice but that they just cannot hear it. And also, when he says, “Nor have they ever seen his form,” no tangible, sensible or visible shape is implied to belong to God…. But why, he says, do I bring these things up? I do so because not only have you never heard his voice or seen his shape, but it is not even in your power to assert what you are most proud and assured of: that you have received and kept his commandments. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 40.3. [4]

[1] See Ex 19:19.

[2] Ps 81:5.

[3] Deut 4:33.

[4] NPNF 1 14:146**.

VOICE AND FORM ARE STANDING IN FRONT OF THEM

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: The puffed-up Pharisees liked to pretend that the divine Word was with them and in them and that they had come to an advanced level of wisdom…. But here they are, rejecting the living and hypostatic [1] Word of God. Their faith was not directed toward him. Instead they dishonored the impress of God the Father and refused to behold his most true form (so to say) through his God-befitting authority and power. For the divine and ineffable nature is in no other way apprehended (so far as it may be) by us than through what it effects and works. This is why Paul directs us to go from the greatness and beauty of the creatures to the proportionately higher contemplation of the Creator. [2] … This is why Jesus finds fault with Philip, who thoughtlessly imagined that he could in any other way attain to the contemplation of God the Father. It was in Philip’s power, however, to consider Jesus’ uncreated image, which shows accurately in himself the One who begat him. [3] COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 3.2. [4]

[1] A technical term that Cyril often uses to refer to the person of Christ in the Trinity.

[2] See Rom 1:20.

[3] See Jn 14:9.

[4] LF 43:300**.

5:38 | His Word Does Not Abide in You

THE WORD IS THE FORM OF HIS FATHER

ATHANASIUS: It is most appropriate that he joins the “Word” to the “form” here to show that the Word of God is himself the image and expression and form of his Father. The Jews who did not receive the one who spoke to them thus did not receive the Word, which is the form of God. This too was who the patriarch Jacob saw when he received a blessing from him and the name of Israel instead of Jacob. [1] … And this is he who said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father,” [2] and “I in the Father and the Father in me” [3] and “I and the Father are one.” [4] For in this way God is one and so is the faith in the Father and the Son. For even though the Word is God, the Lord our God is one Lord. DISCOURSES AGAINST THE ARIANS 3.25.16. [5]

[1] See Gen 32:28-29 (32:29-30 LXX).

[2] Jn 14:9.

[3] Jn 14:11.

[4] Jn 10:30.

[5] NPNF 2 4:403*.

SCRIPTURES EVERYWHERE TELL THEM OF CHRIST

CHRYSOSTOM: It was not even in their power to assert what they boasted the most about, that is, that they had received and obeyed God’s commands. Therefore he adds, “You do not have his word abiding in you,” that is, the commandments, the Law and the Prophets. Although God instituted them, you do not have them. For if the Scriptures everywhere tell you to believe in me and you still do not believe, it is clear that his word has departed from you. “For you do not believe him whom he has sent.” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 40.3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:146**.

5:39 | Search the Scriptures for Christ

FINDING THE FATHER’S TESTIMONY

CHRYSOSTOM: They might say to him: How, if we have never heard God’s voice, has God borne witness to you? And so, Jesus says to them, “Search the Scriptures…” meaning that the Father had borne witness of him by the Scriptures. Indeed, he had borne witness at the Jordan and on the mountain [of transfiguration]…. But they did not hear the voice on the mountain and did not listen to it at the Jordan. This is why he sends them to the Scriptures, where they would also find the Father’s testimony. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 40.3. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:146**.

DO NOT ONLY READ BUT ALSO EXAMINE SCRIPTURE

CHRYSOSTOM: He tells them not to simply “read the Scriptures” but “search the Scriptures.”…These sayings were not on the surface or out in the open but were hidden very deep like some treasure. Anyone who searches for hidden things, unless they are careful and diligent, will never find the object of their search. This is why he says…, “For in them you think you have eternal life,” meaning that they did not reap much fruit from the Scriptures, thinking, as they did, that they should be saved by the mere reading of them, without faith…. And so, it was with good reason that he said “you think,” because they did not actually listen to what the Scripture had to say but merely prided themselves on the bare reading. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 41.1. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:147-48**.

THE SCRIPTURES CONTAIN ALL THE WISDOM OF LIFE

SAHDONA: For all the wisdom of life is hidden in the Scriptures. In them we are able to gain knowledge of God and of his creative activity, of his wonderful governance and providence; likewise of his goodness and, at the same time of his righteousness, and, in sum, of his great and mighty power. [1] Anyone who is deprived of a knowledge of the Scriptures cannot withstand the power of God. [2] … It is from the Scriptures that we learn how to travel on the road of virtue, for in them all the fine deeds of the just life are delineated. One cannot see anything without light, for it is light that enables us to see, as it is written, “By light we see light.” [3] Similarly, without the light of the Scriptures we are unable to see God, who is light, [4] or his justice, which is filled with light. [5] The effort involved in reading the Scriptures is thus greatly beneficial to us, all the more so since it causes us to become illumined in prayer. For anyone whose soul, after having labored in reading and having been purified by spiritual meditation, is fervent with love for God, will pray in a luminous manner when he turns to prayer and the divine office, and he will recite the psalms without distraction. This is because his mind has labored in meditation on divine providence and so is filled with joy. BOOK OF PERFECTION 49-51. [6]

[1] See Eph 1:19.

[2] He cites Mt 22:29 and our text.

[3] Ps 36:9 (35:10 LXX).

[4] See 1 Jn 1:5.

[5] See Ps 37:6 (36:6 LXX).

[6] CS 101:222-23*.

5:41-42 | I Do Not Accept Glory from Human Beings

THE GLORY THEY GIVE IS USELESS WITHOUT THE LOVE OF GOD

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: After he had rebuked with all these words those who did not want to believe in him, and after he had confirmed with different [arguments] those words said about him, he opportunely rejected the foolish conclusion that had followed his words by saying: I do not accept glory from human beings. But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I have used these words not because I want glory from you or because I expect that your faith will be an advantage for me, but so that I might reprove you since you do not have the love of God. And, with the pretext of the love for God, you even eagerly persecute me as if I were vainly or even impiously boasting equality with him. So, I reprove you in order that you might turn to virtue after being rebuked. He then said aptly: ou lambanō, that is, “I do not accept” the glory given to me. My nature does not increase in dignity through the glory of people. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 2.5.41-42. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:125-26.

5:43 | Jesus Has Come in His Father’s Name

HIS COMING IN THE NAME OF THE LORD

EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: Holy Scripture records that this prophecy [1] was fulfilled when our Lord and Savior Christ entered Jerusalem…. And the words “blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord” explain the words that follow: “The Lord is God and has appeared to us.” [2] It was, then, one and the same Lord God who appeared to them, that is to say, the Word of God. It is he who is therefore blessed, because he came among people in the name of the Lord his Father who sent him. It was therefore to reprove the Jews who disbelieved in him that he said, “I came in the name of my Father, and you received me not. But if one comes in his own name, him will you receive.” So the Holy Spirit suitably addressed the opening verses of the psalm not to the Jewish people but to all the nations. PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 6.8.2-3. [3]

[1] Ps 117-118 (116-117 LXX).

[2] Ps 118:27 (117:27 LXX).

[3] POG 2:8*. See also Proof of the Gospel 9.18 (POG 2:189).

ANTICHRIST RECEIVED MORE READILY THAN CHRIST

HILARY OF POITIERS: Jesus comes in the name of the Father, that is, he is not himself the Father and yet is in the same divine nature as the Father. For as Son and God it is natural for him to come in the name of the Father. But then, when another comes in the same name [ironically] he is the one they will receive. And he is one from whom people will expect glory and to whom they will give glory in return, though he will pretend to have come in the name of the Father. By this, doubtless, is signified the antichrist, glorying in his false use of the Father’s name. He is the one they will glorify, and they will be glorified by him. But the glory of him who alone is God they will not seek. ON THE TRINITY 9.22. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:162*. See also Irenaeus Against Heresies 5.25.4 (ANF 1:554).

THOSE WHO FOLLOW ANTICHRIST ACT ACCORDING TO INCLINATION

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: I [Jesus says] refer what I say and do to the Father, because my glory is the glory of my Father. Therefore I lead you to the Father and do not offer a pretext for your unbelief. But he [i.e., antichrist] will come and will not mention the Father. Instead he will do all his works for his own glory. He will tell everyone that he is god by showing himself to be great and admirable before all. And then you will take refuge in him, and you will stay firm in your resolve without resorting to the pretext of your love for God or the intervention of the Father. And from all that you do now and you will do then, it is evident that you act according to your inclination to evil. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 2.5.43. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:128.

5:44 | The Only Worthwhile Glory

ANTICHRIST PROMISES EASE

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Since I, he says, lead you to God without promising anything magnificent in this life, you run away from me because my words are difficult. But the other one shows all his glory in this life by promising great security and dignity to those who believe in him. And so you, enticed by the greed of this life, take refuge in him. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 2.5.44. [1]

[1] CSCO 4 3:129.

HUNTING FOR HONOR AMONG PEOPLE COMES UP SHORT

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: He accuses the Pharisees of a love for power and of prizing honors from people. He is covertly hinting that it is exceedingly inadvisable to put the diseases of their own soul [1] on God, who can by no means have anything to do with disease. He goes on to say that they, held fast by an empty kind of glory, thereby lose the fairest prize, meaning faith in him. Paul speaks clearly of this too when he says, “For if I were yet pleasing people, I should not be Christ’s servant.” [2] It is almost always necessarily the case that those who hunt for honors from people fail when it comes to the glory that comes from above and from the only God. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 3.2. [3]

[1] Pride.

[2] Gal 1:10.

[3] LF 43:303-4**.

5:45 | Moses Is Your Accuser

JESUS USES THEIR OWN AUTHORITIES

CHRYSOSTOM: See how he takes away all of their excuses:… You maintain that you believe in Moses in what you dare to do against me, he says. I, on the contrary, show that this is the worst kind of misbelief in Moses you can think of. I am so far from opposing that law that he who shall accuse you is none other than the man who gave you the law. In other words, he says now of Moses what he had said of the Scriptures above, “In them you think you have eternal life.” And so here he speaks of Moses as someone “in whom you trust.” Jesus is always answering them from their own authorities. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 41.2. [1]

[1] NPNF 1 14:149**.

5:46-47 | Moses Wrote About Christ

IN EVERY WAY CHRIST FULFILLS MOSES’ PROPHECY

CHRYSOSTOM: Someone might say, “What do you have to do with Moses when you broke the very sabbath that he ordained we should keep? How then does Moses accuse us? And why should we believe on someone else who comes in his own name? All these assertions you make have no evidence to back them up.” Now in truth all these points are proved above. “For,” [Christ would reply] “since it is acknowledged that I came from God by my works, by the voice of John and the testimony of the Father, it is certain that Moses too would condemn you.” For Moses had said that if any one shall come doing miracles, leading people to God and foretelling the future with certainty, [1] you must obey him. Now Christ had done all this. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 41.2. [2]

[1] See Deut 13:1, although there they were commanded to put the prophet to death if he was a false prophet.

[2] NPNF 1 14:149*.

CHRIST’S WORDS

IRENAEUS: Christ here indicates in the clearest possible way that the writings of Moses are his words. If, then, this is the case with Moses, then it is also beyond doubt that the words of the other prophets are his words as well. AGAINST HERESIES 4.2.3. [1]

[1] ANF 1:464**.

THE MEDIATOR GAVE THE LAW TO MOSES

HILARY OF POITIERS: Moses, indeed, will refute you with the whole volume of the law, ordained through angels, which he received by the hand of the Mediator. Enquire whether he who gave the law was not true God, for the Mediator was the Giver. And was it not to meet God that Moses led the people out to the mountain? Was it not God who came down onto the mountain? Or was it, perhaps, only by a fiction or an adoption, and not by right of nature, that he who did all this bore the name of God?… In your eyes is he not God just because he addressed you through the weak faculties of a man so that you might hear and live? ON THE TRINITY 5.23. [1]

[1] NPNF 2 9:91-92*.

THE KERNEL IS HIDDEN IN THE HUSK

AUGUSTINE: But just as in barley the kernel is hidden in the husk, so Christ is hidden under the wraps of the mysteries of the law. Like bread, those mysteries are expounded and expanded. SERMON 130.1. [1]

[1] WSA 3 4:310.