ACC ~ John 6 v44

JESUS NOT SUBORDINATE TO THE FATHER

AMBROSE: And you say that the Son of God is subject by reason of weakness—the Son, to whom the Father brings men and women that he may raise them up in the last day. Does this seem in your eyes to be subjection where the kingdom is prepared for the Father and the Father brings it to the Son? There is no place for perversion of words since the Son gives the kingdom to the Father and none is preferred before him. For as the Father gives to the Son, and the Son, again, to the Father, here are plain proofs of love and regard: seeing that they [i.e., Father and Son] give to each other that neither he who receives obtains, as it were, what was another’s, nor he that gives loses anything. ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 2.12.104. [1]

CHRIST LEADS TO THE FATHER AND THE FATHER TO CHRIST

HILARY OF POITIERS:

There is no approach to the Father except through Christ. But there is also no approach to Christ, unless the Father draws us. ON THE TRINITY 11.33. [2]

[1] NPNF 2 10:237-38*.

[2] NPNF 2 9:212-13*.

WE HAVE COME TO CHRIST BY THE GIFT OF FAITH

AUGUSTINE: How have you come? You have come by believing, but you have not yet come through to the end. We are still on the road. We have come, but we have not yet come through. “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice before him with trembling, in case the Lord might be angry and you perish from the way of justice.” [1] When you arrogate to yourself the discovery of the way of justice, be afraid of perishing from the way of justice through this very arrogance. “I have come,” he says, “I have come of my own accord, I have come of my own free will.” Why such consternation? Do you want to hear that even this much has been bestowed on you as well? Listen to him calling: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” [2] SERMON 30.10. [3]

[1] Ps 2:11-12.

[2] Jn 6:44.

[3] WSA 3 2:129*. Chrysostom attributes a great role to the will; see Homilies on the Gospel of John 46.1.

THE REVELATION OF TRUTH IS THE DRAWING

AUGUSTINE: Do not think that you are drawn against your will. The soul is drawn also by love…. And in case someone says to us, “How can I believe with the will if I am drawn?” I say that it is not enough to be drawn by the will; you are drawn even by delight. What is it to be drawn by delight? “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he shall give you the desires of your heart.” [1] There is a certain craving of the heart to which that bread of heaven is sweet. If the poet could say, “Every person is drawn by his own pleasure” [2] —not necessity but pleasure; not obligation but delight—how much more boldly ought we to say that a person is drawn to Christ when he delights in the truth, when he delights in blessedness, delights in righteousness, delights in everlasting life? Do not the bodily senses have their pleasures, and the soul its?… Give me one who loves, who longs, who burns, who sighs for the source of his being and his eternal home, and he will know what I mean….

But why did he say, “Except my Father draw him”? If we are to be drawn, let us be drawn by him to whom his love said, “We will run after the fragrance of your ointment.” [3] But let us see what is meant by this. The Father draws to the Son those who believe on the Son because they consider that God is his Father. For the Father begat the Son equal to himself. And those who think and believe truly and seriously that he on whom they believe is equal to the Father, these are the ones the Father draws to the Son. Arius believed the Son to be a creature; the Father did not draw [Arius]…. One whom the Father has drawn said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” [4] … And so was said, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father which is in heaven.” [5] This revelation is itself the drawing…. For if earthly objects, when put before us, draw us… how much more shall Christ, when revealed by the Father? For what does the soul long for more than truth?… Here, we can more easily be hungered than satisfied, especially if we have good hope…. There, we shall be filled…. This is why he adds, “And I will raise him up at the last day,” as if he said, he shall be filled with that for which he now thirsts at the resurrection of the dead, for I will raise him up. TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 26.4-6. [6]

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

[2] Lat trahit sua quemque voluptas (Virgil Eclogue 2.65).

[3] Song 1:3.

[4] Mt 16:16.

[5] Mt 16:17.

[6] NPNF 1 7:169-70**.