Chapter 14

Chapter XIV.


Second, the disciples are strengthened by the word of instruction and consolation in three ways.

1. And he said to his disciples: Let not [your heart] be troubled, etc. Above, the Lord strengthened his disciples by example; in this part he strengthens them by the word of instruction: and this part contains three chapters and is divided into three. In the first part, the Lord instructs them to be steadfast in faith: in the second, in love: and this begins at the start of the fifteenth chapter: I am the true vine: in the third, in the expectation of hope, shortly after the beginning of the sixteenth chapter: But these things I have told you from the beginning.

First, concerning steadfastness in faith, three things are set forth.

The first part, which contains the present chapter, has three parts. In the first, the Lord exhorts to steadfast faith. In the second, because "faith without works is dead," he exhorts to good works, at the passage: If you love me, keep my commandments. In the third, he foretells the hastening of his departure, at the passage: These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.

First, therefore, he exhorts the disciples not to waver in faith on account of his departure, showing them first the manner of departing: second, the way: third, the destination: fourth, the fruit.

(Verse 1). He therefore first exhorts them that, considering the manner of departing, they should not be troubled by his departure nor fail in faith, but rather believe. Therefore he says: Let not your heart be troubled, but let it believe: whence: You believe in God, believe also in me. Let it not be troubled by absence, but believe in the absent one: just as you believe in God, whom you do not see. And the reason why they ought not to be troubled but to believe is this: namely, that the Lord does not depart from them entirely, but goes before them, so that he may again take them up to glory, in which there are many mansions already prepared according to eternal election, but still to be prepared according to merits: whence this word to prepare, according to Augustine's exposition, is taken in the text according to these two significations. Therefore the text should be read thus:

2. (Verse 2). In my Father's house there are many mansions, already prepared, that is, according to eternal election: for in Ephesians 1: "He chose us before the foundation of the world"; Jerome says: "In heaven diverse mansions are prepared for diverse virtues, which not persons receive, but works." Thus they are prepared. If not so, that is, if it were not so: whence another reading of Chrysostom, where it says: If not so, reads: "If indeed not," that is, if they were not prepared through predestination: I would have told you: For I go to prepare a place for you. But it is impossible that I should now prepare: because it is impossible that I should predestine anyone anew, as Augustine says. Therefore I said that "mansions are in the Father's house," already prepared through predestination, but still to be prepared through the merit of faith, which has its greatest merit in absence. Therefore he adds:

3. (Vers. 3.). And if I go and prepare a place for you, through your faith, namely, in my absence: whence Augustine says: "Let the Lord Jesus go and prepare a place; let him go, so that he may not be seen; let him be hidden, so that he may be believed. For then is a place prepared, if one lives by faith. Let him who is believed be desired, so that he who is desired may be possessed: the desire of love is the preparation of the dwelling." When I shall have thus prepared in my absence, I come again and will take you to myself, through glory, namely, that where I am, you also may be: above in the twelfth chapter: "If anyone serves me, let him follow me, and where I am, there let my servant also be." He therefore exhorts them to faith in his absence, because he absents himself for this reason, that faith may have merit. So Augustine and the Gloss read it.

4. The whole can nevertheless be expounded in one signification of this word to prepare, so that the sense is: Let not your heart be troubled, but believe in me; because in my Father's house there are many mansions, in which you will rest together with me, to which I prepare the way; therefore you ought not to grieve. But then you would have cause to grieve, if it were not so, I would have told you, that is, if I had not said: Because I go to prepare a place for you, I will take you up again, etc. But I have said this and I say it; whence: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again and will take you to myself, etc. However it may be read, an exhortation to faith is made.

5. (Vers. 4.). And where I go, you know. Here the second point is touched upon, namely the way of departure. And lest he should seem to them to be saying something new about his departure, he says that they knew both the way and the destination; therefore he says: And where I go, you know, and the way you know. But some of them did not fully understand; therefore they ask, namely Thomas and Philip; whence:

6. (Vers. 5.). Thomas says to him: Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way? Thomas the doubter was slow to understand, and this for our benefit: because, just as the denial of Peter was profitable for removing presumption, so the ignorance of Thomas was profitable for the strengthening and clarification of faith. Therefore the Lord assures him concerning the way and the destination; whence:

7. (Vers. 6.). Jesus says to him: I am the way, the truth, and the life. The truth and the life with respect to the destination, because the truth regards the intellect, the life regards the affection. I am the way for those seeking, the truth for those finding, the life for those remaining without death.

I am the way that does not err: Psalm: "They wandered in a pathless waste and not in the way." I am the truth that does not deceive: Psalm: "The Lord is faithful in all his words." The life that does not fail: Luke ten: "Mary has chosen the best part, which shall not be taken from her."

I am the way teaching: Proverbs 4: "I will lead you through the paths of equity, which when you have entered, your steps shall not be straitened, and running you shall have no stumbling block." I am the truth shining; Malachi, the last chapter: "The sun of justice shall arise for you who fear God." The life nourishing: above in the tenth chapter: "If anyone enters through me, he shall be saved: and he shall go in and go out and shall find pastures."

I am the way by example: above in the thirteenth chapter: "I have given you an example, that as I have done to you, so you also should do." I am the truth in promise: the Psalm: "What proceeds from my lips I shall not make void." I am the life in reward: Romans 6: "The wages of sin is death: but the grace of God is life eternal." And that he is the way, he shows: No one comes to the Father except through me, and through me one assuredly comes.

8. (Verse 7). If you had known me, you would certainly have known my Father also; because, as is said above in the tenth chapter, "I and the Father are one"; Matthew 11: "No one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal him." And from henceforth you shall know him, and you have seen him: you shall know him, namely in the coming of the Holy Spirit: below in the sixteenth chapter: "When that Spirit of truth shall come, he will teach you all truth." That word of Jeremiah 31 shall be verified in you: "I will give my law in their inward parts, and in their hearts I will write it."

9. (Verse 8). Philip says to him. Here the third point is touched upon, namely the terminus of Christ's departure, which Philip desired to see: on account of which Philip says to him: Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us, as if to say: we seek nothing further from you. For he is "all in all," 1 Corinthians 15. Not only he himself, but also his grace; 2 Corinthians 12: "My grace is sufficient for you." And because Philip was seeking what was not needful, therefore the Lord instructs Philip that he is seeking what he ought to have known: whence:

10. (Verse 9). Jesus says to him: I have been with you so long a time, and you have not known me? As if to say:

when you ask about the Father, you ask about me, whom you ought to know. Therefore he says: Philip, he who sees me sees also my Father. How do you say: Show us the Father? He sees with the eye of faith, according to which Abraham, Genesis 18, is said to have "seen three and adored one." And that he ought so to believe, he shows, because they are one: on account of which he says:

11. (Verse 10). Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? as one: as if to say: this you ought to believe. And he manifests this through his work: The words that I speak to you, I do not speak of myself: but the Father who abides in me, he does the works, and thus, if the operation is one, the substance also is one: above in the fifth chapter: "Whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner"; and in the eighth chapter: "Of myself I do nothing."

12. (Vers. 11.). Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? Simply, without persuasion, as right faith believes.

13. (Vers. 12.). Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves; above in the tenth chapter: "If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me." Whence Augustine says: "If we were separated, we could in no way work inseparably." And thus it has been explained where he had said he was going to go, because he was not going to the Father as to someone outside himself, but he wished to make them believe that he was equal to the Father. And indeed the disciples already knew this, because they believed him to be true God, and thus equal to the Father in all things: otherwise he would not be true God.

Amen, amen, I say to you. Here the fourth point is touched upon, namely the fruit or utility of Christ's departure in believers: on account of which he says: He who believes in me, the works that I do, he also shall do, and greater things than these shall he do: Matthew 17: "If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain: Move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you." And the reason for this is Christ's departure from us: therefore he adds: Because I go to the Father, namely, that I may appear before the face of God "to intercede for you"; therefore 1 John 2: "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ"; and therefore he says:

14. (Vers. 13.). Whatever you shall ask the Father in my name, this I will do. Therefore he says that we ought to ask the Father in the name of the Son, so that namely the Father may be glorified in the Son, because the Son does not seek his own glory, but the Father's: therefore it was said above in the seventh chapter: "He who seeks the glory of him who sent him, he is truthful." And for greater certainty, because a promise is made firmer by a double affirmation, therefore he adds:

15. (Vers. 14.). If you ask anything in my name, this I will do: and he does not repeat the name of the Father, to show that even if they ask from him himself, they obtain it, since he is equal to the Father; 1 John 3: "If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask, we shall receive from him."

Questions.


16. Question 1. But it is first asked concerning this, that the Lord says to the disciples: Where I go, you know, and the way you know:

1. Because Thomas immediately asks as one who is ignorant, and says that he does not know.

2. Likewise, Philip asks about the terminus, namely about the Father, and in this shows that he does not know: therefore either the Lord spoke falsely, or they were asking what they already knew.

To this there is a threefold response: in the first way, that the Lord was not speaking about all of them, but about some. But this solution is not fitting, because the Lord in the preceding passages excepted Judas: I do not speak of all of you.

In another way it is answered that they knew both the way and the terminus, but not under that aspect under which he was speaking, just as I know Coriscus, but not insofar as he is approaching: and therefore I can, while knowing Coriscus, inquire and doubt about him under the aspect of one approaching.

In another way it is said that they knew, but were not attending to it or actually considering it; and therefore Philip was rebuked for his lack of consideration.

17. Question II. But then there is a question about the Lord's response to Thomas: I am the way, the truth, and the life.

How is the same one, who goes, the way? How also is he himself the life and the terminus? This seems very unfitting.

It must be said that he himself is the one who goes, and through whom one travels, and to whom one arrives: and thus he is the truth, which goes; the way, through which one travels; the life, to which one arrives. And this is on account of the plurality of natures: because as man, he goes; because as God, he is the terminus; because as mediator of God and men, he makes the way.

18. Question III. Likewise there is a question about the response he gives to Philip: I have been with you for so long a time, and you have not known me?

It seems from this that Philip had not yet believed in Christ.

But then how was it said above to him that he was clean, since no one is clean except through faith?

If you say that he did believe: how then, since he says that the Father and the Son are of one essence, was he seeking to see the Father? It seems that he believed something contrary to the faith.

To this it must be said that Philip believed in him and believed him equal to the Father and one in substance; he believed this habitually. But because at that time he heard the Son speaking distinctly about the Father, he wanted and sought to see him distinctly: which he would not have sought if he had considered the unity of essence. Therefore from such a surreptitious movement he sinned venially, and therefore he is rebuked by the Lord.

19. Question IV. Likewise, what does he mean when he says: He who sees me sees the Father also?

For the Son was made visible, but the Father remained invisible. If you say that he speaks according to the Divinity, this amounts to nothing, because no one has ever seen God, neither the Father nor the Son, because if the Son, then also the Father.

I respond: It must be said that he speaks of the vision of the Divinity, not of the humanity. But this is in two ways, namely through faith, as we see now through a mirror in an enigma; and through direct appearance. And he speaks here of the vision through faith: because no one perfectly believes in the Son without also believing in the Father.

20. Question V. Likewise there is a question about what he says: I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.

To the contrary: Then it is argued from this: therefore the Father is in the Father.

It is also asked: why is this proposition not accepted: The Father is in the Father?

I respond: It must be said that this preposition in, because it is a preposition, implies distinction; but because it is this preposition, it implies unity of essence; therefore it is conceded that the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father. But it does not follow that the Father is in the Father; rather, there is here a fallacy of accident, just as in this case: I am similar to you, and you to me; therefore I am similar to myself — a fallacy of accident, because similarity implies both agreement and distinction.

21. Question VI. Likewise, there is an inquiry about what he says: He who believes in me, the works that I do, he also shall do.

1. This is false, because those works were of infinite power; therefore no one does them except God.

2. Likewise, what does he mean when he says: He shall do greater things? Because the greatest thing is to raise the dead, and a putrid dead person; how can there be a greater miracle?

3. Likewise, if the servant is not greater than his master, it is not fitting that God should work greater works through the servants of Christ than through the Son himself.

I respond: It must be said that the Lord, at the invocation of the Apostles, worked more miracles than he had worked through himself.

1. As to what is said, that the believer shall do them: this is said because it happens at his invocation, or because he is thought by men to do them himself.

2. As to what is again said, that greater things: it must be said that greater not with respect to the deed, but with respect to the manner; because it is read in Acts chapter five that the sick were healed by the shadow of Peter. Likewise, it is said of the Apostles that by the presence of their garments the sick were healed and the dead were raised.

3. Nevertheless, the servant is not on this account greater than the master, because the Apostles were not doing them; not for their own glory, but for the glory of Christ.

22. Question VII. Again, there is an inquiry about what he says: He who believes in me, the works that I do, he also shall do.

The question is whether he means unformed or formed faith.

That he means unformed faith seems likely: 1. Because it is said in First Corinthians chapter thirteen: If I should have faith so as to move mountains, but have not charity, etc.; therefore they are done through unformed faith without charity.

2. Likewise, this seems to be the case, because many wicked men had worked miracles, as is said in Matthew chapter seven.

But against this: because the sinner is unworthy of the bread he eats; therefore if one having unformed faith is in sin, he in no way deserves to be heard.

I respond: It must be said that there is being heard by fittingness and by strict merit: one having unformed faith is frequently heard and deserves to be heard only by fittingness with respect to those things concerning which he has faith that the Lord will hear him.

23. Question VIII. But then the question arises: if those having faith work miracles, and today few or none work miracles, therefore few or none have faith.

In attestation of this, what is said in Matthew twenty-one is adduced: If you have faith and say to this mountain: Cast yourself into the sea: it shall be done. But who is there that could do this?

I respond: It must be said according to Gregory and Augustine that there are two kinds of miraculous works: some sensible, some spiritual: sensible, such as raising the dead, and such things are necessary for establishing the faith of the simple; but spiritual are the raising from spiritual death through the Sacraments. The first have ceased, because the faith has been multiplied; the second always remain for our salvation. Whence it must be understood that the Lord was speaking to them either about spiritual marvels, or was speaking for the time of the primitive Church, in which the gentiles and the unlearned had to be instructed in the faith. Nevertheless they still occur even now, but the Lord has restrained His hand, because there is not such need.

24. If you love me etc. Above the Lord exhorted to faith; in this second part, because "faith without works is dead," He exhorts to the observance of the commandments; and He does this indeed in this order. First He exhorts by promising aid; second, by promising consolation; third, reward; fourth, He expresses what the merit of these things is.

(Verse 15). First, therefore, He exhorts to the observance of the commandments: and because it happens that the commandments are kept out of fear, as in the Law, and this He does not seek; it also happens that they are kept out of love, and this He seeks: therefore He says: If you love me, keep my commandments, namely out of love for me; 2 John: "This is charity, that we walk according to His commandments." To such He promises aid: on account of which He says:

25. (Verse 16). I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Paraclete. Paraclete means consoler or advocate: He says another, in which He implies that He Himself is a consoler and advocate; 1 John 2: "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just." He promises them another advocate who is eternal, because He Himself as consoler in bodily presence had been only for a time. That He may abide with you forever: not as with Saul, of whom 1 Kings 16 says "The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul" etc. And who this advocate is, He adds:

26. (Vers. 17.). The Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will give, namely another Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, etc. He describes this Spirit with respect to his effect, whence he calls him the Spirit of truth, because he teaches true things, just as the spirit of error teaches false things: below in the sixteenth chapter: "When he comes, he will teach you all truth." He also describes him with respect to his dwelling, because not in unbelievers but in believers, not in carnal men but in spiritual ones; on account of which he adds: Whom the world cannot receive. And the reason is that it is blind through unbelief; because it does not see him, by open knowledge, nor does it know him, by any understanding whatsoever; Wisdom 1: "The Holy Spirit of discipline will flee from the deceitful and will withdraw himself from thoughts that are without understanding"; and 1 Corinthians 2: "The natural man does not perceive the things that are of God." But you shall know him, because he shall abide with you and shall be in you: Revelation 2: "To him who overcomes I will give the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a name written, which no one knows except he who receives it." Concerning this knowledge, Wisdom 15: "To know you is perfect justice, and to know your justice and your power is the root of immortality." And it should be noted that he says: He shall abide with you and shall be in you, signifying the twofold grace of the Holy Spirit: prevenient and subsequent; the Psalm: "His mercy shall go before me"; and in another Psalm: "And your mercy shall follow me all the days of my life."

27. (Vers. 18.). I will not leave you orphans. Here secondly, to the disciples who keep the commandments, he promises consolation concerning his visitation; on account of which he says: I will not leave you orphans, that is, desolate: I will come to you, namely by visiting: in the last chapter of Mark the Angel said: "He will go before you into Galilee; there you shall see him, as he told you." And just as the Holy Spirit is not sent except to the good, so also the visitation of Christ is only to the good; therefore he adds:

28. (Vers. 19.). Yet a little while, and the world sees me no more, because after the Passion he did not appear to the worldly, but to the Apostles; Acts 10: "He gave him to be made manifest not to all the people, but to witnesses preordained by God." But you shall see me: because I live, through the life of glory, and you shall live, through the life of grace, which begins in faith: concerning which, Habakkuk 2: "But my just one shall live by faith." And that they then have this life of perfect faith, he shows:

29. (Vers. 20.). On that day you will know that I am in my Father: in which is noted the distinction of persons and the unity of essence; which pertains to the faith of the Trinity; and you in me, and I in you, through grace, and this pertains to the faith of redemption. You in me, as branches in the vine: below in the fifteenth chapter: "I am the vine, you are the branches: abide in me." And I in you, as an indweller in a dwelling: "The temple of God is holy, which you are," First Corinthians, chapter three.

30. (Vers. 21.). He who has the commandments. Here the third point is touched upon, namely that to those who observe the commandments a reward is promised. And the reason for this is that such a one who keeps the commandments is loved by the Lord, and therefore is beatified and glorified: on account of which he says: He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me: because, as Gregory says, "the proof of love is the display of works"; whence in the Psalm: "His justice unto the children of children, to those who keep his covenant and are mindful of his commandments to do them." He who keeps them thus truly loves indeed, not in word only, as those of whom it is said in First John, chapter three: "Let us not love in word nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth." But he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and also by me, and I will love him: Proverbs, chapter eight: "I love those who love me"; and I will show my love in the reward: whence: And I will manifest myself to him, and this is the reward; whence in the Psalm: "I will show him my salvation"; the Gloss: "The vision is the whole reward"; below in the seventeenth chapter: "This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."

31. (Vers. 22.). Judas said to him, etc. Here in the fourth place it is expressed that merit lies in the observance of the commandments. For because he had said that he was to manifest himself to the Apostles and not to the world, the disciple began to wonder why he said this. On account of which there follows: Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him: Lord, what has happened, that is, what is the cause of this, that you are about to manifest yourself to us and not to the world? And the Lord answers him that merit is the cause, because they do not observe the commandments, in which lies the merit of seeing: on account of which he says:

32. (Vers. 23.). Jesus answered and said to him: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word; Luke 6: "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I command you?" "The love of God is not idle: for it works great things, if it is; but if it refuses to work, it is not love." And from this observance one merits the Lord's manifestation; hence and my Father will love him: and from this love follows manifestation: therefore he says: And we will come to him. And if the Lord comes, no good is lacking: Wisdom 7: "All good things came to me together with her." And we will make our abode with him, and this by merit of the observance of the commandments: hence Gregory: "He who truly loves God and perfectly keeps his commandments, in him the Lord makes his abode: because the love of the Divinity so penetrates him that he does not withdraw from this love in the time of temptation."

And therefore, supply, he is manifested to you who keep my commandments, because you love me, and therefore you merit it.

33. (Vers. 24.). He who does not love me does not keep my words: and therefore such a one does not merit to see me. Such is the world and the worldly: below in chapter 15: "If the world hates you, know that it hated me before you"; and therefore it does not keep his commandments: and therefore he does not manifest himself to the world. And lest you think that he spoke his own words and not the Father's, he adds: And the word which you have heard is not mine, that is, the word: it is an antiptosis, in which one case is put for another: but of the Father who sent me: above in chapter 12: "I have not spoken of myself: but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak."

Questions.


34. Quest. I. But the question is asked here first concerning what he says: If you love me, keep my commandments: and afterwards: I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete.

Therefore it seems that they could love and keep the commandments before the Holy Spirit was given to them. Or if they have him, why will he give and how?

I respond: It must be said that they had the Holy Spirit for loving and keeping the commandments; but he was promised to them by the Lord for fuller effects and a greater gift. Hence Augustine: "It remains that we understand that he who loves has the Holy Spirit, and by having him merits to have more, and by having more loves more."

35. Quest. II. Likewise the question is asked concerning what he says: I will ask the Father.

Augustine says, in On Nature and Grace, that "no one prays for that which he can do by himself": therefore if the Son prays for the giving of the Holy Spirit, the Son cannot give the Holy Spirit.

To this it must be responded that he asks in the same way as he merits; and this according to his human nature, according to which he suffered and was exalted, and by his passion and prayer merited for us the gift of the Holy Spirit, and according to that nature he could not give, but obtain.

36. Quest. III. Likewise the question is asked concerning what he says: He will give you another Paraclete.

For if the Paraclete is called an advocate, and an advocate is a mediator; but the Holy Spirit cannot be a mediator: therefore neither a Paraclete, therefore neither an advocate.

I respond: It must be said that the Holy Spirit is called the Paraclete in a twofold signification: both because He is a consoler by the hope of pardon, whence He was given to us as a pledge of the eternal inheritance; and also because He is an advocate. But advocate is said in two ways: either with respect to the person, or with respect to the office. The Son is an advocate with respect to the person of the advocate, because He is the mediator; but the Holy Spirit with respect to the office.

Now the office of the advocate is threefold, namely to intercede, and this the Holy Spirit has: Romans 8: The Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unutterable groanings.

To respond, and this the Holy Spirit does; Matthew 10: Do not think about how or what you shall speak: for it shall be given to you in that hour what you shall speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. The third is to convict the opposing party, and this belongs to the Holy Spirit: below in chapter 16: When He shall come, He will convict the world of sin, etc.

37. Question IV. Likewise, it is asked concerning what He says, that the world does not know the Holy Spirit, but you shall know Him, because He shall be in you.

But it is objected: because the Holy Spirit is in all things, in the good as well as in the evil, since He is God: therefore all know Him.

If you say that He does not speak of being present by presence, but by grace; this is false, because no one knows whether he is worthy of love or of hatred: therefore no one knows whether he has the Holy Spirit with respect to the effect of grace.

I respond: It must be said that here He speaks of knowledge of the Holy Spirit in His manifest effect; whence He speaks of His being in us, not by essence, but by effect, and therefore the response to the first objection is clear.

But it should be noted that the effect of the Holy Spirit is twofold: one kind, which is in us and regards us, such as to love, to believe, and to fear, and we are certain that we have these when we have them; another kind, which regards something above us, namely to make pleasing, which is to make acceptable to God, and with respect to this effect it is not known to us except through special revelation; it can nevertheless be known probably, though not with certainty.

38. Question V. Likewise, it is asked concerning what is said of the Father, that the Father will come: whence: We will come to him.

Why does He say this rather of Himself and the Father than of the Holy Spirit?

2. And it seems that this ought not to be said of the Father, because the Father sends the Son. But if the Father were to come at the same time as the Son, by the same reason by which He would send the Son, by the same reason He would also send Himself.

Likewise, how does He come who is everywhere and does not assume a creature?

I respond: It must be said that the coming of God to us, as Augustine says, is understood according to effect, not through essence; whence Augustine: "They come to us while we come to them: they come by helping, we come by obeying; they come by illuminating, we come by beholding; they come by filling, we come by receiving." Since therefore the works of the Trinity are undivided, when the Holy Spirit comes, according to truth the Father and the Son come; yet according to appropriation it is attributed to the Father, who is another of the persons.

To send, however, besides the fact that it denotes an effect, implies a personal distinction through authority and sub-authority: and therefore, even though the Father comes with the Son, He does not however send Himself with the Son.

He does not make mention of the Holy Spirit, because He had spoken of this above.

39. These things I have spoken to you etc. This is the third part of the chapter, in which, the exhortation now having been made, He foretells the hastening of His departure, so that when it has come to pass, they may believe. And lest they be grieved about this, it is not proposed immediately, but consolation is placed first and the hastening is joined after, at the words: Now I have told you etc.

And He offers them consolation in multiple ways: first, from the expectation of the Holy Spirit; second, from the gift of peace; third, from the promise of visitation; fourth, from the rejoicing in His exaltation.

(Verse 25). First, therefore, He sets forth the consolation from the expectation of the Holy Spirit; on account of which He says: These things I have spoken to you, abiding with you; Luke, last chapter: "These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was yet with you"; nor ought you to be troubled if you do not understand, because you will understand at the coming of the Holy Spirit; whence:

40. (Verse 26). But the Paraclete, the Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, that is, in faith in my name, because He was given only to those believing in Christ; above in chapter seven: "He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water shall flow from his belly"; Acts four: "For there is no other name under heaven given to men, in which we must be saved." That Spirit, I say, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things whatsoever I shall have said to you; Wisdom seven: "Wisdom, the maker of all things, taught me: for in her there is a spirit of understanding, holy."

41. (Vers. 27.). Peace I leave to you. Second, he consoles through the giving or donation of peace, in which there is great consolation: on account of which he says: Peace I leave to you, my peace I give to you: he repeats peace, to indicate the peace of grace and the peace of glory; whence Augustine: "He leaves us his peace, in which remaining we conquer enemies: he gives us his peace, when we shall reign without an enemy"; Isaiah twenty-seven: "The Lord will make peace for me, he will make peace for me." This he gives to those who observe the commandments; Isaiah forty-eight: "Would that you had heeded my commandments: your peace would have been like a river." He explains what he says my; because my was said distinctively, namely not of the world; and therefore he adds: Not as the world gives, do I give to you: Because the world gives carnally, I give spiritually; the world gives temporally, but I eternally; the world outwardly, but I inwardly. Therefore it is written at Philippians last chapter: "The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." The peace of the world guards bodies and possessions; of which Matthew ten: "I did not come to send peace, but the sword."

Let not your heart be troubled. Here now third he consoles through the promise of visitation, which he had also promised above: on account of which he says: Let not your heart be troubled nor let it fear: and behold the reason:

42. (Vers. 28.). You have heard that I said to you: I go and I come to you; above in the same chapter: "And if I go away" etc.; below in chapter sixteen: "Again I will see you, and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you."

If you loved me. Here now fourth he consoles through congratulation at his exaltation: for they ought to rejoice at his exaltation, if they love him: on account of which he says: If you loved me, you would indeed rejoice, because I go to the Father; because in this journey is my exaltation. Whence he adds: Because the Father is greater than I, and so, when I go to sit at the right hand of the Father, I am exalted: of which exaltation, Hebrews one: "He sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high, being made so much better than the Angels" etc. And charity rejoices together over this exaltation; whence Romans twelve: "Rejoice with those who rejoice" etc.

43. And now I have told you. After the consolation has been set forth, there is here added the hastening of departure. And first is noted the reason for foretelling; second, the reason for hastening; third, the sign of the hastening.

(Verse 29.) There is noted, therefore, first the reason why he foretells, namely for the strengthening of faith; on account of which he says: Now I have told you before it comes to pass, that, when it shall come to pass, you may believe: because that strengthened their faith, since they saw it happen just as he had foretold. For if he had not foretold it, they would have doubted whether he had endured this voluntarily. Hence after the resurrection he brought these things back to memory; Luke, the last chapter: "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which are written concerning me." And: "Because it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer," etc.

44. (Verse 30.) I will not now speak many things. Here the second point is touched upon, namely the reason for hastening, and this is the assault of the devil and the divine will: on account of the assault of the devil, who was arming his minions to seize Christ, therefore he says: I will not now speak many things with you; for the prince of this world comes, that is, the devil hastens. The devil was coming in his minions, but nevertheless this does not constrain, because in me he has nothing: he had nothing that he might exact nor that he might find fault with, because he had no sin, and he holds dominion over sinners; hence Job forty-one: "He is king over all the children of pride." Hence he is the prince of darkness; Ephesians six: "Against the rulers of the world of this darkness"; and in Christ there was no darkness, because he "was the true light, which enlightens every man coming into this world."

But another reason, the divine will, drew him more; therefore he says:

45. (Verse 31.) But that the world may know that I love the Father, therefore I die at his command; hence: As the Father has given me commandment, so I do. Concerning this commandment, above, chapter ten: "This commandment I have received from my Father." God the Father gave him this commandment, not because he himself had merited it, but for our salvation; hence Second Corinthians five: "Him who knew no sin," God the Father "made sin for us, that we might be made the justice of God in him." Moreover, he did this out of love for us: above, chapter three: "God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son."

Arise, let us go. Here the third point is touched upon, namely the sign of the hastening of departure, which consists in this, that he urges his disciples to depart from there; on account of which he says: Arise, let us go hence, in which he shows that he suffers voluntarily. A similar thing is said in Matthew twenty-six: "Arise, let us go: behold, he who will betray me draws near."

Questions.


46. Question I. But here it can first be asked concerning what he says, that the Holy Spirit will suggest all things that the Son had said; for to suggest is characteristic of an inferior.

To this Gregory responds: "That the Holy Spirit is said to suggest, not because he brings knowledge from below, but because from what is hidden."

47. Question II. Likewise it is asked concerning what he says: You would indeed rejoice, because I go to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.

1. From this Arius argues that the Son is less than the Father. If you say that this was said according to the human nature, then by equal reasoning he ought to say that I am greater than myself.

2. Likewise Hilary says that the Father is greater than the Son according to the divine nature; and then it is argued from relative terms that the Son is less than the Father: therefore not equal.

The response to this is through the rule of Augustine in the first book of On the Trinity, because all things said of the Son that show equality are referred to the divine nature, while those that show inequality are referred to the human nature; and so it is to be understood in the present case. Whence Augustine: "The human nature is to be congratulated, because it was so assumed by the only-begotten Word that it was established immortal in heaven, and thus earth was made sublime, so that incorruptible dust might sit at the right hand of the Father." Whence according to the determination it must be conceded that the Son, insofar as he is God, is greater than himself insofar as he is man.

2. But as to what is objected concerning Hilary, it must be said that Hilary takes the term greater not insofar as it denotes an excess of magnitude of power or virtue, but insofar as it denotes authority. And because the Father has authority with respect to the Son as principle, therefore he says that he is greater than the Son. Nevertheless the Son is not said to be lesser, because it is a term implying imperfection.

48. Question III. Likewise it is asked concerning what he says: Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it has happened, you may believe.

1. Therefore it seems that the Apostles did not yet have faith, because he foretold these things to them so that they might believe.

2. Likewise, "faith has no merit where human reason provides proof"; if therefore he foretold to them, then from the fact that they saw happen what he had said, they experienced it to be true: therefore they were devoid of the merit of faith.

I respond: It must be said that the Apostles had faith, but nevertheless not fully explicit nor perfectly firm, as is evident, because in no way did they wish to believe the resurrection. It must be said therefore that the Lord foretold to them his passion so that they might already believe in that of which they previously knew nothing. He also spoke for the strengthening of faith, so that, seeing the passion and wavering, they might remember that he suffered willingly and as God. Whence they saw one thing and believed another, because they saw that a man had suffered, and they believed that, willing to suffer, as God he had laid down his life. And the sign of this was his prediction, but not a compelling reason that would take away merit.

49. Question IV. Likewise it is asked concerning what he says, that the devil had no jurisdiction whatsoever over Christ.

1. Therefore it seems that the Lord acted unjustly in that he permitted him to be oppressed by the devil.

2. Likewise he says that he does this on account of the commandment of the Father: therefore if he was bound to obey, then he died from obligation, not from pure liberality.

I respond: It must be said that to punish someone unwilling for his own fault, this is a matter of wrath and severity; to punish someone willing for his own fault, this is a matter of justice and truth: to punish someone willing for another's fault, this is a matter of wondrous dispensation and condescension. Because therefore Christ was punished and willingly punished for our salvation: it pleased God to lay upon him the iniquities of us all, and for our transgressions he himself was punished. He was offered, because he himself willed it; and therefore no injustice was done on God's part, but on the part of the devil. And therefore, because he unjustly usurped dominion over Christ, by this very fact he justly lost the dominion that he had over the members of Christ.

2. To the objection that he was bound to die: it must be said that there is a debt of merit and a debt of precept. The sinner is bound to die because he merited it; but Christ, because the Father commanded him. But this debt is not repugnant to liberality when it is done out of love; and so Christ acted, and therefore he says: That the world may know that I love the Father.