John 16:25 Kommentaari

Among other glorious things God hath spoken of himself this is one, I wound, and I heal, Deu. 32, 39. Christ's discourse in this chapter, which continues and concludes his farewell sermon to his disciples, does so. I. Here are wounding words in the notice he gives them of the troubles that were before them (Joh 16:1-6). II. Here are healing words in the comforts he administers to them for their support under those troubles, which are five: - 1. That he would send them the Comforter (Joh 16:7-15). 2. That he would visit them again at his resurrection (Joh 16:16-22). 3. That he would secure to them an answer of peace to all their prayers (Joh 16:23-27). 4. That he was now but returning to his Father (Joh 16:28-32). 5. That, whatever troubles they might meet with in this world, by virtue of his victory over it they should be sure of peace in him (Joh 16:33).

These things have I spoken unto you,.... Concerning the world's hatred and persecution of them, and the little regard they would show to their doctrine: these things Christ thought, proper to give them notice of before hand, that expecting them, they might be prepared for them, and be fortified against them; that, says he, ye should not be offended: his view in speaking of them, was not to discourage them, but to prevent their stumbling at them, and falling by them. Hardships coming upon persons at unawares, bear the harder upon their spirits, and they are more apt to take offence at them and be impatient under them, which is prevented by previous intimation: had Christ said nothing of these things that should befall his disciples, they might have surprised them, and have been a stumbling to them; and might have tempted them to have relinquished their profession of him, and dropped their ministerial work; whereas being apprized of them before hand, they were not so shocking to them. This shows the tender concern of Christ for his disciples, how careful he was to remove, every occasion of stumbling, or what might be matter of offence to them; and may teach us to act in such like manner towards one another, in this, or any other case.

For the Father himself loveth you,.... The Father loved them as well, and as much as the Son did, and of himself too, without any merit or motive in them: he loved them from everlasting, and had given proofs of it in time, in the gift of his Son to them, and for them; and in calling them by his grace; and therefore being thus strongly affected to them, they might depend upon a ready and speedy answer from him, as might be best for his glory, and their good. Because ye have loved me; not that their love to Christ was the cause of the Father's love to them; but, on the contrary, the Father's love to them was the cause of their love to Christ; and therefore as the cause is known by its effect, they might be assured of the Father's love to them by their love to Christ; for if the Father had not loved them, they had never loved God, nor Christ; but since they did love Christ, it was a clear case the Father loved them: and this their love is joined with faith; and have believed that I came out from God; being sent by him, and am no impostor, but the true Messiah that was to come: faith in Christ, and love to him, go together; where the one is, there is the other; faith works by love; they are both the gifts of God's grace, and the fruits and effects of his everlasting love; and those who are possessed of them may be firmly persuaded of their interest therein.

(Hom. lxxix) These words being obscure, He adds, These things have I spoken to you in proverbs, but the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs: for forty days He talked with them as they were assembled, speaking of the kingdom of God. And now, He says, ye are in too great fear to attend to My words, but then, when you see Me risen again, you will be able to proclaim these things openly.

"These things," said He, "have I spoken to you in proverbs: but the hour cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of my Father." I might be disposed to say that this hour, whereof He speaketh, must be understood of that future period when we shall see openly, as the blessed Paul says, "face to face;" that what He says, "These things have I spoken to you in proverbs," is one with what has been said by the same apostle, "Now we see through a glass, in a riddle:" and "I will show you," because the Father shall be seen through the instrumentality of the Son, is akin to what He says elsewhere, "Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whom the Son shall be pleased to reveal Him." But such a sense seems to be interfered with by that which follows: "At that day ye shall ask in my name." For in that future world, when we have reached the kingdom where we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is, what shall we then have to ask, when our desire shall be satisfied with good things? As it is also said in another psalm: "I shall be satisfied when Thy glory shall be revealed." For petition has to do with some kind of want, which can have no place there where such abundance shall reign.

(Tr. ci. 4) The word ask here means not only to seek for, but to ask a question: the Greek word from which it is translated has both meanings. (Tr. cii) But does He love us because we love Him; or rather do not we love Him, because He loved us? This is what the Evangelist says, Let us love God, because God first loved us. (1 John 4:19) The Father then loves us, because we love the Son, (Diligamus Deum, Vulg.) it being from the Father and the Son, that we receive the love from the Father and the Son. He loves what He has made; but He would not make in us what He loved, except He loved us in the first place. (Tr. cii) He came forth from the Father, because He is of the Father; He came into the world, because He showed Himself in the body to the world. He left the world by His departure in the body, and went to the Father by the ascension of His humanity, nor yet in respect of the government of His presence, left the world; just as when He went forth from the Father and came into the world, He did so in such wise as not to leave the Father. But our Lord Jesus Christ, we read, was asked questions, and petitioned after His resurrection: for when about to ascend to Heaven He was asked by His disciples when He would restore the kingdom to Israel; when in Heaven He was asked by Stephen, to receive his spirit. And who would dare to say that as mortal He might be asked, as immortal He might not? I think then that when He says, In that day ye shall ask Me nothing, He refers not to the time of His resurrection, but to that time when we shall see Him as He is: which vision is not of this present life, but of the life everlasting, when we shall ask for nothing, ask no questions, because there will remain nothing to be desired, nothing to be learnt. (Tr. cii) The word whatsoever, must not be understood to mean any thing, but something which with reference to obtaining the life of blessedness is not nothing. That is not sought in the Saviour's name, which is sought to the hindering of our salvation; for by, in My name, must be understood not the mere sound of the letters or syllables, but that which is rightly and truly signified by that sound. He who holds any notion concerning Christ, which should not be held of the only Son of God, does not ask in His name. But he who thinks rightly of Him, asks in His name, and receives what he asks, if it be not against his eternal salvation: he receives when it is right he should receive; for some things are only denied at present in order to be granted at a more suitable time. Again, the words, He will give it you, only comprehend those benefits which properly appertain to the persons who ask. All saints are heard for themselves, but not for all; for it is not, will give, simply, but, will give you; what follows: Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name, may be understood in two ways: either that they had not asked in His name, because they had not known it as it ought to be known; or, Ye have asked nothing, because with reference to obtaining the thing ye ought to ask for, what ye have asked for is to be counted nothing. That therefore they may ask in His name not for what is nothing, but for the fulness of joy, He adds, Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. This full joy is not carnal, but spiritual joy; and it will be full, when it is so great that nothing can be added to it. (1. de Trin. c. 8) And this is that full joy, than which nothing can be greater, viz. to enjoy God, the Trinity, in the image of Whom we are made. (Tr. cii) Whatsoever then is asked, which appertained to the getting this joy, this must be asked in the name of Christ. For His saints that persevere in asking for it, He will never in His divine mercy disappoint. But whatever is asked beside this is nothing, i. e. not absolutely nothing, but nothing in comparison (computatione) with so great a thing as this. It follows: These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father. The hour of which He speaks may be understood of the future life, when we shall see Him, as the Apostle saith, face to face, (1 Cor. 13:12) and, These things have I spoken to you in proverbs, of that which the Apostle saith, Now we see as in a glass darkly. But I will show you that the Father shall be seen through the Son; For no man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son shall reveal Him. (Mat. 11:17) (Tr. cii. c. 3) But this sense seems to be interfered with by what follows: At that day ye shall ask in My name. What shall we have to ask for in a future life, when all our desires shall be satisfied? Asking implies the want of something. It remains then that we understand the words of Jesus going to make His disciples spiritual, from being carnal and natural beings. The natural man so understands whatever he hears of God in a bodily sense, as being unable to conceive any other. Wherefore whatever Wisdom saith of the incorporeal, immutable substance are proverbs to him, not that he accounts them proverbs, but understands them as if they were proverbs. But when, become spiritual, he hath begun to discern all things, though in this life he see but in a glass and in part, ye doth he perceive, not by bodily sense, not by idea of the imagination, but by most sure intelligence of the mind, perceive and hold that God is not body, but spirit: the Son showeth so plainly of the Father, that He who showeth is seen to be of the same nature with Him who is shewn. Then they who ask, ask in His name, because by the sound of that name they understand nothing but the thing itself which is expressed by that name. These are able to think that our Lord Jesus Christ, in so far as He is man, intercedes with the Father for us, in so far as He is God, hears us together with the Father: which I think is His meaning when He says, And I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you. To understand this, viz. how that the Son does not ask the Father, but Father and Son together hear those who ask, is beyond the reach of any but the spiritual vision.

It remains, therefore, for us, so far as my capacity to apprehend it goes, to understand Jesus as having promised that He would cause His disciples, from being carnal and natural, to become spiritual, although not yet such as we shall be, when a spiritual body shall also be ours; but such as was he who said, "We speak wisdom among them that are perfect;" and, "I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal;" and, "We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." And thus the natural man, perceiving not the things of the Spirit of God, hears in such a way whatever is told him of the nature of God, that he can conceive of nothing else but some bodily form, however spacious or immense, however lustrous and magnificent, yet still a body: and therefore he holds as proverbs all that is said of the incorporeal and immutable substance of wisdom; not that he accounts them as proverbs, but that his thoughts follow the same direction as those who habitually listen to proverbs without understanding them. But when the spiritual man begins to discern all things, and he himself is discerned by no man, he perceives, even though in this life it still be through a glass and in part, not by any bodily sense, and not by any imaginative conception which catches at or devises the likenesses of all sorts of bodies, but by the clearest understanding of the mind, that God is not material, but spiritual.

By proverbs He means language that is indistinct and does not bear its meaning on the surface, but is in some sort veiled by obscurities so subtle that He says His hearers could not very readily comprehend it; for this was the fashion of what was said in proverbs. What I have told you then, He says, I have told you as it were in proverbs and riddles, reserving for the fitting season which has not yet come, though it is drawing nigh, the revelation of these things beyond possibility of doubt. For the hour will indeed come, He says; that is, the proper time in which I shall in plain language expound to you the things that concern the Father's glory, and implant in you a knowledge that surpasses human understanding. What that time would be, He did not tell them very clearly. We must surmise that He either meant that time when we were enriched with the knowledge that comes to us through the Spirit, Whom Christ Himself brought down to us after His Resurrection from the dead; or it may be the time to come after the end of the world, in which we shall behold unveiled and open to our gaze the glory of God, Who will Himself impart to us knowledge concerning Himself in perfect clearness. Therefore also Paul says, that prophecies shall be done away, and knowledge shall cease, having no other meaning in his mind than that which we have accepted for this passage. For we see in a mirror, and we know in part, as we just now said. But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. How or in what manner this shall come to pass I will go on to explain, if you are willing to listen. For, just as in the darkness of the night the bright beauty of the stars shines forth, each casting abroad its own ray of light, but when the sun arises with his radiant beams then that light which is but in part is done away, and the lustre of the stars waxes feeble and ineffective, in like manner I think also the knowledge that we now have will cease, and that which is in part will vanish away at that moment of time when the perfect light has come upon us, and sheds forth its radiancy, filling us with perfect knowledge of God. Then, when we are enabled to approach God in confidence, Christ will tell us the things which concern His Father. For now by shadows and illustrations, and various images and types deduced from different phases of human life, we feebly trace our steps to a vague uncertain knowledge, through the inherent weakness of our minds. Then, however, we shall stand in no need of any type or riddle or parable, but shall behold after a fashion, face to face and with unshackled mind, the fair vision of the Divine Nature of God the Father, having seen the glory of Him Who proceeded from Him. For we shall see Him even as He is, according to the saying of John. For now we know Him in the perfection of the glory that belongs to His Divine Nature because of our humanity. But when the season of His incarnation is past, and the mystery of our redemption completely wrought out, henceforth He will be seen in His own glory and in the glory of God the Father. For being God by Nature, and thereby Consubstantial with His Father, He will surely enjoy equal honours with Him, and will shine henceforth in the glory of His Godhead.

What the time would be, Jesus did not tell them very clearly. We must surmise that he either meant that time when we are enriched with the knowledge that comes to us through the Spirit, whom Christ himself brought down to us after his resurrection from the dead. Or it may be the time to come after the end of the world, in which we shall clearly behold the glory of God, that God will impart to us directly.… In the darkness of the night the bright beauty of the stars shines forth, each casting abroad its own ray of light, but when the sun rises with its own radiant beams … the luster of the stars waxes feeble and ineffective. In a similar manner I think also that the knowledge we now have will cease, and that which is partial will vanish away at the moment when the perfect light has come on us and sheds forth its radiance, filling us with perfect knowledge of God. Then, when we are enabled to approach God in confidence, Christ will tell us the things that concern his Father.

Whence the Lord also says in the Gospel; The hour cometh when I shall no longer speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. For He asserts that He shews plainly of the Father, because by the appearance of His Majesty, which was then manifested, He shews both how He springs from the Father not unequal to Himself, and how the Spirit of Both proceeds coeternal with Both. For we shall then openly behold, how That Which Is by an origin, is not subsequent to Him from Whom It springs; how He Who is produced by procession, is not preceded by Those from Whom He proceeded. We shall then behold openly how both The One is divisibly Three, and the Three indivisibly One.

(xxx. Moral. viii.) When He declares that He will show them plainly of the Father, He alludes to the manifestation about to take place of His own majesty, which would both show His own equality with the Father, and the procession of the coeternal Spirit from both.

A parable is a speech that explains a certain subject indirectly, covertly, and comparatively. Since the Lord spoke many things covertly, and the discourse about the woman and childbirth was also parabolic, He says: "Until now I have spoken to you in parables; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in parables, but will tell you plainly about the Father." For after the resurrection, having shown Himself alive, "over the course of forty days" He imparted to them the most mystical and detailed knowledge about the Father (Acts 1:3). But before this they thought that God was His Father in the same way as He is ours, by grace.

2147 Above, our Lord promised his disciples an access and intimacy with the Father. Now he gives the reason for this intimacy. There are two things that make a person intimate with another and foster confidence when asking for something: knowledge and love. Thus our Lord gives these two reasons here. The first is taken from their clear knowledge of the Father; the second, from his special love for them (v 26). 2148 He does two things about the first: first, he reminds them of their previous imperfect knowledge of the Father; secondly, he promises them complete knowledge, the hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in proverbs. Indeed, their knowledge was imperfect; so he says, I have said this to you in proverbs. A proverb, strictly speaking, is a maxim, a common expression, as "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it" (Prv 22:6). Now because proverbs are sometimes not clear and are metaphorical, the word "proverb" is sometimes used to indicate a parable, which states one thing while actually meaning something else. This is the case here, and "proverb" should be taken to mean parable. 2149 The statement, I have said this to you in proverbs, can be taken in four ways. The first is literal, and refers to what he had said immediately before this. Then the sense is: I said to you that hitherto you have asked nothing in my name, and that you will ask in my name, and I have said this to you in proverbs, and obscurely. But the hour is coming when what I said obscurely I will say plainly. Thus he adds: "the Father himself loves you," and "I came from the Father and have come into the world." This seems to be the way the apostles understood it because when they heard him say these things they said, "Ah, now you are speaking plainly, and not in proverbs" (16:29). 2150 In the second way, I have said this to you in proverbs, refers to everything which is read in this Gospel about the teaching of Christ. Then the next statement, the hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in proverbs, would refer to the time of glory. For now we see in a mirror, in an obscure manner, since what we are told about God is presented to us in proverbs. But in our homeland we will see "face to face," as we read in 1 Corinthians (13:12). Therefore, we will then be plainly told of the Father, and not in proverbs. He says, of the Father, because no one can see the Father in that glory unless the Son reveals him: "No one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Mt 11:27). For the Son is the true light, and gives us the light by which we can see the Father: "I am the light of the world" (8:12). 2151 But the next statement, in that day you will ask in my name, does not fit this second explanation. For if that hour is the time of glory, we will not ask for anything because our desires will be satisfied with good. Accordingly, there are two other meanings. According to Chrysostom the sense is this: I have said this to you, that is, what I have just said, in proverbs, that is, in veiled language, not entirely expressing all that you should know about me and the Father, because "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now" (16:12). But the hour is coming, that is, when I have arisen from the dead, when I shall no longer speak to you in proverbs, that is, obscurely and in figures, but tell you plainly of the Father. Indeed, during those forty days during which he appeared to them, he taught them many mysteries and told many things about himself and the Father. Further, they had been raised to higher things by their faith in the resurrection, firmly believing that Christ was the true God. So we read that Christ was "speaking of the kingdom of God" to them (Acts 1:3), and that "He opened their minds to understand the scriptures" (Lk 24:45). 2152 The other reading is given by Augustine, and is this. When Christ said I have said this to you in proverbs, our Lord is promising to make them spiritual. There is a difference between one who is spiritual and one who is sensual: a sensual person understands spiritual words as proverbs, not because they were spoken as proverbs, but because the mind of such a person cannot rise above material things, and spiritual things are hidden (1 Cor 2:14). But one who is spiritual understands spiritual words as spiritual. At the beginning, the disciples themselves were sensual, and what was told them they found obscure, and took as proverbs. But after they were made spiritual by Christ and had been taught by the Holy Spirit, they clearly understood spiritual words as spiritual. And so Christ says, I have said this to you in proverbs, that is, you understood what I said as proverbs. But the hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in proverbs: "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness" (2 Cor 3:18).

Christ warns his disciples, and foretells the persecutions they should receive from the Jews, Joh 16:1-4. Foretells his death, and promises them the Comforter, Joh 16:5-7. Points out his operations among the Jews, and in the world, Joh 16:8-11. His peculiar influences on the souls of the disciples, Joh 16:12-15. Speaks figuratively of his death and resurrection, at which his disciples are puzzled, Joh 16:16-18. He explains and illustrates the whole by a similitude, Joh 16:19-22. Shows himself to be the Mediator between God and man, and that all prayers must be put up in his name, Joh 16:23-28. The disciples clearly comprehend his meaning and express their strong faith in him, Joh 16:29, Joh 16:30. He again foretells their persecution, and promises them his peace and support, Joh 16:31-33.

In Proverbs - That is, words which, besides their plain, literal meaning, have another, viz. a spiritual or figurative one. I have represented heavenly things to you through the medium of earthly. The time cometh - viz. the interval from his resurrection to his ascension, which consisted of forty days, during which he instructed his disciples in the most sublime mysteries and truths of his kingdom. Act 1:3.

DISCOURSE AT THE SUPPER TABLE CONCLUDED. (John 16:1-33) These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended--both the warnings and the encouragements just given.

in proverbs--in obscure language, opposed to "showing plainly"--that is, by the Spirit's teaching.