And if any man hear my words, and keep them not, I do not judge him: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

“Above, the Evangelist set forth the defect of those who did not believe at all; here he sets forth the defect of those who believed in secret, who were fainthearted, and first he sets forth their dignity; second he shows their defect, at the place "but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him"; third he hints at the root of the defect, at the place "for they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God." Now the dignity of those who believed in secret is great, because they were rulers; and as to this he says: "Nevertheless even of the rulers many believed in him." As if he were to say: I have said that although he had worked such great signs before them, they did not believe in him; which indeed is true for the greater part, yet not so that none of them believed in him, for "of the rulers," namely of the people, "many believed in him"; one of whom was Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night, as is said above in chapter 3. Thus is fulfilled what is said in Psalm 46:10: "The princes of the peoples are gathered together with the God of Abraham." Thus too is shown to be false what the Pharisees said above in 7:48: "Doth any one of the rulers believe in him, or of the Pharisees?" The defect of these rulers is fainthearted timidity, whence he says "but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him": for as was said above in 9:22, the Pharisees had already agreed that if any man should confess him to be the Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. Although they believed with the heart, yet they did not confess with the mouth. But their faith was insufficient, because, as is said in Romans 10:10, "with the heart we believe unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation"; Luke 9:26: "For he that shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed." Now the root of their defect is empty glory; whence follows "for they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God": for by publicly confessing they would have lost the glory of men, but by this they would have obtained the glory of God. But these men chose rather to be deprived of the glory of God, being unwilling to confess publicly, than to be deprived of the glory of men, desiring to glory in worldly things. Above, 5:44: "How can you believe, who receive glory one from another, and the glory which is from God alone, you do not seek?" Galatians 1:10: "If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." Here he shows how Christ refuted the unbelief of the Jews, and first he shows the debt of believing; second he adds the fruit of faith, at the place "I am come a light into the world," etc.; third he threatens the unbelievers with punishment, at the place "and if any man shall hear my words, and not keep them, I do not judge him," and so on. But since vision follows upon faith, therefore as to the first point he first treats of faith; second of vision, at the place "and he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me." As to the first he says "And Jesus cried out," both on account of the greatness of the things to be said, and on account of the freedom of soul in rebuking sins: Isaiah 58:1: "Cry, cease not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their wicked doings." And he said: "He that believeth in me, believeth not in me, but in him that sent me," which indeed seems to imply a contradiction, for he says: "He that believeth in me, believeth not in me." For the understanding of this it must be known, first, according to Augustine, that this was said by the Lord in order to distinguish in himself the divine nature and the human nature. For since the proper object of faith is God, we can indeed believe that a creature exists, but we ought not to believe in a creature, but in God alone. Now in Christ there is a created nature and an uncreated nature. It is required, therefore, for the truth of faith, that our faith should tend toward Christ as regards the uncreated nature; and according to this he says: "He that believeth in me," namely in the person, "believeth not in me," as I am man, "but in him that sent me," that is, in me as I am sent by the Father; above, 7:16: "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me." But according to Chrysostom it must be noted that the Lord says this only to hint at his origin. And it is a similar manner of speaking, as if someone drawing water from a river should say: this water is not the river's, but the spring's — it is not, that is, originally the river's, and so forth. Thus, then, the Lord says: "He that believeth in me, believeth not in me, but in him that sent me"; as if he were to say: I am not the principle of myself, but my divinity is from another, that is, from the Father: whence "he that believeth in me, believeth not in me," except insofar as I am from the Father. Next, when he says "and he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me," he treats of vision. Concerning which it must be known that just as the Father sent the Son to convert the Jews, so too Christ sent his disciples: below, 20:21: "As the Father hath sent me, I also send you." But none of the disciples dared to say, nor ought he to have said, that he was to be believed in; although he could have said that he was to be believed. For this could not have been without derogating from the one who sent him, because if they believed in the disciple they would cease to believe in the master. The Jews could therefore say that in the same way, since you are sent by the Father, he who believes in you ceases to believe in the Father. And therefore the Lord shows against this that he who does not believe in him does not believe in the Father: and this is what he says, "he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me." Vision is here spoken of not as bodily sight, but as the consideration of the true, which is through the intellect. Now the reason he that seeth the Son seeth also the Father is that he is in him through unity of essence. For a thing is said to be seen in another either because they are the same, or because they are altogether conformed. But the Father and the Son are the same in nature, and altogether conformed: for the Son is the image of the Father, unlike him in nothing; Colossians 1:15: "Who is the image of the invisible God"; Hebrews 1:3: "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the figure of his substance." And therefore, just as one believes in the Father, so too in me; below, chapter 14:9: "Philip, he that seeth me seeth the Father also. Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" As if he were to say: this is the reason why he that seeth me seeth also the Father, because the Father is in me, and I in him. Thus, then, appears the debt of faith, namely that faith should tend toward Christ inasmuch as he is God, just as toward the Father. He next shows the fruit of faith: and first he shows his own dignity and power, when he says "I am come a light into the world." How Christ is the light was explained above at 1:9: "It was the true light, which enlighteneth every man"; and at 8:12: "I am the light of the world." In this too he shows that he possesses the divine nature. For to be light is proper to God; other things are luminous, that is, participating in light; but God is light by essence; 1 John 1:5: "God is light, and in him there is no darkness." But because, as is said in 1 Timothy 6:16, he "inhabiteth light inaccessible, whom no man hath seen," we were unable to approach him: and therefore it was necessary that he himself should come to us. And this is what he adds, "I am come into the world"; namely, I am the inaccessible light, who snatch men from error, and dissolve the darkness of the intellect. Below, 16:28: "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world"; above, 1:11: "He came unto his own," and so forth. Although the apostles are called light, Matthew 5:14: "You are the light of the world," yet not for the same reason as Christ: for they are light illuminated; although in some way, namely by ministry, they were illuminating. Nor was it fitting for any of the apostles to say "I am come a light into the world": because, when they came into the world, there was still darkness, and not light: for, as is said in Job 37:19, "we are all wrapped in darkness." Second he adds, saying, "that whosoever believeth in me, may not remain in darkness." Illumination, then, is the effect of faith; above, 8:12: "that whosoever believeth in me may not walk in darkness." "May not remain in darkness," namely of ignorance, of unbelief, and of perpetual damnation: by which it is clear that all are born in the darkness of sin; Ephesians 5:8: "you were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord." Likewise in the darkness of ignorance; Job 3:23: "to a man whose way is hidden, and God hath surrounded him with darkness." And in the end, unless they are converted to Christ, they will be led into the darkness of perpetual damnation. He therefore who does not believe in me remains in darkness; above, chapter 3:36: "he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." The punishment of unbelievers he hints at, saying, "and if any man shall hear my words, and not keep them, I do not judge him": which they will incur through the condemnation of judgment. And first he sets forth the delay of judgment; second he pronounces that the judgment itself will come, at the place "he that despiseth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him"; third he shows the cause of the delay, at the place "the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." As to the first he does two things. First he sets forth the delay of judgment; second he assigns the reason for the delay. He says, then, as to the first, "and if any man shall hear my words, and not keep them, I do not judge him." It must be noted, then, that those are blessed who hear the word of God and keep it, believing inwardly in the heart, and carrying it out outwardly in work. But those who hear it and do not take care to keep it are made the more guilty by this; Romans 2:13: "For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified"; and James 1:22: "Be ye doers, and not hearers only." And therefore, "if any man shall hear my words, and not keep them, I do not judge him." But this seems contrary to what is said above at 5:22: "the Father hath given all judgment to the Son": and therefore "I do not judge him" must be understood as meaning, for now. For it might be thought a weakness on his part, if he lets go those who despise him; and therefore he says that such men will be judged, but not now: for, as is said in Ecclesiastes 12:14, "all things that God hath made, he will bring into judgment"; and Job 19:29: "Flee ye from the face of iniquity, for the sword is the avenger of iniquities: and know ye that there is judgment." The reason for the doubt about the delay he adds, saying, "I came not to judge the world, but to save the world." For the coming of the Son of God is twofold: one by which he comes as savior; the other by which he comes as judge. But since all were in sins, if he had come first as judge, he would have saved no one, for we were all children of wrath: and therefore it was necessary that he should come first to save believers, and afterward to judge both the faithful and sinners. And this is what he says: therefore I do not judge him now, because "I came not," namely in my first coming, "to judge the world, but to save the world"; above, 3:17: "For God sent not his Son into the world, to judge the world, but that the world may be saved by him." Next, when he says, "he that despiseth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him," he foretells the judgment to come; as if he were to say: although those who do not keep my words are not judged now, nevertheless they will not escape unpunished, whoever they may be, because "he that despiseth me, and receiveth not my words," by believing and by fulfilling in work, "hath one that judgeth him." The reason for this is that if he does not receive his words, he despises the saying of God, whose word he himself is, just as one who does not obey the command of his lord. Job 19:29: "Flee ye from the face of iniquity, for the sword is the avenger of iniquities: and know ye that there is judgment"; Ecclesiastes 12:14: "All the works that God hath made he will bring into judgment, for every error"; Isaiah 33:1: "Woe to thee that despisest, shalt not thou thyself also be despised?"; 1 Kings 2:30: "But they that despise me, shall be despised." Next, when he says, "the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day," he assigns the cause of the delay of judgment, and first the cause of the delay of judgment is set down; second the sufficiency of this cause is assigned, at the place "because I have not spoken of myself." He says, then: I say that whoever is such a one has one that judges him. But who will this be? "The word," he says, "that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." Which is as much as to say, as Augustine says, as if he had said: I will judge him in the last day. For Christ expressed himself in his own word, he announced himself. He himself, then, is the word that he spoke: because he spoke of himself; above, 8:14: "And if I give testimony of myself, my testimony is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go." As if he were to say: this very thing that I have spoken to them, and which nevertheless they despised, will judge them. Acts 10:42: "This is he who was appointed by God to be judge of the living and of the dead: to him all the prophets give testimony." Now he shows the sufficiency of the cause, saying "because I have not spoken of myself," and first he shows it from the origin of the word; second from its dignity, at the place "and I know that his commandment is life everlasting." As to the first he does two things. First he excludes a falsehood; second he establishes the truth. Now the falsehood would be that the Son operates or speaks anything, or exists, from himself alone and not from another: for this would be to posit that the Son is not from the Father. And this is what he says: therefore I say that the word which I have spoken will judge them, because "I have not spoken of myself"; above, 5:19: "The Son cannot do any thing of himself"; and below, 14:10: "I speak not of myself." Now "I have not spoken of myself" means the same as: I was not born of myself, but of the Father, as if he were to say: I will judge him in the last day, appearing in the form of a servant; above, 5:27: "he hath given him power to do judgment, because he is the Son of man." But nevertheless I will not judge by human power, that is, because I am the son of man, but by divine power, because I am the Son of God. I will not, therefore, judge of myself, but from the Father, from whom I have the power of judging. He establishes the truth, saying, "but the Father who sent me, he gave me commandment what I should say, and what I should speak." From these words indeed, unless they are understood piously, occasion is plainly given for a twofold error. First, because he who commands is greater than the one to whom he commands: the Father, then, is greater than the Son. Second, because that which is given to someone was not possessed by him before it was given to him; and consequently he did not know it. If, then, the Father gives a commandment to the Son, it follows that the Son at some time did not have it, and consequently was ignorant of it: therefore something was added to him. The Son, therefore, is not true God. To this it must be known that all the divine commandments are in the mind of the Father, since the commandments themselves are nothing other than the reasons of things to be done. Just as, then, in the mind of the Father are the reasons of all creatures that are produced by God, which we call ideas, so too in it are the reasons of all things to be done by us. Just as, then, the reasons of all things are derived from the Father into the Son, who is the wisdom of the Father, so too are the reasons of all things to be done. Thus, then, the Son says: "but the Father who sent me, he gave me," inasmuch as I am God, "commandment," that is, he communicated through eternal generation, "what I should say," inwardly, "and what I should speak," outwardly: just as also our own word (if we wish to confess the truth) brings forth those things which the mind suggests. Chrysostom, however, expounds all this — namely, "if any man shall hear my words and not keep them, I do not judge him," etc. — differently, and more plainly, so that it is read: "if any man shall hear my words and not keep them, I do not judge him." For a man can be said to condemn another in two ways: either as judge, or as the cause of condemnation. For both the judge who pronounces sentence, and the homicide itself that was perpetrated, which is the cause of his condemnation, condemn the murderer to be hanged. He says, then, "I do not judge him," that is, I am not the cause of his condemnation, but he himself is; Hosea 13:9: "Destruction is thy own, O Israel" (that is, it is from thee); "thy help is only in me." And this is because "I came not to judge the world," that is, I was not sent to condemn, but to save. But shall not such a one be judged? Rather, yes, because "he that despiseth me and receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him." Now who this one is that judges he shows, saying, "the word that I have spoken," heard by us, which will stand in the place of the accuser, "the same shall judge him in the last day"; below, 15:22: "If I had not come, and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin." That it is the word that he spoke which will judge them, he shows by saying, "because I have not spoken of myself." This indeed is not set down causally, but as it were materially, so that the sense is: you say that your word will judge him; but what is this word? That, namely, which I said, "because I have not spoken of myself," that is, which I have spoken from the Father, and the things which he gave me to say and to speak: otherwise, if I had spoken something contrary to the Father, or things which I had not received from him, and they had not believed me, they would have an excuse; but because I have spoken thus, it is certain that they have despised not only me, but also my Father. And according to this exposition, that which he said, "the Father who sent me, he gave me commandment what I should say and what I should speak," shows the sufficiency of the cause on the part of the dignity of the word itself. And first its dignity is set down, second the execution of the word itself is concluded. Its dignity indeed, when he says, "and I know that his commandment, I say, is life everlasting"; 1 John, last chapter, 20: "This is the true God, and life eternal." For the Son himself is the commandment of the Father. Or, it is life eternal, that is, leading to life eternal; Matthew 19:17: "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Because, then, the Father gave me the commandment, which commandment indeed is life eternal, and I have come for this, that I might lead men into life eternal: therefore I carry out the commandment of the Father in all things. And this is what he says, "the things therefore that I speak, as the Father said unto me, so do I speak." Which, according to Chrysostom, is plain, so that the sense is: "the things that I speak," by preaching outwardly, "as the Father said unto me, so do I speak," that is, insofar as I have received knowledge from him: so that these words are understood of Christ according as he is man. But if they are understood, according to Augustine, of Christ according as he is the Son of God: how does the Father speak to him, since he himself is the Word? To this it must be said that the Father did not speak to him as though he had spoken by words to his own unique Word, but the Father spoke to the Son in the same way that the Father begot him, and in the same way that he gave him to have life in himself; Psalm 2:7: "The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my son."”

“And if any hear My words , and keep them not , I judge him not That is, does not retain them in his mind, “ believes them not,” as in the Greek, though the Vulgate, agreeing with the Syriac and Arabic, reads “ Keep them not ; ” as Christ explains in the next verse. By the words “ / judge him not,” Christ means, I came not into the world to judge it but to save it. But a man who believes not on Me, is at once condemned and judged by his own wickedness and unbelief, and also by the eternal decree of the Father. This is plain from what follows. So S. Cyril, Theophylact, Leontius, and others. See notes on chap. iii. 18. This decree of the Father I will execute at the day of judgment, when 1 shall return to judge the world, as I have now come to redeem it S. Chrysostom says, M I judge not,” that is, I am not the cause of his ruin, but he is himself its cause in despising My words. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. That is, the inhabitants of the world. “Now,” says S. Augustine, “is the time of mercy, hereafter the time of judgment.””

“For I have not spoken of myself,.... As man, or as separate from his Father; his doctrine was not human, but divine, and therefore a rejection of it cannot escape notice at the future judgment: but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment what I should say, and what I should speak; Christ, as man, had his mission, and commission, and his instructions from his Father to preach the Gospel unto men; he was anointed for it by the Holy Ghost; he was enjoined the preaching of it by his Father, and the several doctrines he published were delivered him by him; see Joh 8:28.”

“And believe not - Και μη φυλαξῃ, And keep them not, is the reading of ABL, seven others; Syriac, Wheelock's Persian, two of the Arabic, Coptic, Sahidic, Ethiopic, Armenian, later Syriac, Vulgate, six of the Itala, and some of the fathers. A man must hear the words of Christ in order to believe them; and he must believe, in order to keep them; and he must keep them in order to his salvation. I judge him not - I need not do it: the words of Moses and the prophets judge and condemn him. See the notes on Joh 3:17; Joh 5:45.”