1270
A.D.
Thomas Aquinas
Catholic
1225–1274
“Here the Lord resolves the doubt arising in the disciple, and first the position of the one doubting is set forth; second, the removal of the doubt, at the place, "Jesus said to him," etc. Concerning the first, it must be known that the Lord above promised the disciples a certain thing to come, namely the perfect knowledge of God, when he said: "From now on you shall know him"; and something in the past, namely that they had seen him. Hearing this, Philip believed that he had seen the Father; but he asks for knowledge of him, saying, "Lord, show us the Father," so that the request for this showing is not referred to sight but to knowledge; "and it is enough for us." Nor is this strange, since the vision of the Father is the end of all our desires and actions, so that nothing further is required; Psalm 15:11: "You will fill me with the vision of your countenance"; Psalm 102:5: "who fills me with gladness by your countenance," that is, "fills your desire with good things." Here the doubt is removed, and first the removal of the doubt is set forth; second, the manifestation of what was said is added, at the place: "The words that I speak to you, I do not speak from myself." In the first, he first charges Philip with slowness; second, he teaches the truth, at "Philip, he who sees me sees also the Father"; third, he reproves the request, at "How do you say, Show us the Father?" He says therefore first, "I have been with you so long a time, and you have not known me?" As if to say: from the long companionship in which I have dwelt with you for so long a time, you ought to have known me. And if you had known me, you would certainly have known the Father also. From the fact, then, that you do not know the Father, you let it be understood that you do not know me; in which you are to be charged with slowness. Matthew 15:16: "Are you also even yet without understanding?" Hebrews 5:12: "Whereas for the time you ought to be teachers, you again have need to be taught." But here a doubt arises: because above the Lord said to the disciples that they knew him, when he said, "You know the way," etc.; but here he seems to say the contrary, saying, "If you had known me, you would also have known my Father." But it must be said, according to Augustine, that among the disciples there were some who knew Christ according as he was the Word of God; of whom one was Peter, where he said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." There were others who truly did not know him, among whom was Philip. As to the first, therefore, the Lord says: "Where I go, you know"; but as to the second, he says: "If you had known me, you would also have known my Father." Or otherwise. Christ could be known in two ways: namely, according to human nature, and thus all knew him; and as to this he says: "And where I go, you know, and the way you know." And according to the divine nature, and thus they had not yet known him perfectly; and as to this he says, "If you had known me, you would also have known my Father." And this is clear from what he adds: "Philip, he who sees me sees also the Father"; as if he were to say: if you knew me, you would know the Father; and so you would not say, "Show us the Father," because you would already have seen him, having seen me. Above, John 8:19: "If you knew me, perhaps you would also know my Father." But from this Sabellius takes the support for his error, saying: what is this that he said, "he who sees me sees also the Father," unless that the Father and the Son are the very same? To this Hilary says: if this were so, the Lord would have said, "He who sees me sees the Father," with no conjunction added; but because he added the conjunction, saying, "sees also the Father," he shows a distinction. And it is a similar manner of speaking, according to Augustine, as when someone speaking of two similar things says: if you have seen this one, you have seen that one also. In the Son, however, there is the most perfect likeness of the Father; and therefore he says, "he who sees me sees also the Father." But yet in the Son there is a greater likeness than in men, because in men there can never be a likeness according to the same form or quality in number, but only according to species; whereas in the Son there is the same nature in number as is in the Father; and therefore the Father is seen more in the vision of the Son than the Father is seen in the vision of any man, however alike they may seem. But it is to be noted that from the words spoken here, the error of Arius is excluded as to two points. First, as to the fact that he denied the consubstantiality. For it is impossible that in the vision of a created substance an uncreated substance could be seen, just as through the knowledge of a substance of one genus, knowledge of a substance of another genus cannot be had. It is manifest, therefore, that the Son is not a created substance, but is consubstantial with the Father; otherwise he who sees the Son would not see the Father. Second, as to what they say concerning that text of 1 Timothy 1:17, "to the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God," namely that the Father alone is invisible, but the Son has often been seen in his nature: for if this were so, it would follow also that the Father had frequently been seen, since he who sees the Son sees also the Father. Since, then, the Father is invisible according to his nature, it is impossible that the Son according to his nature should have been seen. But someone objects: why did the Lord rebuke Philip, who, seeing the Son, was seeking to see the Father, since no one is to be blamed who, seeing an image, wishes to see the thing imaged? To this Chrysostom responds, saying that Philip, hearing about the vision and knowledge of the Father, wanted to see the Father himself with bodily eyes, just as he supposed he had seen the Son himself; and therefore the Lord disapproved of this, showing him that he had not even seen the Son himself in his nature with a bodily eye. Augustine, however, says that the Lord did not disapprove of the request, but the soul of the one requesting. For Philip says, "Show us the Father, and it is enough for us," as if he were saying: we know you, but this is not enough. And thus he believed that there was not perfect sufficiency in the knowledge of the Son, but in the knowledge of the Father. From which he seemed to think that the Son was less than the Father. And this the Lord rebuked, showing that in the knowledge of the Son there is the same sufficiency that is in the knowledge of the Father, saying, "he who sees me sees also the Father." And so, consequently, when he says, "How do you say, Show us the Father?" he first disapproves of his request; second, the root of the request. He disapproves of the request indeed, saying, "How do you say, Show us the Father?"—since, namely, the Father is seen in the Son. Philip could indeed have said what is found in Job 39:34: "I who have spoken lightly, what can I answer? I will put my hand upon my mouth." He disapproves of the root of the request when he says, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" As if he were to say: you wish to have the Father, believing that in him you have sufficiency; but if you believe this, you do not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me. For if you believed this, you would hope that in me you would have all the sufficiency that is in the Father. Now this that he says, "I am in the Father and the Father in me," is said on account of the unity of essence, of which it is said above, John 10:30: "I and the Father are one." For it is to be known that essence stands otherwise in relation to person in divine things than in men. For in men, the essence of Socrates is not Socrates, because Socrates is something composite; but in divine things the essence is the same as the person in reality, and thus the essence of the Father is the Father, and the essence of the Son is the Son. Wherever, then, the essence of the Father is, the Father himself is; and wherever the essence of the Son is, the Son himself is. But the essence of the Father is in the Son, and the essence of the Son is in the Father. Therefore the Son is in the Father, and the Father in the Son. And thus Hilary explains it. Here the Lord manifests his response, and first through the works which he does by himself; second, through the works which he was going to do through the disciples, at "Amen, amen I say to you: he who believes in me, the works that I do, he also shall do." In the first, therefore, he first sets forth the works which he himself does; second, he draws the conclusion of faith, at "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" Now faith concerning Christ, that he was God, could be manifested from two things: namely, from his teaching, and from his miracles. And these two things the Lord states below: "If I had not done among them the works that no one else has done, they would not have sin"—as to the first. And "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin," and, above, John 7:46, "Never did man speak like this"—as to the second. Above, John 9:32, the blind man said of him: "From the beginning of the world it has not been heard that anyone opened the eyes of one born blind." From these two things the Lord shows his divinity. As to the first he says, "The words that I speak to you"—namely, through the instrument of his humanity—"I do not speak from myself, but from him who is in me," namely from the Father; above, John 8:26: "I speak in the world the things which I have heard from my Father." The Father, then, who speaks in me, is in me. But because whatever a man speaks, it is necessary that he have this from the first word; and the first Word, namely the Word of God, is from the Father; therefore it is necessary that all the words we speak be from God. When, therefore, someone speaks words which he has from the Father, the Father is in him. As to the second, he says, "The Father abiding in me, he himself does the works," because no one could do the works that I do; above, John 5:19: "The Son cannot do anything of himself." But Chrysostom asks how Christ, beginning from words, comes to works. For he said: "The words that I speak to you, I do not speak from myself," and afterward says: "he himself does the works." But this is resolved in two ways. In one way, according to Chrysostom, who says, according to the aforesaid manner of conjunction, that he first speaks of the teaching, and afterward speaks of the miracles. According to Augustine, it must be said that he calls the words which the Lord spoke, works: above, John 6:29: "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he sent." Therefore when he says, "he himself does the works," he gives to understand that his words are themselves a kind of works. But note that from these two, distinctly, two heresies take their support: because what he says, "I am in the Father," Sabellius takes for himself, saying that the Father and the Son are the same; but what he says, "I do not speak from myself," Arius takes up, concluding from this that the Son is less than the Father. But by these very same words the said heresies are excluded. For if the Father and the Son were the same, as Sabellius pretends, the Son would not say, "The words that I speak to you, I do not speak from myself." But if the Son were less than the Father, as Arius blasphemes, he would not say, "The Father abiding in me, he himself does the works." Since, then, from the two aforesaid things the faith of the Trinity is manifested, therefore, in response, he concludes that very faith, saying, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?" How this is to be understood has indeed been explained above. In the Greek it reads "believe," namely, believe me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me. Or: it is a wonder that you do not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me. But note that before this he spoke only to Philip; but from the place where he says, "The words that I speak," etc., he speaks to all the apostles together. For if the words that I say do not suffice to show the consubstantiality, at least believe on account of the works themselves. Above, John 5:36: "The works which the Father has given me to accomplish, these bear witness of me"; and John 10:38: "If you do not believe me, believe the works." After the Lord manifested what he had said through the works that he did by himself, here he manifests it through the works that he was going to do through the disciples; and first he sets forth the works of the disciples; second, he suggests the manner of operating, at "whatever you shall ask." In the first, he first sets forth the works of the disciples; second, he assigns the reason for what he has said, at "because I go to the Father." He says therefore first, "Amen, amen I say to you," as if to say: the works that I do are so great that they sufficiently provide an argument for my divinity; but if these do not suffice for you, look to the works which I am going to do through others. For the greatest sign of great power is that a man work outstanding things not only by himself, but also through others; and therefore he says, "Amen, amen, I say to you: he who believes in me, the works that I do, he also shall do"; which words show not only the power of the divinity in Christ, but also the power of faith, and the union of Christ with the faithful. For just as the Son operates on account of the Father abiding in him through unity of nature, so also the faithful operate on account of Christ abiding in them through faith; Ephesians 3:17: "that Christ may dwell through faith in your hearts." Now the works which Christ did, and which the disciples do by the power of Christ, are works of miracles; Mark, last chapter, 17: "And these signs shall follow those who believe: in my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents," etc. But it is a wonder what he adds: "and greater than these he shall do." In one way we may say that the Lord does more and greater things through the apostles than through himself. For the greatest among the miracles of Christ was that the sick were healed by the touch of the hem of his garment, as is found in Matthew 9:20. But of Peter it is read in Acts 5:15 that the sick were healed by his shadow. Now it is a greater thing for a shadow to heal than a hem. In another way, we may say that Christ did more through the words of the disciples than through his own. For here the Lord speaks of works that were done through words, as Augustine says, which he then called works where the words that were spoken, and the fruit of those same words, was the faith of those who heard. For it is read of Christ, Matthew 19:22, that the young man was not induced to sell what he had and to follow him. For when he said to the young man, "Go and sell all that you have, and give to the poor," it is added: "he went away sad." But of Peter and the other apostles it is read, Acts 4, that when they preached, people sold their possessions and all that they had, and brought the price of them to the feet of the apostles. But someone objects that the Lord does not say that the apostles will do greater things, but "he who believes in me." Is it then the case that he who has not done greater things than Christ is not to be counted among those who believe in Christ? Far from it. For this would be a hard thing. Therefore it must be said otherwise, that Christ does a twofold work. One without us, namely to create heaven and earth, to raise the dead, and things of this kind; the other he works in us, but not without us: which is the work of faith, by which the impious is brought to life. Of these, then, the Lord speaks here, which are common to the believer. And this is the work which Christ does in us, but not without us; for whoever believes does the same things; because what is done in me by God is also done in me by myself, namely through free will. Whence the Apostle says: "yet not I"—understand, alone—"but the grace of God with me." And of these he says, "the works that I do, he also shall do, and greater than these he shall do": because it is a greater thing to justify the impious than to create heaven and earth. For the justification of the impious, as far as it is in itself, perseveres forever; Wisdom 1:15: "justice is perpetual and immortal." But heaven and earth shall pass away, as is said in Luke 21:33. Likewise, because a corporeal work is ordered to a spiritual one: but heaven and earth are a corporeal work, whereas the justification of the impious is a spiritual work. But here a doubt arises. For in the creation of heaven and earth is included also the creation of the holy angels. Does he, then, who cooperates with Christ toward his own justification, do greater things than to create an angel? This Augustine does not determine, but says: let him judge who can, whether it is a greater thing to create righteous angels than to justify impious men; certainly, if both are equal as to power, this is of a greater mercy. But if we attend carefully to which works the Lord is speaking of here, we do not prefer the creation of the angels to the justification of the impious. For by what he says, "and greater than these he shall do," we are not obliged to understand all the works of Christ, but only, perhaps, those which he was doing at that time. But at that time he was acting by the word of faith; and it is indeed a lesser thing to preach the words of righteousness, which he did apart from us, than to justify the impious, which he so does in us that we also do it. Consequently he assigns the reason for what was said, "therefore he shall do greater things," saying, "because I go to the Father." This can be applied in three ways. In one way, according to Chrysostom: I operate as long as I am in the world, but, when I depart, you will be in my place; and therefore what I do, you will do, and even greater things, because I go to the Father, and beyond this I work nothing further by myself, namely by preaching. In another way, let the sense be: the Jews believe that, with me killed, my faith will be extinguished; and this is not true, but rather it will be the more approved, and you will do greater things because I go to the Father; that is, I do not perish, but remain in my own dignity, and I shall be in the heavens; above, John 13:31: "Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him." In a third way: you will do greater things, and this because I go to the Father; as if he were to say: since I shall be more glorified, it befits me to do greater things, and also to give you powers for doing greater things. Whence, before Jesus was glorified, the Spirit was not given to the disciples in that fullness in which he was given afterward; above, John 7:39: "the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." Here he suggests the manner of operating, and first he sets forth what he intends; second, he assigns the reason, at "that the Father may be glorified in the Son," etc. Concerning the first, it must be known that, since the Lord had said, "and greater than these he shall do," so that from the greatness of the works the greatness of the doer might be known, someone could believe that he who believes in the Son of God would be greater than he himself. And therefore the Lord excludes this from the manner of acting, because the Son does his works by his own authority, but he who believes in him does them with entreaty; and therefore he says, "and whatever you shall ask the Father in my name, this I will do." Here the equality of believers to the Son is excluded in three ways. First indeed, because they, as has been said, act by entreating: whence he says, "whatever you shall ask"; Matthew 7:8: "everyone who asks, receives." Second, because they act by the power of the Son; whence he says, "in my name," that is, in the power of my name; Acts 4:12: "there is no other name given under heaven to men, by which we must be saved." For this name is above every name; Psalm 113:9: "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory"—third, because the Son himself does all the works in them and through them: whence he says, "this I will do." And note that the Father is asked, and the Son does it; because the works of the Father and the Son are indivisible; above, John 5:19: "whatever the Father does, these the Son likewise does also." For the Father does all things through the Son; above, chapter 1:3: "all things were made through him." But what is the meaning of his saying, "whatever you shall ask, this I will do," since we see his faithful ones ask and not receive? But, according to Augustine, it must be considered here, first, that he says "in my name," and then what he adds, "this I will do." For the name of Christ is the name of salvation; Matthew 1:21: "You shall call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins." He, therefore, who asks something pertaining to salvation, asks in the name of Christ. But it happens that someone asks for something not pertaining to salvation, from two causes. Namely, from a depraved affection; as, for instance, when he asks for something to which he is inclined, which, however, if he had it, would impede his salvation. And therefore he who asks in this way is not heard, because he asks amiss; James 4:3: "you ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss." For when someone, out of a depraved affection, is going to make bad use of what he wishes to receive, he rather does not receive it, by the mercy of the Lord, because he was not heard according to his wish, but rather according to his benefit. For the good Lord often denies what we ask, in order to grant what we would prefer. Second, from ignorance, when someone sometimes asks for what he believes is expedient for him, and yet it is not expedient. But, rather consulting for these, God does not do what they ask. For Paul, who labored more than all, thrice besought the Lord that the sting of the flesh might depart from him, and yet did not obtain what he asked, because it was not expedient for him; 2 Corinthians 12:8; and Romans 8:26: "for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself asks for us with unspeakable groanings"; Matthew 20:22: "you do not know what you ask." It is clear, therefore, that when we ask in his name, namely in the name of Jesus Christ, he himself will do this. Now he says "this I will do" in the future, and not "this I do" in the present, because sometimes he delays doing what we ask, in order to increase our desire, and so that it may be done at a fitting time; Leviticus 26:3: "I will give you rain in its seasons"; Isaiah 49:8: "in the day of salvation I have heard you." It also sometimes happens that we ask on behalf of someone for whom perhaps we are not heard, namely when his merits stand in the way; Jeremiah 7:16: "Therefore do not pray for this people, for I will not hear you"; and 15:1: "If Moses and Samuel should stand before me, my soul is not toward this people." Consequently, when he says, "that the Father may be glorified in the Son," he gives the reason. And this is read thus by Augustine: "whatever you shall ask the Father in my name, this I will do"—so that here is the pause. And he resumes: "that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you shall ask me anything in my name, this I will do"; as if he were to say: therefore I will do what you ask in my name, that the Father may be glorified in the Son, etc.; and all things that the Son does are ordered to the glory of the Father; above, John 8:50: "I do not seek my own glory." Thus also we ought to order all our works to the glory of God; 1 Corinthians 10:31: "do all things to the glory of God."”