John 7:27

It was said above that our Lord went up to the feast secretly, not because He feared being taken, (for He had power to prevent it,) but to show figuratively, that even in the very feast which the Jews celebrated, He was hid, and that it was His mystery. Now however the power appears, which was thought timidity: He spoke publicly at the feast, in so much that the multitude marveled: They said some of them at Jerusalem, Is not this He, whom they seek to kill? but, lo, He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. They knew the fierceness with which He had been sought for; they marveled at the power by which he was not taken.

The Evangelist adds, from Jerusalem: for there had been the greatest display of miracles, and there the people were in the worst state, seeing the strongest proofs of His divinity, and yet willing to give up all to the judgment of their corrupt rulers. Was it not a great miracle, that those who raged for His life, now that they had Him in their grasp, became on a sudden quiet?

So, not fully understanding Christ’s power, they supposed that it was owing to the knowledge of the rulers that He was spared: Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?

But they do not follow the opinion of the rulers, but put forth another most perverse and absurd one; Howbeit we know this Man, whence He is; but when Christ comes, no man knows whence He is.

This notion did not arise without foundation. We find indeed that the Scriptures said of Christ, He shall be called a Nazarene, and thus predicted whence He would come. And the Jews again told Herod, when he inquired, that Christ would be born in Bethlehem of Judah, and adduced the testimony of the Prophet. How then did this notion of the Jews arise, that, when Christ came, no one would know whence He was? From this reason, viz. that the Scriptures asserted both. As man, they foretold whence Christ would be; as God, He was hid from the profane, but revealed Himself to the godly. This notion they had taken from Isaiah, Who shall declare His generation? Our Lord replies, that they both knew Him, and knew Him not: Then cried Jesus in the temple as He taught, saying, You both know Me, and know whence I am: that is to say, You both know whence I am, and do not know whence I am: you know whence I am, that I am Jesus of Nazareth, whose parents you know. The birth from the Virgin was the only part of the matter unknown to them: with this exception, they knew all that pertained to Jesus as man. So He well says, You both know Me, and know whence I am: i.e. according to the flesh, and the likeness of man. But in respect of His divinity, He says, I am not come of Myself, but He that sent Me is true.

By which He discloses what was in their minds. I am not, He seems to say, of the number of those who have come without reason, but He is true that sent Me; and if He is true, He has sent Me in truth; and therefore He who is sent must needs speak the truth. He then convicts them from their own assertions. For whereas they had said, When Christ comes, no man knows whence He is, He shows that Christ did come from one whom they knew not, i.e. the Father. Wherefore He adds, Whom you know not.

Every man, ever born in the flesh, is in a certain sense from God. How then could He say that they were ignorant who He was, and whence He was.? Because our Lord is here referring to His own peculiar birth from God, which they were ignorant of, because they did not know that He was the Son of God. His very saying then that they did not know whence He was, was telling them whence He was. If they, did not know whence He was, He could not be from nothing; for then there would be no whence to be ignorant of. He must therefore be from God. And then not knowing whence He is, was the reason that they did not know who He is. He does not know the Son who does not know His birth from the Father.

Or the ignorance, He here speaks of, is the ignorance of a bad life; as Paul said, They profess that they know God, but in words they deny Him. Our Lord’s reproof is twofold: He first published what they were speaking secretly, crying out, in order to put them to shame.

Lastly, to show whence they could get to know Him (who had sells Him), He adds, I know Him: so if you would know Him, inquire of Me. No one knows the Father, save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him. And if I should say, I know Him not, I should be a liar like to you.

Which is impossible for He that sent Me is true, and therefore He that is sent must be true likewise He every where attributes the knowledge of the Father to Himself, as being from the Father: thus here, But I know Hint, for I am from Him.

I ask however does the being from Him express a work of creation, or a birth by generation? If a work of creation, then every thing which is created is from Him. And how then does not all creation know the Father, if the Son knows Him, because He is from Him? But if the knowledge of the Father is peculiar to Him, as being from Him, then the being from Him is peculiar to Him also; i.e. the being the true Son of God by nature. So you have then a peculiar knowledge springing from a peculiar generation. To prevent however ever any heresy applying the being from Him, to the time of His advent He adds, And He has sent Me; thus preserving, the order of the Gospel sacrament; first announcing Himself born, and then sent.

I am from Him, He says, i.e. as the Son from the Father: but that you see Me in the flesh is because He has sent Me. Wherein understand not a difference of nature, but the authority of a father.

His saying however, Whom you know not, irritated the Jews, who professed to have knowledge; and they sought to take Him, but no man laid hands on Him. Mark the invisible check which is kept upon their fury: though the Evangelist does not mention it, but preserves purposely a humble and human way of speaking, in order to impress us with Christ’s humanity; and therefore only adds, Because His hour was not yet come.

That is, because He was not so pleased; for our Lord was not born subject to fate. You must not believe this even of yourself, much less of Him by Whom you were made. And if your hour is in His will, is not His hour in His own will? His home then here does not mean the time that He was obliged to die, but the time that He deigned to be put to death.

Others said, “When Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence He is” ( ver. 27 ); and there was a difference of opinion, as might be expected in a confused multitude; for not attentively did they listen to His words, nor for the sake of learning. Wherefore He maketh them no answer; yet they said, “Doth Christ come out of Galilee?” And He had praised, as being “an Israelite indeed,” Nathanael, who had said in a more forcible and striking manner, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” ( c. i. 46 .) But then these men, and they who said to Nicodemus, “Search and look, for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet” ( ver. 52 ), said it not seeking to learn, but merely to overturn the opinion concerning Christ. …

25. I can conceive of no man so destitute of ordinary reason as to recognise in each of the Gospels confessions by the Son of the humiliation to which He has submitted in taking a body upon Him, as for instance His words, often repeated, Father, glorify Me , and Ye shall see the Son of Man , and The Father is greater than I , and, more strongly, Now is My soul troubled exceedingly , and even this, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me ” ? and many more, of which I shall speak in due time, and yet, in the face of these constant expressions of His humility, to charge Him with presumption because He calls God His Father, as when He says, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up , or, Ye have made my Father’s house an house of merchandise . …