John 8:19

Those who had heard out Lord say, You judge after the flesh, showed that they did so; for they understood what He said of His Father in a carnal sense: Then said they to Him; Where is Your Father? meaning, We have heard you say, I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent Me. We see you alone; prove to us then that Your Father is with You.

Some remark that this is said in contumely and contempt; to insinuate either that He is born of fornication, and knows not who His Father is; or as a slur on the low situation of His father, i.e. Joseph; as if to say, Your father is an obscure, ignoble person; why do you so often mention him? So because they asked the question, to tempt Him, not to get at the truth, Jesus answered, You neither know Me, nor My Father.

As if He said, You ask where is Your Father? As if you knew Me already, and I were nothing else but what you see. But you know Me not, and therefore I tell you nothing of My Father. You think Me indeed a mere man, and therefore among men look for My Father. But, forasmuch as I am different altogether, according to My seen and unseen natures, and speak of My Father in the hidden sense according to My hidden nature; it is plain that you must first know Me, and then you will know My Father; If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.

He tells them, it is of no avail for them to say they know the Father, if they do not know the Son.

You neither know Me, nor My Father: this seems inconsistent with what was said above, You both know Me, and know whence I am. But the latter is spoken in reply to some from Jerusalem, who asked, Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? You neither know Me, is addressed to the Pharisees. To the former persons from Jerusalem however He said, He that sent Me is true, Whom you know not. You will ask then, How is that true, If you know Me, you would know My Father also? when they of Jerusalem, to whom He said, You know Me, did Dot know the Father. To this we must reply, that our Savior sometimes speaks of Himself as man, and sometimes as God. You both know Me, He says as man: You neither know Me, as God.

What does this mean: If you knew Me, you would know My Father also, but, I and My Father are one? It is a common expression, when you see one man very like another, If you have seen him, you have seen the other. You say this, because they are so like. And thus our Lord says, It you had known Me, you had known My Father also; not that the Father is the Son, but that the Son is like the Father.

Let the Arian blush: for if, as he says, the Son be a creature, how does it follow that he who knows the creature, knows God? For not even by knowing the substance of Angels, does one know the Divine Substance? Forasmuch therefore as he who knows the Son, knows the Father, it is certain that the Son is consubstantial with the Father.

This word perhaps is used only by way of rebuke, though it seems to express doubt. As used by men indeed it is the expression of doubt, but He who knew all things could only mean by that doubt to rebuke unbelief: Nay, even we sometimes say perhaps, when they are certain of a thing, e.g. when you are angry with your slave, and say, Do not you heed me? Consider, perhaps I am your master. So our Lord’s doubt is a reproof to the unbelievers, when He says, You should have known perhaps My Father also.

It is proper to observe, that the followers of other sects think this text proves clearly, that the God, whom the Jews worshipped, was not the Father of Christ. For if, say they, our Savior said this to the Pharisees, who worshipped God as the Governor of the world, it is evident that the Father of Jesus, whom the Pharisees knew not, was a different person from the Creator. But they do not observe that this is a usual manner of speaking in Scripture. Though a man may know the existence of God, and have learned from the Father that He only must be worshipped, yet if his life is not good, he is said not to have the knowledge of God. Thus the sons of Eli, on account of their wickedness, are said not to have known God. And thus again the Pharisees did not know the Father; because they did not live according to their Creator’s command. And there is another thing meant too by knowing God, different from merely believing in Him. It is said, Be still then, and know that I am God. And this, it is certain, was written for a people that believed in the Creator. But to know by believing, and believe simply, are different things. To the Pharisees, to whom He says, You neither know Me, nor My Father, He could with right have said, you do not even believe in My Father; for he who denies the Son, has not the Father, either by faith or knowledge. But Scripture gives us another sense of knowing a thing, viz. being joined to that thing. Adam knew his wife, when he was joined to her. And if he who is joined to a woman knows that woman, he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit, and knows the Lord. And in this sense the Pharisees neither knew the Father, nor the Son. But may not a man know God, and yet not know the Father; Yes; these are two different conceptions. And therefore among an infinite number of prayers offered up in the Law, we do not find any one addressed to God the Father. They only pray to Him as God and Lord; in order not to anticipate the grace shed by Jesus over the-whole world, calling all men to the Sonship, according to the Psalm, I will declare Thy name to my brethren. These words spoke Jesus in the treasury, as He taught in the temple.

Treasury (Gazophylacium): Gaza is the Persian for wealth: phylattein is to keep. It was a place in the temple, where the money was kept.

He spoke in the temple magisterially, and now He was speaking to those who railed at and accused Him, for making Himself equal to the Father.

Great however is His confidence and fearlessness: it not being possible that He should undergo any suffering, but that which He voluntarily undertook. Wherefore it follows, And no man laid hands on Him, for His hour was not yet come. Some, when they hear this, think Christ to have been under the control of fate. But if fate comes from the verb fari, to speak, as some derive it, how can the Word of God be under the control of fate? Where are the fates? In the heavens, you say, in the courses and revolutions of the stars. How then can fate have power over Him, by Whom the heavens and stars were made; when even your will, if you exert it aright, transcends the stars? Do you think that because the flesh of Christ was placed beneath the heavens, that therefore His power was subjected to the heavens? His hour then had not yet come; i.e. the hour, not on which he should be obliged to die, but on which He should deign to be put to death.

When ever it is added, Jesus spoke these words in such a place, you will, if you attend, discover a meaning in the addition. The treasury was a place for keeping the money, which was given for the honor of God, and the support of the poor The coins are the divine words, stamped with the likeness of the great King. In this sense then let every one contribute to the edification of the Church, carrying into that spiritual treasury all that he can collect, to the honor of God, and the common good. But while all were thus contributing to the treasury of the temple, it was especially the office of Jews to contribute his gifts, which were the words of eternal life. While Jesus therefore was speaking in the treasury, no one laid hands on Him; His discourse being stronger than those who wished to take Him; for there is no weakness in that which the Word of God utters.

Or thus; Christ speaks in the treasury; i.e. He had spoken in parables to the Jews; but now that He unfolded heavenly things to His disciples, His treasury began to be opened, which was the meaning of the treasury being joined to the temple; all that the Law and the Prophets had foretold in figure, appertained to our Lord.

Again, whose doctrine does He announce, at which all were astonished? Was it His own or the Father’s? So, when they were in doubt among themselves whether He were the Christ (not as being the Father, of course but as the Son), He says to them “You are not ignorant whence I am; and I am not come of myself, but He that sent me is true, whom ye know not; but I know Him, because I am from Him.” He did not say, Because I myself am He; and, I have sent mine own self: but His words are, “He hath sent me.” When, likewise, the Pharisees sent men to apprehend Him, He says: “Yet a little while am I with you, and (then) I go unto Him that sent me.” When, however, He declares that He is not alone, and uses these words, “but I and the Father that sent me,” does He not show that there are Two, Two, and yet inseparable? Indeed, this was the sum and substance of what He was teaching them, that they were …

Now if they knew not, how said He unto them, (St. John vii. 28 .) “Ye both know Me, and ye know whence I am?” Indeed, concerning Pilate the Scripture saith, he knew not. (vid. St. John xix. 9 .) It is likely also that neither did Herod know. These, one might say, are called rulers of this world: but if a man were to say that this is spoken concerning the Jews also and the Priests, he would not err. For to these also He saith, (St. John viii. 19 .) “Ye know neither Me nor My Father.” How then saith He a little before, “Ye both know Me, and ye know whence I am?” However, the manner of this way of knowledge and of that hath already been declared in the Gospel; (Hom. 49. on St. John,) and, not to be continually handling the same topic, thither do we refer our readers.

[2.] And again, “If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also.” ( c. viii. 19 .) How then saith He, that they both “know Him,” and “whence He is,” and then, “that they neither know Him, nor the Father”? He doth not contradict, (away with the thought,) but is very consistent with Himself. For He speaketh of a different kind of knowledge, when He saith, “ye know not”; as when He saith, “The sons of Eli were wicked sons, they knew not the Lord” ( 1 Sam. ii. 12 ); and again, “Israel doth not know Me.” ( Isa. i. 3 .) So also Paul saith, “They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him.” ( Tit. i. 16 .) It is therefore possible, “knowing,” “not to know.” This then is what He saith: “If ye know Me, ye know that I am the Son of God.” For the “whence I am” doth not here denote place. …

Ver. 19 . “Then said they unto Him, Who is thy father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know Me, nor My Father.”

Had He been of inferior substance, He would not have put this. But now that thou mayest not deem that the Father is included, to make up the number (of two), observe that His power hath nothing different (from the Father’s). A man bears witness when he is trustworthy of himself, not when he himself needs testimony, and that too in a matter pertaining to another; but in a matter of his own, where he needs the witness of another, he is not trustworthy. But in this case it is all contrary. For He though bearing witness in a matter of His own, and saying that witness is borne to Him by another, asserteth that He is trustworthy, in every way manifesting His independence. …