The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. John
Thirdly, the word “for” (ἀντί) might denote a certain equality. For this is the meaning of the Greek compound ἀντίθεος, that is to say, the equal of God, or he who makes himself a god, as Lucifer did, and Antichrist will do. So also antitype (ἀντίτυπον) is that which is set over against and corresponds, that which is equal, and of the same form. And the antipodes are properly those who walk with their feet planted exactly opposite to our own. The meaning then would be — Through Christ we have received grace as it were equal to the grace of Christ, because by it we have been lifted up, and made to belong to the Divine order of things, that is to say, sons of God, and “ partakers of the Divine nature ” (2 Pet. i. 4). Thus the Apostles were in some sense the fellows and peers of Christ, for He calls them His brethren. Thus the Pope calls the cardinals brethren, and so, in some sort, equals them to himself. Let a believer then, more especially a priest, or a religious, think with himself how he ought to live like Christ, and lead the heavenly life which Christ led, that whosoever shall see him, or hear him, may say he has seen and heard Christ in his lively image.
Under the word grace here include truth also. For Christ is spoken of as full of grace and truth. And of His fulness of both have we all received. For through Christ have we received truth, that is, knowledge of God, faith, wisdom, understanding of salvation and things Divine : also remission of sins, reconciliation with God, the adoption of sons, charity, humility, and all other virtues and gifts. All are here comprehended under the word grace.
Ver. 16. — For the law was given by Moses , &c. He gives the reason why through Christ we have received grace for grace. It is because Moses, who was the Jew's greatest prophet and lawgiver, could only give a law which taught and commanded the precepts of God, but could not bestow grace to keep those commandments. Hence the need of Christ to give grace to fulfil the law. Wherefore the Arabic translates, grace and truth were needful through Jesus Christ. The Evangelist therefore opposes, and prefers Christ to Moses, grace to the law. 1. Because Moses in the law only taught directly what God willed the Jews to do, namely the precepts of the Decalogue, under the promise of temporal blessings, such as abundance of corn, wine, and oil. But the way of salvation, remission of sins, justification, and holiness, by which we arrive at life eternal, he did not teach, much less bestow that life. But Christ hath both taught it, and hath also bestowed it, through that grace and truth which He hath brought from heaven. This is what Zacharias sings of in the first chapter of Luke, “ To give knowledge of salvation unto His people for the remission of their sins.” Thus too S. Chrysostom, “ Grace came by Christ because with authority He forgave sins, and bestowed regeneration. Truth came by Him because He fulfilled the types and figures.”
2. In the Law was a threefold commandment, the moral law, or the Decalogue ; the judicial, and the ceremonial law. To the two first the Evangelist opposes grace , without which they could not be observed. And the effect of grace is that a believer fulfilling the same law from love to God, deserves eternal life. To the ceremonial law he opposes truth, because those ceremonies were types and shadows of Christ and His sacraments, which shadows Christ fulfilled , and so brought in truth. Wherefore S. Austin saith, “ When the Law itself was fulfilled” (through Christ), “ grace and truth came in. Grace pertains to the fulness of charity, truth to accomplishment of prophecy” (cont. Faust, c. 6).
3. Because Moses gave only an obscure and slight knowledge of God and the Holy Trinity, but Christ a knowledge that was clear and full. Wherefore Bede thus comprises the whole of what we have been saying. “Christ being made man hath declared what we ought to think concerning the truth of the Trinity, in what manner we ought to hasten to the contemplation of It, by what acts we ought to arrive at It.”
Symbolically, S. Austin (lib. de Trin. 13, cap. 19) by grace understands the Word Himself, incarnate in time ; by truth the eternal vision of God, to which He leads us. This is what he says : “ In things that have their origin in time, the highest grace is, that man is united to God by unity of person ; but in things eternal the highest truth is rightly attributed to the Word of God. Now in that He is the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, it is brought to pass that He should be the same in the things which are done for us in time, for whom we are cleansed by the like faith, so that we may steadfastly contemplate Him in the things eternal.”
Ver. 18. — No man hath seen God , &c. He gives the reason why neither Moses, nor any one else, but Christ alone, hath taught us the perfect truth concerning God and Divine things — because He alone hath seen God. It is as though he said, those things of which thus far I have been speaking, concerning God and the Word, are so sublime , that inasmuch as no mortal man (and therefore not Moses), except the Son of God, hath seen God, therefore that Incarnate Son alone is able perfectly to declare these things. Thus the Fathers passim ; who teach from this passage that Moses saw not the essence of God, but only a certain luminous substance assumed by an angel, in some manner representing to the eyes of Moses the glory of God. Thus S. Gregory says in the Catena : “ So long as we live here in mortal flesh, God may be seen by certain manifestations or images of Him, but as He is in His own nature He cannot be seen.”
Tropologically, S. Gregory teaches (lib. 18, Mor. cap. ult. et penult.) that no one can behold God and Divine things, unless he first die to this world and its pleasures. For thus he expounds the words in the 18th chapter of Job, It is hid from the eyes of all living: “ Because whosoever seeth wisdom, which is God Himself, dieth wholly to this life, lest he should be holden of its love. For no man seeth It who still liveth to the flesh, because no man can at the same time embrace God and the world. For he who seeth God dieth in this respect, either in will, or in reality, for with his whole soul he is separated from the pleasures of this life.”
The Only Begotten who is in the bosom ; Syriac, in the lap: S. Cyril, in the womb , for this is one meaning of the Greek κόλπος. It is a figure of speech. For by bosom is signified the highest possible union of the Son with the Father. It means that the Son, who is most closely united, and consubstantial with the Father, is partaker of the wisdom of the Father, and conscious of His most secret counsels. And because He knoweth them most perfectly and intimately, therefore He alone is able most fully and plainly to declare them. And so in fact He has declared them. Thus SS. Chrysostom, Cyril, and Augustine. S. Athanasius observes (lib. 3 de Unica Trin . substant.) that this expression, the Only Begotten, which is in the bosom of the Father, is made use of lest when it is said that He was made flesh, it should be supposed He was divided from the Father. For in truth He abideth, and is with the Father, even as He was in the beginning, and everlastingly.
Listen to S. Chrysostom, who by this word bosom thinks it is signified that the Son not only sees, but comprehends the Father. “ Many,” saith he, “ know God, yet none but the Only Begotten Son know of what nature His substance is. He has certain knowledge , sight, and comprehension, such as it is befitting a son to have of his father. For as the Father knoweth Me, He said, so also know I the Father (John x. 15). Observe therefore with what fulness of language the Evangelist speaks ; for when he says, no man hath seen God at any time , he does not go on to say, the Son who hath seen , hath declared Him, but He who is in the bosom of the Father hath declared Him. For he who only seeth hath not certain knowledge of the thing seen : but he who dwelleth in the bosom , to him are all things plain and certain. Lest therefore when you hear, no man knoweth the Father save the Son (Matt. xi. 27), you should say that though He hath greater knowledge of the Father than others have, and yet knows not what His nature is, therefore the Evangelist says, ‘ He is in the bosom of the Father.’ ”
There is an allusion to the words of David concerning Christ in the 110th Psalm, “From the womb, before the morning star, have I begotten Thee ” (Vulg.) That is, “From my fruitful understanding I have, as it were, as a Word spoken this, and as a Son have I begotten thee.” S. Jerome says, “ From the womb, i.e., of My substance, of My nature, of the very essence of My substance, have I begotten Thee.” So also Theodoret says, “ From the womb” that is, “ of My substance. For as human beings produce from the womb, and that which they bring forth hath the same nature as those who bring it forth, so art Thou begotten of Me, and Thou showest forth in Thyself the substance of Him who begat.” Moreover, Jerome himself translates this verse of the 110th Psalm thus, “ The dew of Thy youth shall arise to Thee as it were from the womb ;” Aquila, “The dew of Thy childhood arising to Thee early from the womb.” It means, “ Of My Deity have I begotten Thee God : ” as it is in the Creed, “God of God.” So SS. Hilary, Ambrose, Augustine, Athanasius, and others against the Arians. For dew means in Hebrew the same as flower in English. “ Dew,” says R. Solomon, “ means sweetness, joyfulness, purity of heavenly generation , as it were dew born of the heavenly dayspring.”