The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. John
That whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My Name , &c. The word that signifies not so much the end aimed at as the effect. The meaning is this, If ye bring forth the fruit for which I have chosen you, it will follow and come to pass that the Father will give you whatsoever ye shall ask in the same sense that I have shown (chap, xiv. 13). The Greek for I may give is δῷ, which may be rendered, with S. Chrysostom and Theophylact, in the first person, I may give . Wherefore Theophylact gathers from this passage against the Arians that the Son of God is of the same substance with the Father, so that He equally with the Father gives as God the things which are asked of Him. In My Name , i.e. by My merits. Moreover, S. Augustine says, “ That which we ask in the Saviour’s name is what pertains to salvation.”
Ver. 17. — These things I command you , &c. He says these things in the plural to signify that there were indeed many particular precepts commanded by Him, but that all of them were included in the one common and easy precept of love, so that if one fulfils that, one fulfils all.
Secondly, You may explain more simply with S. Chrysostom if you take the conjunction that to signify the end. Then the meaning will be, These things which I have spoken concerning My love I have said with this only end in view, that ye should have mutual love among yourselves, and that thus ye should endure all things for the salvation of men. To this pertains the exposition of S. Augustine (Tract. 87), “ Because He had said, I have placed you that ye should go and bear fruit , now He saith, These things I command you , wishing to teach that the fruit which we are to bear must be love of our neighbour.” And again, “The fruit of the Spirit, saith the apostle, is charity. Concerning this therefore He gives commandment. Deservedly indeed does He often speak of love, as if it were the only thing to be commanded, as being that without which all other good things cannot profit, and which we cannot have without having all other good things by which a man becomes good with it.”
Ver. 18. — If the world hate you, &c. . . . it first hated Me. The Greek is πρῶτον ὑμῶν, which is best rendered adverbially, meaning, the world hated Me before it hated you. I have trodden before you this path of hatred, and made it smooth for you, so that ye, following Me, may walk joyfully in the same way. For I give Myself to you not only as your companion in persecutions, but your standard-bearer , your leader and your guide. Worldly people He calls the world. By them He means 1st, The Jews. 2d, Gentiles addicted to the spirit of the world, and therefore enemies of the doctrine and spirit of Christ.
Christ forewarns His Apostles against the impending hatred and persecutions of the Jews and Gentiles. For the darts which are foreseen are less apt to strike. Thus they would nobly overcome, yea, despise them, and would glory in them as the tokens of Christ. It is, as Ribera remarks, as though He said, Do not wonder or be troubled when the world hates you. It hated Me before you. Rejoice because ye are partakers with Me. This hatred shall do you no harm, even as it has not hurt Me. The world persecutes you because ye are not of it, i.e. because ye do not favour its works, but oppose them, as I do. And when He saith this, He leaves it to be understood, But I nevertheless will love you, because ye belong to Me, and are My elect, chosen to condemn the works of the world. Far greater shall be to you the benefit of My love than the harm of the world’s hate.
Great then is this consolation which the members derive from their Head. Listen to S. Cyprian (lib. 4, Epist. 6), “ The Son of God hath suffered that He might make us sons of God. And shall a son of man not be willing to suffer that he may persevere in being a son of God ? If we labour under the world’s hate, Christ bore this hatred before us. If we endure shame in this world, or banishment , or torture, the world’s Maker and its Master experienced yet more grievous trials. He it is who admonishes us, saying, If the world hate you, remember that it first hated Me.”
Lastly, hear S. Bernard (Hom. 47, in Cant.), “Thou art two things to Me, O Lord Jesus, a mirror of endurance, and a reward of suffering. Thou art the pattern of the warrior, and the glory of the victor. Thou teachest my hands to war by the example of Thine own valour. Thou crownest my head after the victory by the presence of Thy majesty.”
Ver. 19. — If ye were of the world , &c. Christ here adds another reason, says Chrysostom, showing that it is a proof of virtue to be hated by the world, and of wickedness to be loved by it. The meaning is, if ye loved riches, honours, pleasures, lusts, such as the world loves, it would love you as being like itself. But since it sees you loving the things which are contrary to its base desires, and teaching contempt for earthly pleasures, honours, and lusts, therefore it hateth you. For agreement in character and desires is a cause of love, dissimilarity a cause of aversion and hatred.
S. Augustine considers an objection which may be raised. The wicked persecute the wicked : unrighteous kings and judges punish murderers and adulterers. Then he gives this answer. The world indeed hates its own so far as this, that it injures the wicked. But still it loves them, in that it favours them. To me it seems another answer may be given : worldly men love their own, that is, those who help and share in their designs. If at any time they hate other worldly persons, it is because they oppose their designs, and so are counted their adversaries. And therefore they hated Christ because He reproved their deeds, and exposed them to men. For the same cause they hated the Apostles.
Ver. 20. — Remember My word, &c. For if I suffer the hatred of the Jews, yea even the death of the Cross, ye ought not to be unwilling to undergo the same! For as S. Peter saith, “ Christ hath suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps.”
If they have persecuted Me, &c. If they have kept My word, &c. My word, i.e. My doctrine, law, and precepts.
But all these things will they do because of My name , i.e. on My account, because ye are called, and are, Mine.
Because they know not Him that sent Me : i.e., Because they know not that God the Father sent Me, they say that I pretend to be the Son of God, and sent by Him into the world as the Messias. For if they knew and believed this, they would not persecute Me, nor dare to fight against God. He means, This will be glorious for you, that not only for My sake, but for God the Father’s sake, who sent Me, ye will endure persecutions.
Ver. 22. — If I had not come and spoken, &c., they would not have sin, &c. Sin, viz. of unbelief and hatred, in that they calumniate, and are hostile to, My doctrine and life. Observe : the Scribes and Pharisees before Christ came had true faith, not only in God, but also in Christ as about to come. But when He did come they would not acknowledge Him, because they saw Him poor and lowly, and because He reproved their vices. Wherefore they then became unbelievers, and lost the faith by their own obstinacy. For Jesus abundantly proved to them that He was the Christ, wherefore they were without excuse because they believed Him not.
Ver. 23. — He that hateth Me hateth My Father also, because I am come as sent by the Father, and I have spoken the things which He wished Me to speak. Wherefore by despising and hating Me, they despise and hate God the Father. As he who despiseth an ambassador despises the king who sends him.
Ver. 25. — But that the word may be fulfilled which is written in their law (i.e., in the Old Test., viz. Ps. lix. 5, and xxv. 29), they hated Me gratis (Vulg.), i.e. without a cause, without My fault, and therefore wickedly and unjustly. For I have given them no other cause of hate, but supremest love. Observe the word that does not signify the end intended, but denotes that which happened as a matter of fact from the unbelief and obstinacy of the Jews. The meaning is, And thus there followed that which David and Isaias foretold would be, viz. that the Jews would without a cause pursue Christ with hate.
Vers. 26-27. — But when the Paraclete is come , whom I will send unto you from the Father , &c. He means, although I have abundantly demonstrated My divinity to the Jews, so that they are without excuse, yet will I still more demonstrate it by the coming of the Holy Ghost, who shall testify concerning Me, coming from heaven to you alone who have believed in Me, and to those who shall believe through your preaching, so that His advent shall be made known to all when they see you speaking with tongues, and expounding the Scriptures, and working miracles. For ye by preaching the Gospel bear testimony unto all men concerning Me, My doctrine and My works, since ye have been with Me from the time that I began to teach and converse with men.