The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. John
But now I go My way to Him that sent Me. By My Cross and Death I am going to My Resurrection and to My glorious Ascension , and return to My Father.
And none of you asketh Me, Whither goest Thou? For though Thomas asked Him that very question, yet neither he nor anyone understood the answer of Christ, which was sufficiently obscure, nor did any one ask Christ to explain its meaning more fully, so absorbed were they all by their sorrow at His coming departure. So S. Cyril, Euthymius, Maldonatus, Jansen, and others.
Christ therefore quietly reproves the Apostles for not asking Him more on the subject, as, e.g., Where He was going; to what joys, glory, and kingdom ; what aid He would send them from thence ; what rewards He would give. For this knowledge would assuredly have lessened their sorrow, if it did not entirely remove it.
Ver. 6. — But because I have said these things to you, sorrow hath filled your heart. — Maldonatus explains “ but ” by “ for,” i.e. This (your sorrow) is the reason why ye ask Me not. But Toletus explains it by “ Nay, rather,” meaning “ Ye not only do not ask Me, but more than this, ye are overwhelmed with sorrow.” But it is simpler to understand as conveying a tacit reproof for being so given up to sorrow, as to have no courage to ask Him that which would have alleviated their sorrow, and would have been to them the greatest consolation and joy: namely, that He was going to the Father, and would send His Holy Spirit to prepare a place for them in heaven.
Ver. 7. — Nevertheless 1 tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away. (1.) S. Chrysostom (Horn, lxxvii.) explains it thus, “ I say not this to please you, but though you will be made more sorrowful, you must hear what is expedient. Ye indeed would wish Me to be near, but utility demands the contrary. But it is the duty of one who loves, when he learns the utility, not to allow his beloved ones to be deprived of it.” And S. Cyril (x. 39) almost in the same words, “I perceive that ye are affected with great sorrow, because I have resolved to go away. And that too, not unreasonably, especially when ye hear that great tribulations will befall you. But since utility is to be preferred to what is pleasant, I will make known to you the truth.”
Christ does not here oppose “ truth” to grace, but to sorrow, and makes truth refer to the consolation of the Apostles. For He says this to take away their sorrow by the joyful message of consolation . Ye are sorrowful (He would say) at My departure, as if it were your greatest loss. But be assured, both that ye have sorrow, and that it is in truth expedient for you that I go away. For My departure to the Father will be to you of the greatest benefit. For I will send from thence the Holy Spirit on you, Who will fill you with all virtue and strength. And therefore My departure will not only be to your highest profit, but even to your pleasure, as you will experience at Pentecost. Whence He adds, For if I go not away , the Comforter (your consoler and encourager) will not come unto you; but if I depart I will send Him unto you (see above and chap. vii. 39). For the disciples, as children with their mother, and chickens with the hen, being too much accustomed to converse with Christ as a man, and to His corporeal presence, could not understand the Holy Spirit and His spiritual gifts. And Christ accordingly withdrew from them, that being weaned from Him, and their minds wholly fixed on the Holy Spirit, they might be raised by Him to heroic deeds, by which they would convert the whole world.
And accordingly the Holy Spirit coming on them at Pentecost, made them masters instead of disciples, and created them teachers of the whole world. (See S. Augustine, in loc ., and S. Gregory, Moral, viii. 33.) The Holy Spirit is here appositely called the Paraclete, to signify that He would amply console the disciples, who were sad at Christ's departure, and would fill them with every joy. Hence S. Chrysostom (Horn, lxxvii.) proves against Macedonius that the Holy Spirit is truly God; for were He not the Creator, but merely a creature, how would it be expedient that Christ, on account of His coming, should leave the disciples, being their Creator and God ? Again, lest it should be thought that the Holy Spirit is the same with the Son, Christ adds, “ I will send Him unto you,” for the Sender is really and personally distinguished from the Sent. And it is signified also that the Holy Spirit proceeds alike from the Father and the Son. For in the Holy Trinity whatever Person sends another Person produces It, that is, begets or breathes it, as the Father sending the Son, begets Him also, and He likewise together with the Son, by sending the Holy Spirit, also breathes Him forth.
Ver. 8. — And when He is come , He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. By the world He means both Jews and Gentiles who believe not in Christ. These the Holy Spirit will reprove, i.e. will reproach, blame, and refute them, will so convince by arguments as to make it plain that they are convinced— though obstinate, continuing in their unbelief, they will be loth to admit it — and will refuse to believe in Christ, as heretics who are pertinacious in their error.
Ver. 9. — Of sin , because they believed (believe, Greek and Syriac version) not in Me. He will convict My enemies, both Jewish and Gentile unbelievers, both of the great sin of unbelief (S. Chrysostom and Augustine), and of every other sin (S. Cyril), for refusing to believe in Me, after the many reasons they have heard, and the miracles they have seen. For the Spirit will bring home to them the state of their soul, both outwardly, by earnest preaching, by the sanctity of the Apostles, and the miracles He will work through them ; and inwardly, by enlightening their minds by His Inspiration, so that they will acknowledge, even against their will, that they are in their former infidelity and other sins, and that they cannot be liberated from them, except by faith in Me, which they refused to accept. For He will demonstrate to them that there is no other Saviour who can atone for sin, but Myself. See Acts iv. 12. And consequently, though many were moved by this preaching of the Apostles, yet others, by persisting in their unbelief, became inexcusable , and worthy of damnation and hell. See Acts ii. 37. So S. Cyril, Leontius, and others.
Ver. 10. — Of righteousness . The Holy Spirit will prove that the righteousness of the world is false ; that of the Jews, because they sought it by the ceremonies of the Law, which could not purify the soul ; and that of the Gentiles, because they sought it only in things which were naturally and morally honest, and despised Christ. But He, the Holy Ghost, will set forth Christ, who was despised and counted unrighteous, to be alone Righteous, and the source and origin of all righteousness. So S. Cyril, lib. vi.
Tropologically, S. Bernardine (Serm. xxi.) says, “ The Holy Spirit reproves the world of sin, because it dissembles ; of righteousness, which it does not order rightly, while it gives it to itself and not to God; of judgment, which it usurps, in rashly judging both of itself and others.”
Because I go to My Father. It is an offence to the world, and worldlings, that, seeming to be a mere man, I preach new and paradoxical doctrines. But the contrary will soon be made manifest to them, viz., that I have been sent by God the Father to reconcile the world to God by My death on the Cross, and to raise them to the rights of His children. For, ascending unto heaven I shall return to Him, so that the world will see Me no more, nor be scandalised by the sight of My infirmity in the flesh. And I will from thence send the Holy Spirit to justify and sanctify those who believe in Me, and from this it will be clear to the whole world that I am not a mere man, but the God-man, the Justifier and Sanctifier of the world. So Leontius, S. Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Euthymius.
S. Chrysostom adds that the Holy Spirit distributed His gifts and graces to the faithful at the invocation of the Name of Jesus.
And ye will see Me no more . He speaks not of them personally, but of men in general. Ye will see Me ascending to My Father, but afterwards ye will see Me no more in this life. So Maldonatus, Ribera, and others.
Toletus adds that Christ said this, to signify that there was no need for Him to come again into the world, to suffer and to die. For by My death once for all I have fulfilled all righteousness for all men, past, present, and to come. Ye will therefore see Me no more as ye have hitherto seen Me. Having then completed all righteousness , the world must after My departure be at once convicted of righteousness, that is to say, that it has been completed and consummated by Me. S. Augustine (in loc.) adds, “The world is reproved of sin, because it believes not in Christ. It is reproved too concerning the righteousness of those who believe ; for to compare the faithful with unbelievers is to blame the unbelieving. But because it is the common cry of unbelievers, ‘ How can we believe that which we do not see?’ He therefore defined the righteousness of those who believe, in these words, ‘ Because I go to My Father, and ye shall see Me no more. Blessed are they who do not see and yet believe.’ This then will be your righteousness, of which the world is reproved, that ye believe in Me, whom ye will not see.” He says also (de Verb. Dom. Serm. lxi.), “ They believed not, but He goes to the Father. It was their sin, but His righteousness. For His coming to us was an act of mercy, His going to the Father was His righteousness,” as the apostle said, “ Wherefore God hath also highly exalted Him.” And also ( Quæst. N. et V. Test. xxxix.), “ By His returning He proved that He had come from thence.”