The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. John
And S. Chrysostom, “ His going to the Father was a proof that He had lived a blameless life, so that they could not say, He is a sinner, and is not from God.”
Ver. 11. — Of judgment , because the prince of this world is judged. (1.) S. Chrysostom and Euthymius explain it thus, “The Holy Spirit will prove that the judgment of the world is false in saying that I work miracles by the power and craft of the devil ; for He will prove that the devil has been condemned, cast out, and judged by Me. 2d, He will convict the world of sloth in being unwilling to trample Satan under foot, when wounded and deprived of strength . 3d, He will reprove the world of being led astray, by placing its hope in the devil who has been condemned by Me, or for forsaking God, and worshipping the devil in idols or in creatures. 4th, Toletus and others explain thus : The Holy Spirit will manifest Me to the world as the just Judge of quick and dead, when He will make it seen that the devil is condemned by Me. For if I judge and condemn devils, much more do I condemn men. 5th, and most aptly, He will make the world see its own condemnation, when it beholds itself condemned in the person of its head ; when He will enable the Apostles, by invoking the Name of Jesus, to cast him forth from the temples and idols in which the world worshipped him, and also from the souls and bodies of men, thus overthrowing his kingdom. For if God spared not the angels who sinned, neither will He spare the guilty world ; if He spared not the head, so also will He spare not his members and subjects. So S. Augustine , Bede, Rupertus, Maldonatus, Ribera, and others.
Justin Martyr uses this same argument (Dial, cum Tryphone), also Tertullian (ad Scapulam and Apolog. cap. xxxvi.), S. Cyprian (ad Demetrius), Origen (lib. i. contr. Celsum), S. Athanasius (de Incar. Verbi), Lactantius (ii. 6), and others.
Hear S. Augustine (de Verb. Dom. Serm. lx.) : “ By his very casting out he was judged, and the world is convicted by this judgment, because he who refuses to believe in Christ, in vain complains about the devil: For since he has been cast out and sentenced, though he is permitted to assail us from without, yet not only men but even women and boys have triumphed over him, as martyrs.” Also the same father (in loc.) “ He is judged, that is irrevocably doomed to the judgment of eternal fire, and by this judgment is the world reproved, because it is judged with its prince, whom it imitates in his pride and impiety. Let men therefore believe in Christ, lest they be convicted of the sin of unbelief, which binds fast all sins ; let them pass over into the ranks of the faithful, lest they be reproved by the righteousness of those, whom they do not imitate in being justified ; let them beware of the future judgment , lest they be condemned with the prince of this world whom they do imitate.”
Ver. 12. — I have yet many things to say unto you (of the mysteries of the faith, of the conversion of the Gentiles, of the foundation and government of the Church, of the institution of priests and bishops, and the whole ecclesiastical hierarchy), but ye cannot bear them now . Your mind cannot take in such weighty matters, both because it is weak and ill-informed, and so accustomed to the carnal ordinances of the Jews, as to be unable to conceive such lofty and spiritual subjects ; and also because it is entirely occupied with sorrow, which keeps it from rising to the apprehension of so many and such noble subjects. But I will send the Holy Spirit, who will by His enlightenment make you capable of hearing and comprehending them. So S. Chrysostom, Cyril, Theophylact, and S. Augustine. Christ encourages His Apostles to lift up their hearts, and cherish the desire of apprehending these great mysteries by the coming of the Holy Spirit. We may thence infer that the Apostles and the Church advanced only by degrees in the knowledge of the mysteries of the faith, as the light of the sun gradually increases from dawn to mid-day. (See Cant. vi. 9.) And every believer gradually grows in faith and holiness, as is said Prov. iv. 18.
Ver. 13. — Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth (see above xiv. 17), shall come , He will teach you all truth, which it is fitting you should know in this life, both for guiding yourselves and all nations into the way of salvation. So S. Cyril, Theophylact, Euthymius. For He would not teach them all truth in this life, but in heaven. So S. Augustine and Bede. In the Greek [as in English Version] we read “ will guide you into all truth.” For the way to attain truth is study, examination of Holy Scripture, the works of the Fathers, prayer and invocation of the Holy Spirit. It is therefore clear that the Holy Spirit gradually taught the Apostles more and greater mysteries. It is plain from Acts x. that long after Pentecost He revealed to S. Peter that the Gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles, and from Acts xv. that the Gentiles were not to be circumcised, or obliged to keep the law of Moses. Wherefore on the Thursday after Pentecost the Church prays, “ We beseech Thee, O Lord, that the Comforter, who proceedeth from Thee, may enlighten our hearts, and lead them, as Thy Son promised, into all truth.”
For He shall not speak of Himself but whatsoever He shall hear , He shall speak . (1.) S. Chrysostom explains, He shall not teach anything contrary to what I have taught (so also S. Cyril, Theophylact , Rupertus, Maldonatus). S. Chrysostom says, This is added, lest, because the Holy Spirit would teach all truth, He should make Him greater than the Son, as though He did not teach all truth. (2.) S. Ambrose (de Spirit. Sancto , ii. 12) explains, “He shall not speak of Himself,” i.e., not without participation with the Father and Myself, and therefore what He shall speak the Father and the Son will speak also. (3.) S. Augustine : “ He speaks as breathed by the Father and the Son.” (4.) It is best explained by joining together the last two meanings in this way : He will not speak of Himself, but by the will of the Father and Myself, for He is " of” Both. (See Didymus de Sp . S.) Christ here alludes to men who are said to speak “ of themselves ” when they invent anything out of their own brain, and not according to the truth of things. But to speak in this way " of Himself,” the Spirit could not do. But again, Christ wished to teach that the Father and Himself were both the source of truth, and also of the Holy Spirit Himself, and therefore that the Holy Spirit would teach the same truth as He had taught. For what He hath heard from eternity, He hears, and will hear for ever, as deriving it together with His Divine Essence both from the Father and the Son. Christ also often said that He spake not of Himself, but what He heard from the Father. For to the Father belongs the source of origin, of essence, and of knowledge . Hear S. Augustine (in loc .) : “ For Him to hear is to know, and to know is to Be. From Him from whom He proceeds, is His essence, His knowledge and His hearing. The Holy Spirit ever hears, because He ever knows.” And Didymus : “ But that the Father speaks and the Son hears, signifies their common nature and consent. But the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth and wisdom, cannot when the Son speaks hear what He knew not before, since it is of His very nature to proceed from the Son, proceeding as the truth from the truth, the Comforter from the Comforter, God from God.”
Again, S. Augustine (ibid.) : “ Let it not move you that the word is used in the future tense, for that hearing is sempiternal, because that knowledge is sempiternal. But in that which is sempiternal, without beginning and without end, a verb of particular tense is put. Nor do we say untruthfully, ‘Was,’ and ‘Is,’ and ‘Will be:’ ‘Was’ because it never was wanting, ‘Will be’ because it never will be wanting, ‘Is’ because it ever is.”
And He will show you things to come. He will teach you every truth which concerns yourselves and your office : not only past and present, but also future. He will make you, not only Apostles and Evangelists, but will bestow on you the gift of Prophecy (see Acts xi. 28; xx. 29; xxi. 11.) The Apocalypse of S. John is almost a continuous prophecy, for it was fitting that the Apostles should be superior to the Prophets of old. Whence Didymus says (de Spirit. Sancto ): “By the Spirit of truth a perfect knowledge of future events is conferred on the Saints, and by this Prophets looked on things future as though they were present. For the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth which reveals all truths, even those that are future. For it is the Spirit of Eternal Wisdom which maketh friends of God and Prophets” ( Wisd. vii. 27). S. Chrysostom gives the reason. He roused in this way the mind of the Apostles ; for mankind are most eager to know the future. He therefore freed them from this anxiety, by showing that the future would be revealed to them.