The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. John
I will not cast out of My house: I will not drive him from Me, from My Church, My heaven, but with great care I will cherish him. There is an allusion to a host, who receives to His hospitality well-disposed travellers and friends. As Euthymius says, “ Here I will not cast him away from My friendship, nor there from the heavenly kingdom.” And Cyril says, “ He shall not be disappointed, nor with shame cast out, neither shall he be deprived of my kindness, but he shall be stored in My garner, and shall rest in the heavenly mansions, and shall come whither the mind of man hath not even conceived.”
Observe : SS. Chrysostom and Cyril (lib. 3, c. 39) say that they who are given by the Father to the Son are those who by a good use of their free-will have rendered themselves worthy the vocation and grace of God. Pelagius afterwards crudely taking up this teaching, denied the necessity of grace, saying that free-will was sufficient for him to do good works. But this is an error which S. Augustine confutes. “ To believe ,” he says, “ is of the grace of God ; to be able to believe, of nature.” Wherefore Christ Himself here and elsewhere teaches that all indeed are able to believe, do good works, and be saved, because free-will in all is capable of receiving the grace of God, and often does receive from God grace sufficient for salvation : and yet that only those in act believe and are saved, to whom God gives efficacious or congruous grace, such indeed as He foresees will persuade free-will so that it will co-operate with Himself. On this more is said (ver. 44).
Ver. 38. — For I came down, &c. Christ gives the reason why He will not cast out him whom the Father hath given Him, viz., because He Himself came in flesh, and into the world, for this end alone, that He might do the Father's will, which is, that those whom the Father wills to give to Him, and to save, Christ should accept and save. This is why He adds in explanation, This is His will, &c. Listen to S. Cyril in the Council of Ephesus, profoundly handling these things. “When He adds that He was accomplishing not His own, but His Father’s will, He quells indirectly the madness of the Jews, who were always labouring to bring about their own will, and holding cheap the Divine laws, and making of no value what was pleasing to their Lord — whilst, I say, He here openly commends their prompt profession of obedience, He nevertheless darkly rebukes their rebellion.”
Ver. 39. — But this is His will, &c. Everything, i.e., all altogether, of every nation , rank, age, or sex, as I have said, verse 37. I will not lose (perdam), i.e., I will not suffer to perish. He explains what He had said, I will not cast out . This He expounds and completes , but will raise it up at the last day, i.e., at the day of judgment, that I may admit (my servant) into heaven, and there bless him with immortality and glory both of body and soul for ever. Then indeed shall come to an end the motion of the heavens, and by consequence time, which is the measuring of their motion, shall cease. Wherefore then shall be the stay and the end of all days and months and years.
Ver. 40. — And this is the will, &c. He that seeth, Greek, ὁ θεωρῶν, i.e., who considers and contemplates the Son, seeing Him with the eyes not of the body, but of the mind, i.e., believing in Him, and obeying Him. Lactantius (lib. 7, c. 9) observes out of Trismegistus that the word is especially applied to Divine things.
And I will raise him up : the Greek ἀναστήσω may be translated either by the future indicative, I will raise ; or by the aorist conjunctive , that I may raise (as the Vulgate has it in ver. 39). Christ teaches the Resurrection because “ the hope of Christians is the resurrection of the dead,” as Tertullian says. Hear S. Chrysostom (Hom. 46) : “ Everywhere He makes mention of life : for we are drawn by the desire of it, and there is nothing sweeter than not to die. In the Old Testament, indeed, long life and many days were promised : but now is promised not merely a long life, but endless life. At the same time also He wishes to show that He now revokes the punishment produced by sin, by remitting the sentence of death, and bringing in eternal life, contrary to the decree of the former times.”
Ver. 41, 42. — The Jews therefore murmured , &c. Murmuring at benefits, says Cyril, is a sort of ancestral inheritance with the Jews, coming down from their fathers under Moses to Christ. Theophylact gives the cause of the murmuring, “ Up to this point they thought He was speaking of material bread, and listened to Him cheerfully, but now when He revealed to them that He was speaking to them of spiritual bread, they despised Him, and murmured.” They did not understand how Christ was Living Bread , and how He had descended from heaven , and how they might eat Him , for they craved for something for their throats.
Ver. 43. — Jesus therefore answered, &c. . . among themselves (Vulg. in invicem). It is intimated that some were for Him, and others against Him : and through some attacking Him, and others defending Him, they murmured among themselves.
Murmur not : for I give you no occasion of murmuring ; I tell you the simple truth, and if on account of its sublimity you do not receive it, it is ye who are in fault, both because ye carp at and rebel against Me, and do not ask Me for an explanation of My words; and also because ye do not ask God for light to understand My words : wherefore He subjoins,
Ver. 44. — No one can come to Me, &c. Observe, (1.) Christ might, as S. Chrysostom observes, have answered and said, “ It is not wonderful that you, O ye Jews, neither understand nor believe the things which I say, namely, that I am the Bread of Life who came down from heaven ; it is because ye are hard and carnal. But He prefers to answer more sweetly and divinely, thus, that no one could believe in Him unless it were given them of His Father ; that so, those who believed might not contend against the others who did not believe ; and that the unbelievers might acknowledge that they were in want of Divine light, as needful plainly to believe ; and that they should ask for this by humble prayer to God in Christ and not murmur , or certainly they would be without the light of God which was offered to them.
The meaning therefore is, “Do not, O ye who believe in Me, murmur against the unbelieving, because they do not believe My doctrine, which is confirmed by so many miracles ; for faith is the supernatural gift of God ; neither can any one believe in Me except the Father draw him to believe. But those are not yet drawn of the Father. Do not therefore be indignant with them, but ask the Father to draw them as He has drawn you. For so will they equally with you believe in Me. You too, O ye unbelieving, do not murmur against Me, and My words, and those who do believe in Me. For the Father has drawn them to believe in Me. Rather, therefore, ask the Father that He may draw you also. For so will ye, equally with them, believe in Me, and will be of one mind with them in My faith, and doctrine, and Church. Say ye therefore with the Spouse, “ Draw me after Thee,” for those who are so drawn “will run in the odour of Thine ointment” (Cant. i. 3).”
Observe, (a.) The word draw does not signify coercion, or necessity ; nor is it opposed to free-will, as if it took it away from man, as the Lutherans and Calvinists suppose. Stones and wood are drawn in this way. But with men, it is a man’s own pleasure, i.e., his liberty, not necessity, by which he is drawn. You show sugar to a child, you draw him towards you: you show a green branch to a sheep, you draw her towards you. Both are drawn by the enticement of food. In like manner the will of man is drawn, as iron by a magnet. Thus was S. Agnes drawn to Christ by the secret power of His love. “ We are drawn,” says Cyril, “ by monition, doctrine, revelation, ineffably produced.” Listen to S. Augustine in this passage (Tract. 26). “Do not think that thou art drawn unwillingly : the mind is drawn also by love.” And by and by, “How do I believe of my own will, if I am drawn? I say, it is too small a thing to be drawn by the will, thou art drawn also. What is it to be drawn by pleasure? ‘Delight thyself in the Lord, and He will give thee thy heart’s desire!’ There is a certain delight of the heart, to which that Bread of heaven is sweet. Now if the poet might say, ‘his own pleasure draws everyone,’ it is not necessity, but pleasure which draws. It is not obligation, but delight. With how much greater force ought we to say that man is drawn to Christ who delights in the truth, who delights in blessedness, in justice, who delights in life everlasting , which is altogether Christ.” And shortly afterwards, “Show me a lover ; he feels what I say. Show me one who desires, who is hungry, one who wanders in the wilderness, and is thirsty, who sighs for the fountains of the eternal country ; show me such a one, he knows what I say. But if I speak to one whose heart is cold, he knows not what I say.” The same writes (Serm. de Verb. Apost .), “ He said not He will lead, but He will draw . That violence is done not to the flesh, but to the heart. Wherefore then dost thou marvel ? Believe, and thou comest ; love, and thou art drawn. Do not suppose that violence is rough and troublesome: it is sweet and pleasant, the very sweetness draws thee. Is not a hungry sheep drawn to the green grass ? And I think it is not impelled by the body, but drawn by desire. So also do thou come to Christ; do not contemplate a long journey. Where thou believest, thither thou comest. For to Him who is everywhere, we come by loving,