The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: S. John
Ver. 27 . — They knew not, &c. For Jesus spake covertly and obscurely, for fear of exciting the hatred of the Pharisees. But some of the more acute of them began to suspect the true meaning of His words, though they did not clearly understand them, and could not refute Him. None of them fully knew it. And God so ordered it, that the Passion of Christ, and the consequent redemption of the world, might not be hindered. (See 1 Cor. ii. 8.) “ I withhold the knowledge of Myself,” says S. Augustine, “that My Passion may be effected by your hands.”
Ver. 28 . — Then said Jesus , &c. When ye have lifted Me up on the Cross. He calls it His exaltation, for though it seemed to be His greatest degradation and disgrace, yet it was made to be, by God’s Providence, His greatest exaltation and glory, that all nations should adore Christ crucified, and hope for pardon from Him. For this Christ won for Himself by His great humility (see Phil. ii. 8 seq.) And thus does God deal with every follower of Christ who humbles himself for Christ’s sake, as He says, “ Every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled,” &c.
Then shall you know that I am Messiah, the Son of God, whom I declare Myself to be, and not a mere man, as ye now think Me. For many of the Jews, when they saw in the Cross, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, such patience, charity, zeal, and such great prodigies and miracles, were moved with compunction to believe in Him. Christ had obtained all this by His Cross, and obtained it from His Father (see Acts ii. 41). As S. Augustine says, “ He saw that many would believe after His Passion. And this He says that no one who is conscious of guilt should despair, when even His own murder was condoned.” See S. Cyril, and others.
I do nothing of Myself, &c. Christ frequently inculcates the same truth, both in order to speak humbly of Himself and to gain authority for His doctrine from God the Father. “ But the Father,” says S. Augustine, “ did not so teach the Son, as though He were ignorant when He begat Him; but His teaching Him, was His begetting Him full of knowledge.” For with the Son His being is His knowledge. And therefore the Father by begetting gave Him both existence and knowledge.
Ver. 29 . — And He that sent Me is with Me. He adds this (says S. Chrysostom) lest He should be accounted inferior to the Father who taught Him. The one relates to the Incarnation (dispensations), the other to the Godhead. “ The Father,” says S. Augustine, “sent the Son, but did not leave Him.” Moreover, the Father is ever with the Son, not only by the inseparable essence of Deity, which continues ever in number the same, but also by the special providence and guidance vouchsafed to the manhood which He assumed, the Godhead guiding and directing it in every work, to make all His work perfect and divine.
Ver. 30. — As He spake these words many , &c. ; i.e., many of the simple-minded, candid and teachable people, but few or none of the proud Pharisees. And they believed, not only as convinced by the force of His arguments, but charmed by the grace and power of His words. “Never man spake like this man.”
Ver. 31. — Then said Jesus , &c. He wished to confirm them in the faith they had accepted. If ye are so faithful and constant as to follow Me through persecutions and crosses, even to heaven itself, ye will be worthy not only of the name and title of My disciples, but also of their deserts and reward.
Ver. 32. — And ye shall know the truth , &c. The Greek Fathers understand by the Truth, Christ Himself; meaning ye shall know Me to be the Truth, shadowed forth by the figures of the old Law, from which I will set you free, that ye may serve God not with bodily ceremonies, but in the Spirit and truth of faith, hope, and charity (see above, iv. 23).
(2.) Hence, in accordance with the mind of Christ, If ye abide in My doctrine, ye shall taste by experience how sweet it is, and it will free you from the yoke of sin (see below, verse 34). For faith in Me will lead you to penitence, contrition, and charity, which does away with all sin. “ If the Truth pleaseth thee not, let liberty please thee.” He clearly restored liberty, and took away iniquity.
Analogically : My doctrine will deliver you from the corruption of this place of mortality, change, and exile, because it will bring you to the liberty of a blessed immortality, and the glory of the children of God. Thus S. Augustine on this passage : “ What doth He promise to those who believe? Ye shall know the truth. But did they not know it, when the Lord spake ? for if they knew it not, how did they believe ? They believed, not because they knew, but that they might know ; for what is faith but believing that we see not ? But the truth is, to see that which thou hast believed.” There is a fourfold bondage which Christ did away with, and a fourfold liberty which He bestowed, (1.) The bondage of the Law which Christ did away with by the liberty of the Gospel. (2.) Bondage under sin, which He took away by the liberty of righteousness. (3.) Bondage under the dominion of concupiscence, which He took away by the liberty of the Spirit, and the dominion of charity and grace. (4.) Bondage under death and mortality, which He will take away by the liberty and glory of the resurrection. It does not refer to the liberty of the will, as though sinners were so entirely the slaves of sin as not to have any free-will, and that Christ gives it them back when He justifies them. For a sinner sins by free-will, and a penitent repents and is justified only by his free-will, aided by the grace of God.
Calvin foolishly denies free-will both to sinners and to the righteous. " Let us who are conscious of our own bondage glory only in Christ our deliverer." For he thinks that we are not intrinsically free, just as we are not intrinsically just by inherent righteousness, but only by the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. Each of which opinions is not only an impious, but also a foolish heresy.
Ver. 33 . — They answered Him , &c. Christ in what He had said indirectly charged the Jews with ignorance and bondage. But as glorying in their descent from Abraham, they felt wounded; and putting aside the charge of ignorance, they proudly deny the charge of bondage, and say that they had no need of the liberty of Christ. We are slaves neither by birth, nor by condition. “ And in like manner,” says S. Chrysostom, “ men when charged with impurity and wickedness put it aside, but when their family and work are impugned, they start up, as if they were mad.” But the Jews did not understand Christ, for He spake not of civil, but of spiritual bondage, and that He would set them free from the bondage of sin by the liberty of grace. But did the Jews say truly that they were never in bondage to any man ? S. Chrysostom and others say that they spoke too boastfully, but that they veiled their falsehood, because though often conquered they had never been sold as slaves.
(2.) Cajetan, Toletus, Jansen, and others reply to the charge by saying that though the Jews had formerly been in bondage, yet that the present generation of Jews had never been so, for they were merely the subjects, not the slaves, of the Romans. And this seems to be the most satisfactory meaning ; for to say that their fathers had never been in bondage would have been a falsehood at which the sun itself would have blushed, and Christ would have at once confuted it. All they meant to say was that their race was a free and noble one, and that their subjection to the Romans was not slavery.
Ver. 34. — Verily, verily, &c. Most assured, i.e., the saying is, and specially commended to their notice. But our Lord speaks to them modestly and becomingly, using only general terms and the third person. He might have said, Ye commit many sins, and are therefore the servants of sin, and from this bondage no one but Myself can deliver you. “ A miserable bondage,” exclaims S. Augustine in loc, and adds the reason. “ A man slave, when worn out by his master’s cruel treatment, can at length escape and be at rest. But whither can the servant of sin flee ? He carries with him himself, whithersoever he flies. A wicked conscience cannot fly from itself ; it has no place to go to, it follows itself. It cannot withdraw from itself; for the sin which causes it is within.” (2.) S. Peter (2 Pet. ii. 19) gives a further reason. “Of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.” (3.) He who committeth sin is the servant of the devil, who instigates to sin, and he is a cruel tyrant, who drives on sinners, as though they were his slaves, ever drawing them on from one sin to another, and in the end to hell. (4.) Every sin leaves behind it a desire and inclination to repeat the sin, and this concupiscence remains, even after the sin has been given up, for our punishment and temptation. Whence the Apostle says that he was sold under sin, that he did what he would not (as feeling against his will the motives of concupiscence), and that he cannot do the things he would. (5.) Because the sinner is bound by the chains of the sin he has committed, so that he cannot free himself, unless Christ sets him free by His grace, according to the saying (Prov. v. 22), “ His own iniquities take the wicked himself, and he is bound with the cords of his sins.” In these passages, to sin, which is inanimate, is ascribed the character of a master, or tyrant, to signify (1.) the tyrannical power of sin and concupiscence, and (2.) because by sin is understood the devil, who holds sway in the realm of sin, and holds stern dominion over sinners.