Church Fathers Commentary John 12:44-50

"And Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that beholdeth me beholdeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me may not abide in the darkness. And if any man hear my sayings, and keep them not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I spake not from myself; but the Father that sent me, he hath given me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life eternal: the things therefore which I speak, even as the Father hath said unto me, so I speak." — John 12:44-50 (ASV)

St. John Chrysostom: Because love for human praise prevented the chief rulers from believing, Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.” This is as if to say, “Why are you afraid to believe in Me? Your faith passes through Me to God.”

St. Augustine of Hippo: He shows them that He is more than He appears to be, for to them He appeared only as a man; His divinity was hidden. As the Father is, so am I in nature and dignity. “Whoever believes in Me, believes not in Me”—that is, not in what he sees—“but in Him who sent Me,” that is, in the Father. For whoever believes in the Father must believe in Him as the Father, which means believing that He has a Son. Conversely, whoever believes in the Son thereby believes in the Father.

Furthermore, if anyone thinks that God has sons by grace but not a Son equal and coeternal with Himself, he does not truly believe in the Father who sent the Son, because what he believes in is not the Father who sent Him. To show that He is not a son in the sense of one among many—a son by grace—but the Only Son equal to the Father, He adds, “And whoever sees Me sees Him who sent Me.” There is so little difference between Me and Him who sent Me that whoever sees Me, sees Him.

Our Lord sent His Apostles, yet none of them dared to say, “Whoever believes in me.” We believe an apostle, but we do not believe in an apostle. The Only Begotten, however, says, “Whoever believes in Me, does not believe in Me, but in Him who sent Me.” In this, He does not withdraw the believer’s faith from Himself but directs that faith toward a higher object than the form of a servant.

St. John Chrysostom: When He says, “Whoever believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me,” it is as if He said, “Whoever takes water from a stream takes the water not of the stream, but of the fountain.” Then, to show that it is impossible to believe in the Father without believing in Him, He says, “Whoever sees Me sees Him who sent Me.”

What then? Is God a body? By no means, for this “seeing” is a vision of the mind. What follows further shows His union with the Father: “I have come as a light into the world.” The Father is called this in many places. Christ calls Himself the light because He delivers us from error and dispels the darkness of our understanding, “so that whoever believes in Me should not remain in darkness.”

St. Augustine of Hippo: From this it is evident that He found everyone in darkness. If they do not wish to remain in this darkness, they must believe in the light that has come into the world. He says in one place to His disciples, “You are the light of the world,” but He did not say to them, “You have come as a light into the world, so that whoever believes in you should not remain in darkness.” All saints are lights, but they are lights by faith, because they are enlightened by Him, from whom to withdraw is to enter darkness.

St. John Chrysostom: To show that He does not let those who despise Him go unpunished from a lack of power, He adds, “And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him.”

St. Augustine of Hippo: This means, “I do not judge him now.” He does not say, “I will not judge him on the last day,” for that would contradict the earlier statement that “the Father has committed all judgment to the Son.” The reason He does not judge now follows: “For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.” Now is the time for mercy; afterward will be the time for judgment.

St. John Chrysostom: But so that this would not encourage laziness, He warns people of a terrible judgment to come: “The one who rejects Me and does not receive My words has a judge.”

St. Augustine of Hippo: Meanwhile, they waited to know who this judge was, so He continues: “The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” He makes it clear enough that He Himself will judge on the last day, for the word that He speaks is Himself. He speaks Himself; He announces Himself. We also gather from these words that those who have not heard will be judged differently from those who have heard and have despised His words.

“I do not judge him; the word that I have spoken will judge him,” because “I have not spoken on My own.” The word that the Son speaks is what judges, because the Son did not speak on His own authority. For “I have not spoken on My own” means, “I am not from Myself.”

How, then, are we to understand this: “I will not judge, but the word that I have spoken will judge”? Yet He Himself is the Word of the Father who speaks. Is the meaning this: “I will not judge by My human power as the Son of Man, but as the Word of God, because I am the Son of God”?

St. John Chrysostom: Or, “I do not judge him” means, “I am not the cause of his destruction; he brings it on himself by despising My words.” The words I have spoken will be his accusers and will deprive him of all excuse. “The word that I have spoken will judge him.”

And what word is that? It is this: “For I have not spoken on My own, but the Father who sent Me gave Me a commandment—what I should say and what I should speak.” All these things were said for their sake, so that they might have no excuse.

St. Augustine of Hippo: When the Father gave the Son a commandment, He did not give Him something He did not already possess, for in the Wisdom of the Father—that is, in the Word—are all the Father’s commandments. The commandment is said to be “given” because the Son is not from Himself. But to give the Son that which He was never without is the same as to beget the Son who has always existed.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Since the Son is the Word of the Father and completely reveals what is in the Father’s mind, He says He receives a commandment about what He should say and what He should speak. This is just as our own words, when we speak what we think, reveal what is in our minds.

St. Augustine of Hippo: If everlasting life is the Son Himself, and the commandment is everlasting life, what is this but to say, “I am the Father’s commandment”? In the same way, when He says, “Therefore, whatever I speak is just as the Father has told Me,” we must not understand “told Me” as if words were spoken to the one and only Word.