Church Fathers Commentary John 13:31-32

"When therefore he was gone out, Jesus saith, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him; and God shall glorify him in himself, and straightway shall he glorify him." — John 13:31-32 (ASV)

Origen of Alexandria: After the glory of His miracles and His transfiguration, the next glorifying of the Son of Man began when Judas went out with Satan, who had entered into him. Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.” For it is not the eternal, only-begotten Word, but the glory of the Man born of the seed of David, which is meant here.

At His death, in which He glorified God, Christ, having spoiled principalities and powers, made a show of them, openly triumphing over them (Colossians 2:15). And again, He made peace by the blood of His cross, to reconcile all things to Himself, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven (Colossians 1:20). Thus the Son of Man was glorified, and God was glorified in Him, for Christ cannot be glorified unless the Father is glorified with Him.

But whoever is glorified is glorified by someone. By whom, then, is the Son of Man glorified? He tells you: If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him.

St. John Chrysostom: That is, by Himself, not by any other. “And shall straightway glorify Him” means not at some distant time, but immediately; while He is still on the very cross, His glory will appear. For the sun was darkened, the rocks were split, and many bodies of those who slept arose. In this way, He restores the drooping spirits of His disciples and persuades them to rejoice instead of grieving.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, consider it this way: the unclean one went out, while the clean remained with their Cleanser. This is how it will be when the tares are separated from the wheat: The righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43). Our Lord, foreseeing this, spoke when Judas went out, as if the tares were now separated and He was left alone with the wheat—the holy Apostles. He said, Now is the Son of man glorified, as if to say, “Behold what will take place at My glorification, where none of the wicked will be present and none of the righteous will perish.”

He does not say, “Now is the glorification of the Son of Man signified,” but rather, Now is the Son of man glorified. This is similar to how Scripture does not say “that rock signified Christ,” but rather, That Rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). Scripture often speaks of the signs as if they were the things they signify.

The glorification of the Son of Man is the glorification of God in Him, as He adds, And God is glorified in Him. He proceeds to explain this: If God is glorified in Him—for He came not to do His own will, but the will of the One who sent Him—God shall also glorify Him in Himself, so that the human nature assumed by the eternal Word will also be endowed with eternity. And shall straightway glorify Him. With these words, He predicts His own resurrection, which was to follow immediately, not at the end of the world like ours.

Therefore, when He says, Now is the Son of man glorified, the “now” refers not to His approaching Passion, but to the resurrection that would immediately follow it. It is as if that which was so very soon to happen had already taken place.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: The phrase God is glorified in Him refers to the glory of the body. This glory is the glory of God, in that the body borrows its glory from its association with the divine nature. Because God is glorified in Him, therefore He will glorify Him in Himself. This means that He who reigns in the glory arising from God's glory immediately passes over into God's own glory, leaving the economy of His manhood to abide wholly in God.

Nor is He silent about the time: And shall straightway glorify Him. This refers to the glory of His resurrection, which was to follow His passion immediately. He speaks of it as present because Judas had now gone out to betray Him. In contrast, the statement that God would glorify Him in Himself is reserved for the future. The glory of God was shown in Him by the miracle of the resurrection, but He will abide in the glory of God when He has left the economy of His subjection.

The meaning of the first words, Now is the Son of man glorified, is not in doubt: it is the glory of the flesh that is meant, not that of the Word. But what does the next phrase mean: And God is glorified in Him? The Son of Man is not a different Person from the Son of God, for the Word was made flesh (John 1:14). How is God glorified in this Son of Man, who is the Son of God? The next clause helps us: If God is glorified in Him, God also will glorify Him in Himself.

A man is not glorified in himself. On the other hand, God, who is glorified in a man, does not cease to be God just because He receives glory. So the words God is glorified in Him can mean either that Christ (as God) is glorified in the flesh, or that God the Father is glorified in Christ the Son. If "God" refers to Christ, then it is Christ who is glorified in the flesh. If it refers to the Father, then it is the mystery of their unity: the Father is glorified in the Son.

Again, God glorifies in Himself the God who was glorified in the Son of Man. This overthrows the impious doctrine that Christ is not truly God in the reality of His nature. For how can that which God glorifies in Himself be outside of Himself? He whom the Father glorifies must be confessed to be in His glory, and He who is glorified in the Father's glory must be understood to share the same state as the Father.

Origen of Alexandria: Or, consider this: the word “glory” is used here in a different sense from the one some pagans attach to it, who defined glory as the collective praise of many people. It is evident that glory in that sense is different from what is mentioned in Exodus, where it says that the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34), and that the face of Moses was glorified. The glory mentioned there is something visible—a divine appearance in the temple and on Moses’ face. But in a higher, more spiritual sense, we are glorified when, with the eye of the understanding, we penetrate the things of God.

For when the mind ascends above material things and spiritually sees God, it is deified. The visible glory on the face of Moses is a figure of this spiritual glory, for it was his mind that was deified by communion with God. But there is no comparison between the excellent glory of Christ and the knowledge of Moses, by which the face of his soul was glorified. For the whole of the Father’s glory shines upon the Son, who is the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His Person (Hebrews 1:3).

Indeed, from the light of this whole glory, particular glories go forth throughout all rational creation, though no one can comprehend the whole of the divine glory except the Son. The Son was glorified only to the extent that He was known to the world, and as yet, He was not fully known. But afterward, the Father spread the knowledge of Him over the whole world, and then the Son of Man was glorified in those who knew Him. He has made all who know Him partakers of this glory, as the Apostle said: We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). That is, from His glory, we receive glory.

Therefore, as He was approaching that divine plan by which He was to become known to the world and be glorified in the glory of those who glorified Him, He says, Now is the Son of man glorified. And because no man knows the Father but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him (Matthew 11:27), and the Son was about to reveal the Father through this divine plan, He said for this reason, And God is glorified in Him.

Or compare this with the text that follows: He that has seen Me, has seen the Father. The Father who begot the Word is seen in the Word, who is God and the image of the invisible God. But the words may be taken in a broader sense. For just as the name of God was blasphemed among the Gentiles because of some, so through the saints, whose good deeds are seen and acknowledged by the world, the name of the Father in heaven is magnified. But in whom was He so glorified as in Jesus, Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth? The Son being such, He is glorified, and God is glorified in Him.

And if God is glorified in Him, the Father returns to Him more than He gave. For the glory of the Son of Man, when the Father glorifies Him, far exceeds the Father’s glory when He is glorified in the Son, as it is fitting that the greater should return the greater glory. And since this—namely, the glorifying of the Son of Man—was just about to be accomplished, our Lord adds, And will straightway glorify Him.