Church Fathers Commentary John 16:12-15

"I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth: for he shall not speak from himself; but what things soever he shall hear, [these] shall he speak: and he shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall take of mine, and shall declare [it] unto you. All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he taketh of mine, and shall declare [it] unto you." — John 16:12-15 (ASV)

Theophylact of Ohrid: Our Lord, having said above, It is expedient for you that I go away, now expands on it: I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

St. Augustine of Hippo: All heretics, when their fables are rejected for their extravagance by the common sense of mankind, try to defend themselves with this text. They act as if their fables were the things the disciples could not bear at that time, or as if the Holy Spirit could teach things that even an unclean spirit would be ashamed to teach and preach openly. But there is a difference between bad doctrines, which even natural shame cannot bear, and good doctrines, which our poor natural understanding cannot bear. The first are allied to the shameless body; the second lie far beyond the body.

But what are these things they could not bear? I cannot mention them for this very reason, for who among us would dare claim to be able to receive what they could not? Someone might say that many, now that the Holy Spirit has been sent, can do what Peter could not do then, such as earn the crown of martyrdom. But does this mean we know what those things were that He was unwilling to communicate? It seems most absurd to suppose that the disciples were unable to bear the great doctrines we find in the Apostolic Epistles written afterwards, which our Lord is not recorded as having spoken to them. For why could they not bear then what everyone now reads and bears in their writings, even if they do not understand it?

Indeed, people of perverse sects cannot bear what is found in Holy Scripture concerning the Catholic faith, just as we cannot bear their sacrilegious vanities; for "not to bear" means "not to acquiesce in." But what believer, or even a catechumen before being baptized and receiving the Holy Spirit, does not acquiesce in and listen to all that was written after our Lord’s ascension, even if he does not understand it? But someone will ask: Do spiritual people never hold doctrines that they do not communicate to carnal people, but only to the spiritual? There is no necessity for any doctrines to be kept secret from the "babes" and revealed only to mature believers. Spiritual people ought not to withhold spiritual doctrines from the carnal entirely, since the Catholic faith must be preached to all. At the same time, they should not dilute these doctrines to accommodate the understanding of those who cannot receive them, for this would make their own preaching contemptible rather than making the truth intelligible.

Therefore, we should not understand our Lord's words to refer to certain secret doctrines that the disciple would be unable to bear if the teacher revealed them. Instead, they refer to the very things in religious doctrine that are within the grasp of all of us. If Christ chose to communicate these things to us in the same way He does to the angels, what human beings—indeed, what spiritual people, which the Apostles were not at that time—could bear them? For indeed, everything that can be known of the creature is inferior to the Creator, and yet who is silent about Him? While in the body, we cannot know all the truth, as the Apostle says, We know in part (1 Corinthians 13:9); but the Holy Spirit, by sanctifying us, prepares us to enjoy that fullness of which the same Apostle speaks: Then face to face. Our Lord’s promise, But when He the Spirit of truth shall come, He shall teach you all truth, or shall lead you into all truth, does not refer to this life only, but to the life to come, for which this complete fullness is reserved. The Holy Spirit both teaches believers now all the spiritual things they are capable of receiving and also kindles in their hearts a desire to know more.

DIDYMUS. Alternatively, He means that His hearers had not yet attained to all those things which they would be able to bear for His name’s sake. So, revealing lesser things, He postponed the greater for a future time—things they could not understand until the Cross of their crucified Head had itself been their instruction. As yet, they were slaves to the types, shadows, and images of the Law and could not bear the truth of which the Law was the shadow. But when the Holy Spirit came, He would lead them by His teaching and discipline into all truth, transferring them from the dead letter to the life-giving Spirit, in whom alone all scriptural truth resides.

St. John Chrysostom: Having said then, you cannot bear them now, but then you will be able, and, The Holy Spirit shall lead you into all truth, lest this should make them suppose that the Holy Spirit was superior, He adds, For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak.

St. Augustine of Hippo: This is like what He said of Himself above: I can of My own Self do nothing; as I hear I judge. But that may be understood of Him as man. How must we understand this of the Holy Spirit, who never became a creature by assuming a creature? It means that He is not from Himself. The Son is born of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. It would take a long time to discuss, and be rash to define, the difference between "proceeding" and "being born." But for Him, to hear is to know, and to know is to be. Since He is not from Himself but from the One from whom He proceeds—from whom He has His being—from that same One He has His knowledge. Therefore, from that same One He has His hearing. The Holy Spirit, then, always hears because He always knows; and He has heard, hears, and will hear from the One from whom He is. DIDYMUS. He shall not speak of Himself means He will not speak without Me and My will and the Father’s will, because He is not from Himself but from the Father and Me. That He exists and that He speaks, He has from the Father and Me. I speak the truth; that is, I inspire and speak through Him, since He is the Spirit of Truth. In the Trinity, "to say" and "to speak" must not be understood according to our usage, but according to the usage of incorporeal natures, and especially the Trinity, which implants Its will in the hearts of believers—all who are worthy to hear It. For the Father to speak and the Son to hear is a way of expressing the identity of their nature and their agreement. Again, the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of wisdom, cannot hear from the Son what He does not already know, seeing He is the very reality that is produced from the Son: that is, truth proceeding from truth, Comforter from Comforter, God from God. Lastly, lest anyone should separate Him from the will and fellowship of the Father and the Son, it is written, Whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak.

But it does not follow from this that the Holy Spirit is inferior, for it only signifies that He proceeds from the Father.

Do not let the use of the future tense confuse you; that hearing is eternal because the knowledge is eternal. A verb of any tense may be applied to that which is eternal, without beginning and without end. For although an unchangeable nature does not admit of "was" and "will be," but only "is," it is still permissible to say of It, "was, and is, and will be": "was," because It never began; "will be," because It will never end; and "is," because It always is. DIDYMUS. Through the Spirit of truth, the knowledge of future events has also been granted to holy men. Prophets filled with this Spirit foretold and saw things to come as if they were present: And He will show you things to come.

The Venerable Bede: It is certain that many people filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit have foreknown future events. But since many gifted saints have never had this power, the words, He will show you things to come, may be taken to mean that He will bring to your minds the joys of your heavenly country. He did, however, inform the Apostles of what was to come: namely, the evils they would have to suffer for Christ’s sake and the good things they would receive in return.

St. John Chrysostom: In this way, then, He raised their spirits, for there is nothing for which mankind longs so much as for the knowledge of the future. He relieves them from all anxiety on this account by showing that dangers would not fall upon them unexpectedly. Then, to show that He could have told them all the truth into which the Holy Spirit would lead them, He adds, He shall glorify Me.

St. Augustine of Hippo: By pouring love into the hearts of believers and making them spiritual, they were thus able to see that the Son, whom they had previously known only according to the flesh and thought to be a man like themselves, was equal to the Father. Or, it is because that love, filling them with boldness and casting out fear, led them to proclaim Christ to all people, and so they spread His fame throughout the whole world. For what they were going to do in the power of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit says He does Himself.

St. John Chrysostom: And because He had said, You have one Master, even Christ (Matthew 23:8), so that they would not be prevented by this from accepting the Holy Spirit as well, He adds, For He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it to you. DIDYMUS. "To receive" must be taken here in a sense appropriate to the Divine Nature. Just as the Son, in giving, is not deprived of what He gives, nor does He impart to others with any loss to Himself, so too the Holy Spirit does not receive what He did not have before. For if He received what He did not previously have, with the gift being transferred to another, the giver would thereby suffer a loss. We must understand, then, that the Holy Spirit receives from the Son that which belongs to His nature, and that this does not imply two substances—one giving and the other receiving—but one substance only. In the same way, the Son is also said to receive from the Father that in which He Himself subsists. For the Son is nothing other than what is given to Him by the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit any substance other than what is given to Him by the Son.

St. Augustine of Hippo: But it is not true, as some heretics have thought, that the Holy Spirit is therefore inferior to the Son because the Son receives from the Father and the Holy Spirit from the Son, as if by a process of gradation. He Himself solves this difficulty and explains His own words: All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine, and shall show it to you. DIDYMUS. It is as if He said: "Although the Spirit of truth proceeds from the Father, yet all things that the Father has are Mine, and even the Spirit of the Father is Mine and receives of Mine." But beware, when you hear this, that you do not think it is a thing or possession that the Father and the Son have. That which the Father has according to His substance—namely, His eternity, immutability, and goodness—is what the Son has also. Away with the quibbles of logicians who say, "Therefore the Father is the Son." Indeed, had He said, "All that God has is Mine," impiety might have found an opportunity to raise its head. But when He said, All things that the Father has are Mine, by using the name of the Father, He declares Himself to be the Son. And being the Son, He does not usurp the Fatherhood, though by the grace of adoption He is the Father of many saints.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Our Lord, therefore, has not left it uncertain whether the Paraclete is from the Father or from the Son, for He is sent by the Son and proceeds from the Father, and He receives from the Son. You ask whether to receive from the Son and to proceed from the Father are the same thing. Certainly, to receive from the Son must be considered one and the same as receiving from the Father. For when He says, All things that the Father has are Mine, therefore said I, that He shall receive of Mine, He shows by this that what the Spirit receives comes from Him, because all things the Father has are His, but that they are also received from the Father. This unity has no diversity, nor does it matter from whom it is received, since that which is given by the Father is also counted as given by the Son.