Church Fathers Commentary John 3:13

"And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, [even] the Son of man, who is in heaven." — John 3:13 (ASV)

St. Augustine of Hippo: After noting this lack of knowledge in a person who, on the strength of his teaching position, set himself above others, and after condemning the unbelief of such men, our Lord says that if people like this do not believe, others will. He says, No one has ascended into heaven but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man who is in heaven.

This can be understood to mean that the spiritual birth will be such that people, from being earthly, shall become heavenly. This will not be possible unless they are made members of Me, so that the one who ascends becomes one with Him who descended. Our Lord considers His body—that is, His Church—to be Himself.

St. Gregory the Great: Inasmuch as we are made one with Him, He returns alone in us to the place from which He came alone in Himself. And He who is always in heaven, daily ascends to heaven.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Although He was made the Son of Man on earth, He has declared that His Divinity—with which He descended to earth while remaining in heaven—is not inconsistent with the title "Son of Man," just as He has deemed His flesh worthy of the name "Son of God." For through the unity of His person, by which both substances are one Christ, He walked on earth as the Son of God and remained in heaven as the Son of Man.

Belief in the greater reality involves belief in the lesser one. If the divine substance, which is so much more distant from us, could for our sake take up human substance to unite them in one person, how much more easily can we believe that the saints, united with the man Christ, become one Christ with Him?

Therefore, while it is true of all that they ascend by grace, it is at the same time true that He alone ascends to heaven who came down from heaven.

St. John Chrysostom: Alternatively, since Nicodemus had said, We know that You are a teacher sent from God, our Lord replied, And no man has ascended... so that He would not appear to be merely a teacher like one of the prophets.

Theophylact of Ohrid: But when you hear that the Son of Man came down from heaven, do not think that His flesh came down from heaven. For this is the doctrine of those heretics who held that Christ took His body from heaven and only passed through the Virgin.

St. John Chrysostom: By the title "Son of Man" here, He does not mean His flesh alone, but Himself as a whole, using the lesser part of His nature to refer to the whole. It is not uncommon for Him to name Himself entirely by His humanity or entirely by His divinity.

The Venerable Bede: If a man intentionally descends naked into a valley, and there equips himself with clothes and armor before ascending the mountain again, the one who ascended can be said to be the same person who descended.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Alternatively, His descending from heaven refers to the source of His origin, as He was conceived by the Spirit. Mary did not give His body its origin, though the natural qualities of her own body contributed to its birth and growth.

His being the Son of Man comes from the birth of the flesh that was conceived in the Virgin. His being in heaven, however, comes from the power of His everlasting nature, which did not confine the infinite power of the Word of God within the sphere of a finite body.

Although our Lord remained in the form of a servant, seemingly distant from the entire realm of heaven and the world, yet as Lord of heaven and the world, He was not absent from them. Thus, He came down from heaven as the Son of Man, and He was in heaven because the Word, who was made flesh, had not ceased to be the Word.

St. Augustine of Hippo: But you wonder that He was simultaneously here and in heaven. Yet He has given such power even to His disciples. Listen to Paul: Our citizenship is in heaven. If the man Paul walked on earth while his citizenship was in heaven, is not the God of heaven and earth able to be in both heaven and earth at the same time?

St. John Chrysostom: Even this concept, which seems so lofty, is still unworthy of His immensity. For He is not in heaven only, but everywhere, and He fills all things. But for now, He accommodates Himself to the weakness of His hearer, so that He might gradually convert him.