Church Fathers Commentary John 7

St. Augustine of Hippo: As the believer in Christ would in time have to hide from persecution, so that no guilt might attach to such concealment, the Head began by doing Himself what He sanctioned in His members. Thus, After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for He would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.

The Venerable Bede: The connection of this passage allows for much to have taken place in the preceding interval. Judea and Galilee are divisions of the province of Palestine. Judea has its name from the tribe of Judah, but it embraces not only the territories of Judah but also of Benjamin, all of which were called Judea because Judah was the royal tribe. Galilee has its name from the milky—that is, white—color of its inhabitants, as Galilee is Greek for milk.

St. Augustine of Hippo: This does not mean that our Lord could not walk among the Jews and escape being killed, for He had this power whenever He chose to show it. Rather, He set an example by doing so as an accommodation to our weakness. He had not lost His power, but He accommodated our frailty.

St. John Chrysostom: That is to say, He displayed the attributes of both divinity and humanity. He fled from His persecutors as a man; He remained and appeared among them as God, being truly both.

Theophylact of Ohrid: He also withdrew to Galilee at this time because the hour of His passion had not yet come, and He thought it useless to stay in the midst of His enemies when the only effect would have been to irritate them more. The time at which this happened is then given: Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand.

St. Augustine of Hippo: We read in the Scriptures what the Feast of Tabernacles is. During this festival, they used to make tents like those they lived in during their journey in the desert after their departure from Egypt. They celebrated this feast in commemoration of the good things the Lord had done for them, even though they were the very people who were about to slay the Lord. It is called the day of the feast, even though it lasted for many days.

St. John Chrysostom: It appears here that a considerable time had passed since the last events. For when our Lord sat upon the mount, it was near the Feast of the Passover, and now it is the Feast of Tabernacles. In the five intervening months, the Evangelist has related nothing but the miracle of the loaves and the conversation with those who ate them.

Since our Lord was unceasingly working miracles and holding discussions with people, the Evangelists could not relate everything. Instead, they aimed to report those events that were followed by complaint or opposition from the Jews, as was the case here.

Theophylact of Ohrid: His brothers saw that He was not preparing to go to the feast. His brothers, therefore, said to Him, Depart from here and go into Judea.

The Venerable Bede: They meant to say, "You perform miracles, and only a few see them. Go to the royal city where the rulers are, so that they may see Your miracles and you may obtain praise." And since our Lord had not brought all His disciples with Him but had left many behind in Judea, they added, that Your disciples also may see the works that You do.

Theophylact of Ohrid: That is, the multitudes that follow You. They do not mean the Twelve, but the others who had contact with Him.

St. Augustine of Hippo: When you hear of our Lord’s brothers, you must understand them to be Mary’s relatives, not her children born after our Lord’s birth. For just as the body of our Lord lay in the tomb only once—and never before or after—so the womb of Mary could not possibly have conceived any other mortal child.

Our Lord’s works were not hidden from His disciples, but they were hidden from His brothers, which explains their suggestion: that Your disciples may see the works that You do. They speak according to the wisdom of the flesh to the Word who was made flesh, and add, For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.

This was as if to say, "You perform miracles; do them in the sight of the world, so that the world may honor You." Their advice aims at securing glory for Him, and this very thing—namely, aiming at human glory—proved that they did not believe in Him, as we next read: For not even His brothers believed in Him. They were Christ’s relatives, but for that very reason they were disinclined to believe in Him.

St. John Chrysostom: It is striking to observe the great sincerity of the Evangelists, for they are not ashamed to mention things that appear to be to our Lord’s disadvantage, but take particular care to report them. It is a significant reflection on our Lord that His own brothers did not believe in Him.

The beginning of their speech has a friendly appearance, but there is much bitterness in it, as they charge Him with motives of fear and vainglory. "No one," they say, "does anything in secret": this was a tacit reproach for His fear and an insinuation that His miracles had not been real or substantial. In what follows, "while he himself seeks to be known openly," they taunt Him with a love of glory.

Christ, however, answers them mildly, teaching us not to react angrily to the advice of people, even those far inferior to ourselves. Then Jesus said to them, "My time is not yet come, but your time is always ready."

The Venerable Bede: This does not contradict what the Apostle says: But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son. Our Lord is referring here not to the time of His birth, but to the time of His glorification.

St. Augustine of Hippo: They advised Him to pursue glory and not to remain in concealment and obscurity, appealing entirely to worldly and secular motives. But our Lord was laying down another path to that very exaltation: namely, humility.

"My time," He says—that is, the time of My glory, when I will come to judge on high—"is not yet come; but your time"—that is, the glory of the world—"is always ready." And let us, who are the Lord’s body, say when we are insulted by the lovers of this world, "Your time is ready; our time has not yet come." Our homeland is a lofty one; the way to it is low. Whoever rejects the way, why should he seek the homeland?

St. John Chrysostom: Or, there seems to be another meaning concealed in these words. Perhaps they intended to betray Him to the Jews, and therefore He says, "My time is not yet come"—that is, the time of My cross and death—"but your time is always ready."

This is because even though you are always with the Jews, they will not kill you, because you are of the same mind as they are. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil. It is as if He said, "How can the world hate those who have the same wishes and aims as it does? It hates Me because I reprove it."

Therefore, I do not seek glory from men, since I do not hesitate to reprove them, even though I know that I am hated as a consequence and that my life is sought. Here we see that the hatred of the Jews was due to His reproofs, not to His breaking the Sabbath.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Our Lord brings two arguments in response to their two charges. To the charge of fear, He answers that He reproves the deeds of the world—that is, of those who love worldly things—which He would not do if He were under the influence of fear. He replies to the charge of vainglory by sending them to the feast: Go you up to this feast. If He had been possessed at all by the desire for glory, He would have kept them with Him, for the vainglorious like to have many followers.

St. John Chrysostom: This also shows that while He does not wish to humor them, He still allows them to observe the Jewish ordinances.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or He seems to say, "Go you up to this feast," and seek human glory, expand your carnal pleasures, and forget heavenly things.

St. John Chrysostom: That is, not with you, for My time is not yet full come. It was at the next Passover that He was to be crucified.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, "My time"—that is, the time of My glory—"is not yet come." That will be My feast day; not a day that passes and is gone like holidays here, but one that remains forever. Then there will be festivity: joy without end, eternity without stain, and sunshine without a cloud.

Theophylact of Ohrid: Our Lord at first declares that He will not go up to the feast—I go not up with you—to avoid exposing Himself to the rage of the Jews. Therefore, we read that When He had said these words to them, He remained in Galilee. Afterward, however, He does go up: But when His brethren were gone up, then went He also up to the feast.

St. Augustine of Hippo: He went up, however, not to gain temporary glory, but to teach wholesome doctrine and remind people of the eternal feast.

St. John Chrysostom: He goes up not to suffer, but to teach. He goes up secretly because, although He could have gone openly and kept the violence and impetuosity of the Jews in check, as He had often done before, doing so every time would have revealed His divinity. Instead, He wished to establish the fact of His incarnation and to teach us the way of life.

He also went up privately to show us what we ought to do when we cannot check our persecutors. It is not said, however, in secret, but as it were in secret, to show that this was done as a kind of divine economy. For if He had done all things as God, how would we, in this world, know what to do when we fall into danger?

Alcuin of York: Alternatively, He went up in secret because He did not seek the favor of people, and He took no pleasure in pomp or in being followed by crowds.

The Venerable Bede: The mystical meaning is this: to all those carnal people who seek human glory, the Lord remains in Galilee. The name “Galilee” means “passing over,” which applies to the members of His body who pass from vice to virtue and continue to progress in it. Our Lord Himself delayed going up, signifying that Christ’s members do not seek temporal but eternal glory. And He went up secretly because all true glory is from within: that is, from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Alternatively, the meaning is that all the ceremonies of the ancient people, such as the Feast of Tabernacles, were a figure of what was to come. This figure is now unveiled to us. Our Lord went up in secret to represent this figurative system. He concealed Himself at the feast because the feast itself signified that the members of Christ were in a strange country. For anyone who regards himself as a stranger in the world is one who dwells in tents. The word scenopegia used here means the Feast of Tabernacles.

St. John Chrysostom: Then the Jews sought Him at the feast and said, Where is He?—asking out of hatred and enmity, for they would not call Him by His name. There was little reverence or true religion in their observance of the feast, since they wanted to use it as an opportunity to seize Christ.

St. Augustine of Hippo: And there was much murmuring among the people concerning Him, a murmuring that arose from disagreement. For some said, He is a good man, while others said, Nay; but He seduces the people.

Those who had any spark of grace said, He is a good man; the rest said, Nay, but He seduces the people. That such things were said of Him—who was God—is a consolation for any Christian of whom the same may be said.

If to seduce means to deceive, then Christ was not a seducer, nor can any Christian be. But if seducing means persuading a person to change from one way of thinking to another, then we must ask: from what, and to what? If from good to evil, the seducer is an evil man; if from evil to good, a good one. Would that we were all called, and truly were, such seducers!

St. John Chrysostom: The former opinion, I think, belonged to the multitude—namely, those who pronounced Him a good man. The latter belonged to the priests and rulers, as is shown by their saying, He deceives the people, and not, “He deceives us.”

St. Augustine of Hippo: However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews—that is, none of those who said, He is a good man. Those who said, He deceives the people, proclaimed their opinion openly enough, while the former only dared to whisper theirs.

St. John Chrysostom: Observe that the corruption is in the rulers. The common people are sound in their judgment but lack the freedom of speech, as is often the case with them.

St. John Chrysostom: Our Lord delays His visit in order to capture people's attention, going up not on the first day, but around the middle of the feast: Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. Those who had been searching for Him, seeing Him suddenly appear, would be more attentive to His teaching—both His supporters and His enemies. The former would admire and profit by it, while the latter would look for an opportunity to lay hands on Him.

Theophylact of Ohrid: At the beginning of the feast, people would be more focused on the festival's own observances; afterward, they would be better disposed to hear Christ.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The feast seems, as far as we can judge, to have lasted for several days. Therefore, it is said, about the middle of the feast, meaning when as many days of the feast had passed as were still to come. In this way, His assertion, I go not up yet to this feast day (that is, to the first or second day, as you wanted me to), was strictly fulfilled, for He went up afterward, around the middle of the feast.

In going there, He went up not for the feast day, but for the light. They had gone to enjoy the pleasures of the festival, but Christ’s own feast day was the one on which He redeemed the world by His Passion.

He who had previously concealed Himself now taught and spoke openly, and yet was not seized. The first action was intended as an example for us; the second was to testify to His power.

St. John Chrysostom: The Evangelist does not say what His teaching was, but its wonderful nature is shown by its effect even on those who had accused Him of deceiving the people. They turned around and began to admire Him: And the Jews marveled, saying, How knows this Man letters, having never learned? See how perverse they are, even in their admiration. It is not His doctrine they admire, but something else entirely.

St. Augustine of Hippo: It would appear that all admired Him, but not all were converted. What, then, was the source of their admiration? Many knew where He was born and how He had been educated, but they had never seen Him learning letters. Yet now they heard Him debating the law and bringing forward its testimonies. No one could do this who had not read the law, and no one could read the law who had not learned letters. This is what amazed them.

St. John Chrysostom: Their wonder might have led them to infer that our Lord acquired this learning in some divine way, not through any human process. But they would not acknowledge this and contented themselves with merely wondering. So our Lord answered them: Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me.

St. Augustine of Hippo: To say, "Mine is not Mine," appears to be a contradiction. Why did He not simply say, "This doctrine is not Mine"? Because the doctrine of the Father is the Word of the Father, and since Christ Himself is that Word, Christ Himself is the doctrine of the Father. Therefore, He calls the doctrine both His own and the Father’s.

A word must belong to someone. What is so much your own as you yourself? And what is so much not your own as you yourself, if who you are, you are from another? His statement, My doctrine is not Mine, thus seems to briefly express the truth that He is not from Himself. It refutes the Sabellian heresy, which dares to assert that the Son is the same as the Father, with there being only two names for one reality.

St. John Chrysostom: Alternatively, He calls the doctrine His own in that He taught it, but not His own in that the doctrine was from the Father. However, if all things the Father has are His, then for this very reason the doctrine is His—precisely because it is the Father’s. In fact, when He says it is not Mine, He strongly shows that His doctrine and the Father’s are one. It is as if He said, "I do not differ at all from Him, but act in such a way that it is clear I say and do nothing other than what the Father does."

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, to put it another way: in one sense He calls it His, and in another sense, not His. According to the form of God, it is His; according to the form of a servant, it is not His.

However, if anyone does not understand this, let them hear the advice that our Lord immediately gives: If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself. What does this mean, If any man will do His will? To do His will is to believe in Him, as He Himself says elsewhere, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent. And who does not know that to do the work of God is to do His will? Here, to know is to understand. Therefore, do not seek to understand in order to believe, but believe in order to understand, for, Except you believe, you shall not understand.

St. John Chrysostom: This is the same as saying, "Put away the anger, envy, and hatred you have toward Me, and there will be nothing to prevent you from knowing that the words I speak are from God."

Then He introduces an irresistible argument from human experience: He that speaks of himself, seeks his own glory. This is as if to say, "Anyone who aims to establish their own doctrine does so for no other purpose than to gain glory for themselves." But I seek the glory of Him who sent me and wish to teach you for His sake—that is, for another’s. And then it follows: But he that seeks His glory that sent Him, the same is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

Theophylact of Ohrid: It is as if He said, "I speak the truth because My doctrine contains the truth; there is no unrighteousness in Me because I do not usurp another’s glory."

St. Augustine of Hippo: The one who seeks his own glory is Antichrist. But our Lord set an example of humility for us, in that being found in appearance as a man, He sought His Father’s glory, not His own. When you do good, you take the glory for yourself; when you do evil, you blame God.

St. John Chrysostom: Observe that the reason He spoke so humbly of Himself was to let people know that He does not aim at glory or power. It was also to accommodate Himself to their weakness and to teach them moderation and a humble, rather than a presumptuous, way of speaking about themselves.

St. John Chrysostom: The Jews brought two charges against Christ: one, that He broke the Sabbath; the other, that He said God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. He first addressed the latter charge by showing that He did nothing in opposition to God, but that they both taught the same thing.

Then, turning to the charge of breaking the Sabbath, He says, Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? This is as if to say, "The law says, You shall not kill, whereas you kill." And then, Why are you trying to kill Me? It is as if to say, "If I broke a law to heal a man, it was a transgression, but a beneficial one; whereas you transgress for an evil end, so you have no right to judge Me for breaking the law." He then rebukes them for two things: first, because they were trying to kill Him, and second, because they were trying to kill another when they did not even have any right to judge Him.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Or, He means to say that if they kept the law, they would see Him pointed to in every part of it and would not seek to kill Him when He came. The people give an answer that is completely off the subject and only shows their angry feelings. The people answered and said, You have a devil! Who is trying to kill You? He who cast out devils was told that He had a devil. Our Lord, however, in no way disturbed but retaining all the serenity of truth, did not return evil for evil, or insult for insult.

The Venerable Bede: In this, He left us an example to be patient whenever unjust criticisms are passed against us. We should not answer them by asserting the truth, even if we are able to, but rather by offering some wholesome advice to the people involved, just as our Lord does. Jesus answered and said to them, I have done one work, and you all marvel.

St. Augustine of Hippo: It is as if He said, "What if you saw all of My works?" For everything they saw happening in the world was His work, but they did not see Him who made all things. He did one thing—He made a man whole on the Sabbath day—and they were in an uproar. It is as if, when any one of them recovered from a disease on the Sabbath, the one who made him whole was anyone other than He, who had now offended them by making one man whole on the Sabbath.

St. John Chrysostom: You all marvel—that is, you are disturbed and in an uproar. Observe how well He argues with them from the law. He wishes to prove that this work was not a violation of the law. Accordingly, He shows that there are many things more important to observing the Sabbath than the rule itself, and by observing them, the law is not broken but fulfilled. He says, Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath day.

St. Augustine of Hippo: It is as if He said, "You have done well to receive circumcision from Moses—not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers, for Abraham first received circumcision from the Lord. And you circumcise on the Sabbath." Moses has convicted you: you received a law to circumcise on the eighth day, and you received a law to rest on the seventh day. If the eighth day after a child is born happens to be the Sabbath, you circumcise the child. This is because circumcision pertains to salvation and is a sign of it, and people ought not to rest from the work of salvation on the Sabbath.

Alcuin of York: Circumcision was given for three reasons: first, as a sign of Abraham’s great faith; second, to distinguish the Jews from other nations; and third, so that receiving it on the male organ might admonish us to observe chastity in both body and mind. Circumcision then possessed the same virtue that baptism does now, only the gate was not yet open. Our Lord concludes, If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath day so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day?

St. John Chrysostom: This is as much as to say, "Breaking the Sabbath for circumcision is actually keeping the law, and in the same way, I have kept the law by healing on the Sabbath. You, who are not the legislators, enforce the law beyond its proper bounds, whereas Moses made the law yield to the observance of a commandment that did not come from the law, but from the fathers." His saying, I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day, implies that circumcision was only a partial healing.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Circumcision was also, perhaps, a type of our Lord Himself. For what is circumcision but a stripping away of the flesh, which signifies stripping the heart of its carnal lusts? It was not without reason, therefore, that it was applied to that member by which mortal life is propagated, for by one man sin entered into the world. Everyone is born with a foreskin because everyone is born with the fault inherent in that propagation. God does not change us from the corruption of our birth, or from what we have contracted through a bad life, except through Christ.

Therefore, they circumcised with knives of stone to prefigure Christ, who is the Stone. They did this on the eighth day because our Lord’s resurrection took place on the day after the seventh day—and it is this resurrection that circumcises us, that is, destroys our carnal appetites. Our Lord intended this as a type of His good work in making a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day, for the man was healed so that he might be whole in body, and he believed so that he might be whole in mind. You are indeed forbidden to do servile work on the Sabbath, but is it servile work to heal on the Sabbath? You eat and drink on the Sabbath because it is necessary for your health, which shows that works of healing are by no means to be omitted on the Sabbath.

St. John Chrysostom: He does not say, however, "I have done a greater work than circumcision." He only states the facts and leaves the judgment to them, saying, Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. This is as if to say, "Do not decide based on personal prominence, just because Moses has a greater name with you than I do. Instead, decide based on the nature of the act itself, for this is to judge righteously." No one, however, has blamed Moses for making the Sabbath yield to the commandment of circumcision, which was not derived from the law but from another source. Moses, then, commands the law to be broken to give effect to a commandment not from the law, and he is more worthy of belief than you are.

St. Augustine of Hippo: What our Lord tells us to avoid here—judging by the person—is very difficult to avoid in this world. His admonition to the Jews is an admonition to us as well, for every sentence our Lord uttered was written for us, is preserved for us, and is read for our benefit. Our Lord is in heaven, but as the Truth, He is here as well. The body with which He rose can be in only one place, but His truth is spread everywhere.

Who, then, is the one who does not judge by the person? It is the one who loves all alike. For we are not guilty of showing partiality when we pay people different degrees of honor according to their station in life. For example, there may be a case to decide between a father and a son. We should not put the son on an equal level with the father in terms of honor. However, in respect to the truth, if the son has the better case, we should give him preference. In this way, we give each their due, so that justice does not undermine what is deserved.

St. Augustine of Hippo: It was said above that our Lord went up to the feast secretly, not because He feared being captured (for He had the power to prevent it), but to show figuratively that He was hidden even in the very feast which the Jews celebrated, and that it was His mystery. Now, however, the power that was thought to be timidity appears. He spoke publicly at the feast, so much so that the crowd marveled. Some of them in Jerusalem said, Is not this He, whom they seek to kill? But, lo, He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. They knew the fierceness with which He had been sought, and they marveled at the power by which He was not captured.

St. John Chrysostom: The Evangelist adds "from Jerusalem," for the greatest display of miracles had been there. And there the people were in the worst state, seeing the strongest proofs of His divinity, yet willing to submit everything to the judgment of their corrupt rulers. Was it not a great miracle that those who raged for His life, now that they had Him in their grasp, suddenly became quiet?

St. Augustine of Hippo: So, not fully understanding Christ’s power, they supposed that He was spared due to the rulers' knowledge, asking, Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?

St. John Chrysostom: But they do not follow the opinion of the rulers. Instead, they put forth another, most perverse and absurd one: Howbeit we know this Man, whence He is; but when Christ comes, no man knows whence He is.

St. Augustine of Hippo: This notion did not arise without foundation. We find that the Scriptures said of Christ, He shall be called a Nazarene, and thus predicted from where He would come. The Jews also told Herod, when he inquired, that Christ would be born in Bethlehem of Judah, and they cited the testimony of the prophet.

How then did this notion of the Jews arise, that when Christ came, no one would know from where He was? It arose because the Scriptures asserted both. As man, they foretold from where Christ would be; as God, He was hidden from the profane but revealed Himself to the godly. They had taken this notion from Isaiah, Who shall declare His generation?

Our Lord replies that they both knew Him and did not know Him. Then Jesus cried out in the temple as He taught, saying, You both know Me, and you know whence I am. This is to say, you both know from where I am and do not know from where I am. You know from where I am: that I am Jesus of Nazareth, whose parents you know. The birth from the Virgin was the only part of the matter unknown to them; with this exception, they knew everything that pertained to Jesus as a man. So He rightly says, You both know Me, and you know whence I am—that is, according to the flesh and the likeness of a man. But regarding His divinity, He says, I am not come of Myself, but He that sent Me is true.

St. John Chrysostom: By this, He discloses what was in their minds. He seems to say, "I am not among those who have come without reason, but He who sent Me is true. If He is true, He has sent Me in truth, and therefore the One who is sent must speak the truth." He then convicts them from their own assertions. For whereas they had said, When Christ comes, no man knows whence He is, He shows that Christ did come from One whom they did not know—that is, the Father. Therefore, He adds, Whom you know not.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Every person born in the flesh is, in a certain sense, from God. How then could He say that they were ignorant of who He was and from where He came? It is because our Lord is here referring to His own unique birth from God, of which they were ignorant because they did not know that He was the Son of God.

His very statement that they did not know from where He came was, in fact, telling them from where He came. If they did not know His origin, He could not be from nothing, for then there would be no origin of which to be ignorant. He must, therefore, be from God. And so, not knowing from where He came was the reason they did not know who He is. One does not know the Son who does not know His birth from the Father.

St. John Chrysostom: Or, the ignorance He speaks of here is the ignorance of a bad life, as Paul said, They profess that they know God, but in words they deny Him. Our Lord’s reproof is twofold: first, He exposed what they were saying secretly, crying out in order to put them to shame.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Lastly, to show from where they could get to know Him (who had sent Him), He adds, I know Him. So if you would know Him, inquire of Me. No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. And He adds, If I should say, I know Him not, I should be a liar like unto you.

St. John Chrysostom: This is impossible, for He who sent Me is true, and therefore He who is sent must also be true. He everywhere attributes the knowledge of the Father to Himself as being from the Father. Thus He says here, But I know Him, for I am from Him.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: I ask, however, does being "from Him" express a work of creation or a birth by generation? If it is a work of creation, then everything that is created is from Him. How then does all creation not know the Father, if the Son knows Him because He is "from Him"? But if the knowledge of the Father is unique to the Son because He is "from Him," then being "from Him" is also unique to the Son—that is, being the true Son of God by nature. So you have, then, a unique knowledge springing from a unique generation.

However, to prevent any heresy from applying the phrase "from Him" to the time of His advent, He adds, And He has sent Me. He thus preserves the order of the gospel mystery: first announcing Himself as born, and then as sent.

St. Augustine of Hippo: He says, I am from Him—that is, as the Son from the Father. But the reason you see Me in the flesh is because He has sent Me. In this, do not understand a difference of nature, but the authority of a father.

St. John Chrysostom: His statement, however, Whom you know not, irritated the Jews, who professed to have knowledge. And they sought to capture Him, but no one laid hands on Him. Mark the invisible restraint that was kept upon their fury. Although the Evangelist does not mention it, he purposely preserves a humble and human way of speaking to impress upon us Christ’s humanity. Therefore, he only adds, Because His hour was not yet come.

St. Augustine of Hippo: This means that He was not yet pleased to allow it, for our Lord was not born subject to fate. You must not believe this even of yourself, much less of Him by whom you were made. And if your hour is in His will, is not His own hour in His own will? His "hour," then, does not mean the time He was obliged to die, but the time He chose to be put to death.