Church Fathers Commentary John 7:25-30

"Some therefore of them of Jerusalem said, Is not this he whom they seek to kill? And lo, he speaketh openly, and they say nothing unto him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is the Christ? Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when the Christ cometh, no one knoweth whence he is. Jesus therefore cried in the temple, teaching and saying, Ye both know me, and know whence I am; and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. I know him; because I am from him, and he sent me. They sought therefore to take him: and no man laid his hand on him, because his hour was not yet come." — John 7:25-30 (ASV)

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.