Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 12:27-33

"Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. There came therefore a voice out of heaven, [saying], I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The multitude therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it had thundered: others said, An angel hath spoken to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice hath not come for my sake, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself. But this he said, signifying by what manner of death he should die." — John 12:27-33 (ASV)

1. Previously, we saw the glory shown to Christ by various types of people; here the Evangelist considers the glory shown to Christ by God.

   He mentions two things:

   • First, that Christ asked for glory.
   • Second, that the promise of glory is made: a voice therefore came from heaven; I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

   Concerning the first point, he does two things:

   • First, the interior state of Christ is given.
   • Second, he mentions the request made by Christ: and what shall I say?

2. In regard to the first point, it seems incongruous for Christ to be saying, now is my soul troubled, for he had urged his faithful to hate their own lives in this world. Yet with his own death near at hand, we hear the Lord himself saying, now is my soul troubled. This leads Augustine to say: O Lord, you command my soul to follow. But I see your own soul troubled. What support shall I seek, if the rock crumbles?

   Thus, we must first examine this troubled state of Christ, and second, why he willed to undergo it.

3. As to the first, we should note that, properly speaking, a thing is said to be “troubled” when it is greatly agitated. Hence, when the sea is very agitated, it is said to be troubled. And so whenever a thing goes beyond the bounds of its rest and tranquility, it is said to be troubled.

   Now, in the human soul there is a sentient area and a rational area. The sensitive area of the soul is troubled when it becomes strongly affected by certain movements. For example, when it is contracted by fear, raised up by hope, dilated by joy, or otherwise affected by one or another of the emotions. Sometimes this perturbation remains within the bounds of reason, and sometimes it exceeds the bounds of reason, namely, when the reason itself is troubled.

   Although this latter condition quite often occurs in us, it is not found in Christ, since he is the wisdom of the Father. Indeed, it is not found in any wise person; thus the Stoic tenet that one who is wise is not troubled, that is, in his reason.

   Accordingly, the meaning of now is my soul troubled is this: my soul is affected by the emotions of fear and sadness in its sentient part, but these emotions do not trouble my reason, and it does not abandon its own order. He began to be greatly distressed and troubled (Mark 14:33).

   Such emotions, however, exist in us differently than in Christ. In us, they arise from necessity, insofar as we are moved and affected from without, as it were. But in Christ, they are not from necessity but from the command of reason, since there was never any emotion in him except that which he himself aroused. For in Christ, the lower powers were subject to his reason so perfectly that they could not act or undergo anything except what reason appointed for them. Thus: he . . . groaned in spirit and troubled himself (John 11:33); you have moved the earth, that is, human nature, and troubled it (Psalms 59:4).

   And so the soul of Christ was troubled in such a way that its perturbation was not opposed to reason, but according to the order of reason.

4. In regard to the second point, note that Christ willed to be troubled for two reasons. First, to teach us a doctrine of the faith, that is, the truth of his human nature. Accordingly, as his passion was drawing near, he did everything in a human way.

   Second, he wanted to be an example for us. For if he had remained unmoved and had felt no emotions in his soul, he would not have been an adequate example of how we should face death. And so he willed to be troubled so that when we are troubled at the prospect of death, we will not refuse to endure it or run away: for we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning (Hebrews 4:15).

5. The relationship of this with what came before is clear. He encouraged his disciples to suffer when he said: he who hates his life in this world, keeps it unto life eternal (John 12:25). But some might say to him: “Lord, you can calmly discuss and philosophize about death because you are above human sorrows, and death does not trouble you.” It was to counter this that he willed to be troubled.

   This disturbance in Christ was natural: for just as the soul naturally loves union with its body, so it naturally flees separation from it, especially since the reason of Christ allowed his soul and its inferior powers to act in their own proper way.

6. Again, when he said, now is my soul troubled, he refuted the error of Arius and Apollinaris. For they said that Christ did not have a soul, and in place of his soul they substituted the Word.

7. Then our Lord makes his petition for glory, saying, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. Here our Lord takes upon himself the emotions of one who is troubled. And acting as one troubled, he does four things in his petition.

   1. He poses a question, as one does when deliberating about what is to be done.
   2. He makes a request which arises from a certain inclination.
   3. He rejects this inclination for a particular reason.
   4. He makes another request that arises from a different inclination.

8. He poses this question as one does when in doubt, because it is natural to deliberate about what to do when one is perplexed. So the Philosopher says in his Rhetoric that fear makes a person take counsel. Thus, after mentioning that he is troubled, Christ at once adds, and what shall I say? It is the same as saying: “What shall I do in my trouble?” Something like this is met in the Psalm: fear and trembling came upon me, and then follows, O that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest (Psalms 55:5). For both the perplexed and the emotionally disturbed are weighed down and look for help to relieve themselves.

9. He makes his petition, arising from a certain inclination, because when one is hesitant about what he should do, he ought to turn to God: we do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you (2 Chronicles 20:12); I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains from where help will come to me (Psalms 120:1). And so, turning to the Father, he says, Father, save me, that is, from the sufferings which await me at the hour of my passion: save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck (Psalms 69:1).

   According to Augustine, what our Lord says here, now is my soul troubled and Father, save me, is the same as when he says, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death (Matthew 26:38).

10. Note that this petition is not made as though it arose from the inclination of reason; rather, reason is speaking as an advocate of the natural inclination not to die. And so in this petition, reason is pointing out the impulse of a natural inclination.

    This explanation solves a question which is frequently raised. For we read: in all things he was heard for his reverence (Hebrews 5:7); and yet in this case, Christ was not heard.

    The answer to this is that Christ was heard in those matters in which his petition came from reason itself and which he intended to be granted. But the petition he made here did not come from reason, nor was it intended to be granted; rather, it expressed a natural inclination. Thus Chrysostom reads it as a question, that is, as: And what shall I say? Shall I say, Father, save me from this hour? It is the same as saying: “No! I will not say this.”

11. Yet Christ rejects this petition, which arose from an inclination of the natural appetite, when he says, but for this cause I came to this hour. It is the same as saying: “It is not right that I be freed from this time of suffering, because I came to suffer; and not as compelled by the necessity of fate or forced by the violence of men, but by willingly offering myself”: he was offered because it was his own will (Isaiah 53:7); no one takes it, that is my life, away from me, but I lay it down of myself (John 10:18).

12. Now his reason proposes its own petition when he says, Father, glorify your name. Your name can be understood in two ways. First, it can mean the Son himself. For a name, which comes from the word for “knowledge” or “being known,” is like a sign. Thus a name is what manifests a thing. Now the Son manifests the Father: Father . . . I have manifested your name (John 17:6). We read of this name: behold, the name of the Lord comes from far (Isaiah 30:27). So the meaning is this: Father, glorify your name, that is, your Son: and now glorify me, O Father, with yourself, with the glory which I had, before the world was with you (John 17:5).

    Or, the name of the Lord indicates the knowledge which men have of the Father, and then the meaning is, Father, glorify your name, that is, do what is for the glory of your name. Yet it comes to the same thing, because when the Son is glorified the name of the Father is glorified. He says this because the Son was going to be glorified by his passion: he became obedient, to the Father, unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him (Philippians 2:8). He is saying here in effect: “By the desire of nature I ask to be saved, but my reason asks that your name be glorified, that is, that the Son suffer, because it was by the passion of Christ that men were to receive their knowledge of God and glorify him.” For before the passion God was known only in Judea, and his name was great in Israel; but after the passion, God’s name was glorified even among the gentiles.

13. Then when the Evangelist says, then a voice came from heaven, the promise of glory is given.

    1. The voice promising glory is heard.
    2. The crowd expresses its opinion: the multitude therefore that stood and heard, said that it thundered.
    3. Lastly, the meaning of the voice is explained: Jesus answered and said: this voice came not because of me.

14. With regard to the first, he says, a voice therefore came from heaven. This is the voice of God the Father. It was the same voice that was heard when Christ was baptized, this is my beloved Son (Matthew 3:17), and at his transfiguration (Matthew 17:5). Although every voice of this kind was formed by the power of the entire Trinity, this was specifically formed to represent the person of the Father; thus it is referred to as the voice of the Father. In a similar manner, the dove was formed by the entire Trinity to signify the person of the Holy Spirit. And again, the body of Christ was formed by the entire Trinity, but specifically assumed by the person of the Word because it had been formed to be united to him.

    This voice, then, does two things. First, it reveals the past, when saying, I have . . . glorified it, that is, I have begotten you as glorious from all eternity, because the Son is a certain glory and splendor of the Father: for she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God ; he reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature (Hebrews 1:3). Or, I have . . . glorified it at your birth, when the angels sang: glory to God in the highest (Luke 2:14) and in the miracles the Father performed through him.

    Second, the voice foretells what is to come: and will glorify it again, in the passion, in which Christ triumphed over the devil, and in the resurrection and the ascension, and in the conversion of all the world: the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his Son Jesus (Acts 3:13).

15. Next we see the opinion of the crowd, which was wondering about the voice, the multitude therefore that stood and heard, said, that it thundered. In this crowd, as in every other, some were dull and slow to understand, and others were more perceptive; yet all of them failed to identify the voice. Those who were slow and carnal only heard it as a sound, so they said that it thundered. Still, they were not entirely mistaken, for the Lord’s voice was thunder, both because it had an extraordinary meaning and because it contained very great things: how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand? (Job 26:14). The voice of your thunder in a wheel (Psalms 76:19).

    Those who were keener discerned that the sound was a voice, pronouncing words and having a meaning; so they said someone was speaking. But because they thought that Christ was merely human they erred, attributing these words to an angel. So they said that, an angel spoke to him. They were under the same error as the devil, who thought that Christ needed the help of the angels; thus he said: he will give his angels charge of you, in their hands they will bear you (Matthew 4:6). But he did not need to be guarded and helped by angels; rather, he is the one who glorifies and guards the angels.

16. The voice is explained when he says, Jesus answered, and said.

    1. He explains the voice.
    2. He mentions the answer given by the people: the multitude answered him (John 12:34).
    3. Our Lord’s answer: Jesus therefore said to them: yet a little while (John 12:35).

    He does two things about the first:

    • First he mentions the reason for the voice.
    • Second, he adds its meaning: now is the judgment of the world.

17. It should be noted in regard to the first that they had said, an angel spoke to him. Now an angel speaks by revealing something that will profit the one to whom he speaks, as is clear in Revelation (Revelation 1) and in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1). And so to show that he did not need this voice or any revelation from an angel, our Lord says, this voice came not because of me, but for your sakes, that is, it has not come to instruct me. For this voice mentioned nothing he did not know before, because in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge (Colossians 2:2), so that he knew all that the Father knew. But for your sakes, that is, for your instruction. From this we can understand that many things relating to Christ were, in God’s plan, allowed to take place not because Christ needed them, but for our sake: for whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction (Romans 15:4).

18. When he says, now is the judgment of this world, he states the meaning of this voice.

    1. He mentions the judgment by which he would be glorified.
    2. He mentions the effect of this judgment: now will the prince of this world be cast out.
    3. He mentions the way he will be glorified: and I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself.

19. He says, now is the judgment of this world.

    But if this is true, why do we expect that our Lord will come again to judge? The answer is that now he comes to judge with a judgment of distinction or discernment, by which he discerns his own from those who are not his: for judgment I came into this world (John 9:39). This is what he is speaking of when he says, now is the judgment of this world. But he will come again to judge with the judgment of condemnation, for which he did not come the first time: for God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him (John 3:17).

    Or, we might say that there are two kinds of judgment. One is that which condemns the world, and this is not referred to here. The other is the judgment which will be in favor of the world, insofar as the world is set free from servitude to the devil. This is the way the Psalm is understood: O Lord! Judge those who wrong me; overthrow those who fight against me (Psalms 34:1). But this judgment and the judgment of distinction are the same, because by the fact that the judgment is in favor of the world by casting out the devil, the good are distinguished from the wicked.

20. The effect of this judgment is the casting out of the devil. So he says, now will the prince of this world be cast out, by the power of the passion of Christ. Thus the passion of Christ is his glorification; and this explains what he had said, will glorify it again; insofar as, now will the prince of this world be cast out, since Christ has the victory over the devil by his passion. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).

21. A difficulty arises here on three points.

    1. First, because he says that the devil is the ruler or prince of this world. It was this that led the Manicheans to call him the creator and lord of everything that was visible.
    2. The second difficulty concerns the fact that the ruler of this world is said to be cast out. For if he had truly been cast out, he would no longer tempt us now as he did before; yet he continues to tempt us. Therefore, he was not cast out.
    3. Third, there is a difficulty from the fact that he says, now will the ruler of this world be cast out. For it seems to follow from this that he had not been cast out before the passion of Christ, and consequently, if he is cast out only when men are set free from sin, it seems that Abraham, Isaac, and the other men of the Old Testament were not set free from sin.

    The answer to the first is that the devil is called the ruler of this world not by a natural right, but by usurpation, insofar as worldly people, rejecting the true Lord, subject themselves to him: the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers (2 Corinthians 4:4). Thus, he is the ruler of this world insofar as he rules those who are worldly, as St. Augustine says, and these are spread throughout the entire world. For the word ‘world’ is sometimes taken in a pejorative sense to mean those who love the world: the world knew him not (John 1:10). Yet sometimes it is taken in a good sense to indicate those who are good and live in the world in such a way that they are citizens of heaven: God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself (2 Corinthians 5:19).

22. Augustine answers the second difficulty by saying that although the devil may tempt those who have ceased to be of the world, he does not tempt them in the same way as he did before. For before, he tempted and ruled them from within, but now he does so only from without. For as long as men are in sin, he rules and tempts them from within: let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions (Romans 6:12). And so he was cast out because the effect of sin in man is not from within but from without.

23. The answer to the third difficulty, according to Augustine, is that before the passion of Christ he had been cast out of individual persons, but not from the world, as he was to be later. For what formerly took place in only a few men, but now happens in many Jews and gentiles who have converted to Christ, is recognized to have been accomplished by the passion of Christ.

    Or, it might be said that the devil is cast out by the fact that men are set free from sin. But before the passion of Christ, all the just had been set free from sin, although not entirely, because they were still kept from entering the kingdom. In this respect, therefore, the devil had some right over them which was entirely taken away by the passion of Christ, when the fiery sword was removed, when Christ said to the man: today you will be with me in Paradise (Luke 23:43).

24. The form or manner of this passion would be by being lifted up; thus he says, and I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself.

    In regard to this, Chrysostom has the following example: if a tyrant, accustomed to oppress and rage against his subjects and cast them into chains, were in his madness to treat in the same way someone who was not subject to him and cast him into the same prison, then he would deserve that even his dominion over the others be taken from him. This is what Christ did against the devil. For the devil had some right over men because of the sin of the first parent, and so in some sense he could justly rage against them. But since he dared to try the same things with Christ, over whom he had no right, assailing him in whom he had no part, as the tempter, as it is said below (John 13), it was fitting that he be deprived of his dominion by the death of Christ.

    And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself. First, he describes the manner of his death; second, the Evangelist explains it, saying, he said this signifying what death he was to die, for he would die by being lifted up on the wood of the cross. However, the explanation is signified in what death he should die.

25. Here we should note that there are two reasons why the Lord willed to die the death of the cross. First, because it is a shameful death: let us condemn him to a shameful death . So Augustine says: “The Lord willed to die in this way so that not even a shameful death would keep a person from the perfection of righteousness.”

    Second, because such a death involves a lifting up; so our Lord says, if I am lifted up. Such a manner of death was in harmony with the fruit, the reason, and the symbol of the passion.

    It was in harmony with its fruit, because it was by the passion that Christ was to be lifted up, exalted: he became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him (Philippians 2:8). Thus the Psalmist said: be exalted, O Lord, in your strength! (Psalms 20:14).

    It harmonized with the reason for the passion, and in two ways: both with respect to men and with respect to the devil. With respect to men, because he died for their salvation. For they had perished, because they were cast down and sunk in earthly things: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth (Psalms 16:11). Thus he willed to die raised up in order to lift our hearts up to heavenly things. For in this way he is our way into heaven. With respect to the devils, it was fitting in the sense that those who exercised their principality and power in the air were trod underfoot by him while he was raised in the air.

    Finally, it harmonized with the symbol, because the Lord commanded that a bronze serpent be fashioned in the desert (Numbers 21:9), and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up (John 3:14). And so thus lifted up I will draw all things to myself, through love; I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore have I drawn you, taking pity on you (Jeremiah 31:3). Furthermore, the love of God for men appears most clearly in the fact that he condescended to die for them: God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). By doing this he fulfilled the request of the bride: draw me after you, and we will run to the aroma of your perfume (Song of Solomon 1:3).

26. Here we may note that the Father draws and the Son also draws: no man can come to me, unless the Father, who has sent me, draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day (John 6:44). He says here, I . . . will draw all things, in order to show that the same action belongs to both of them.

    And he says, all things, and not all men, because not all men are drawn to the Son. I will draw all things, that is, the body and the soul; or all types of men, such as gentiles and Jews, servants and freemen, male and female; or, all who are predestined to salvation.

    Finally, we should note that to draw all things to himself is for Christ to cast out the prince of this world, for Christ has no fellowship with Belial, nor light with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:15).