Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 14:18-21

"I will not leave you desolate: I come unto you. Yet a little while, and the world beholdeth me no more; but ye behold me: because I live, ye shall live also. In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him." — John 14:18-21 (ASV)

1. Above, our Lord promised that the Holy Spirit would be our Comforter. But because the apostles had not risen very high in their knowledge of the Holy Spirit, and their attention was absorbed by Christ's presence, this comfort seemed small to them. Thus, in this section, our Lord promises two things:

   • First, that He will return.
   • Second, His own gifts: these things have I spoken to you, abiding with you (John 14:25).

   Concerning the first point, His return, He does three things:

   • He promises that He will return.
   • He gives the reason: he who has my commandments, and keeps them; he it is who loves me.
   • He answers a question from one of the disciples: Judas said to him, not the Iscariot (John 14:22).

   Concerning the first of these points—that He promises to return—three aspects are presented:

   • He shows that He will return.
   • He describes the way He will return: yet a little while: and the world will see me no more.
   • He foretells the fruit of His return: in that day you will know.

   Concerning the first of these aspects—that He shows He will return—two things are noted:

   • He shows why He needs to return.
   • He promises to return: I will come to you.

2. The reason our Lord has to return is so that the disciples would not remain orphans; He says, I will not leave you orphans. The word ‘orphans’ comes from the Greek and indicates little children who do not have a father: we have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows (Lamentations 5:3).

   Consider that we can have three fathers. One father gives us existence: we have had earthly fathers, literally, fathers of our flesh (Hebrews 12:9). A second father would be one whose evil example we follow: you are of your father the devil (John 8:44). A third father would be one who graciously adopts us: you have received the Spirit of adoption of sons (Romans 8:15). Now God does not adopt as His children those who imitate their father, the devil, for what fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14). And He does not adopt those who are too attached, in a worldly way, to their parents: he who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me (Matthew 10:37). But God does adopt as His children those who have become orphans by being stripped of their affection for sin and by abandoning a worldly love for their parents. For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me up (Psalms 27:10); but much more one who has left them: forget your people and your father’s house; and the king will desire your beauty (Psalms 45:10).

   Note that Christ presents Himself to His disciples as a father. Now although the word ‘father’, if taken to indicate a person, is unique to the Father, if it is taken to indicate an essence, it is appropriate for the entire Trinity. So our Lord said above: little children, yet a little while I am with you (John 13:33).

3. Christ promises to come when He says, I will come to you. But He had already come to them by taking on flesh: Christ Jesus came into the world (1 Timothy 1:15). Still, He will come in three more ways. Two of these ways are bodily or physical. One is after the resurrection and before His ascension, when He leaves them by death and comes to them after the resurrection and stands among His disciples, as is stated below (John 20:19). The other bodily coming will be at the end of the world: this Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven (Acts 1:11); and then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory (Luke 21:27). His third coming is spiritual and invisible, that is, when He comes to His faithful by grace, either in life or in death: if he comes to me I will not see him (Job 9:11).

   He says, therefore, I will come to you, after the resurrection (and this is the first way of coming mentioned above) and I will see you again (John 16:22). Again, I will come to you at the end of the world: the Lord will come to judge (Isaiah 3:14). And again I will come at your death to take you to myself: I will come again and will take you to myself (John 14:3). And again, I will come to you, visiting you in a spiritual way: we will come to him and make our abode with him (John 14:23).

4. Here He explains how He will return and shows that His return to the apostles will be in a special way. Since they might think that He would return to them as still subject to death, He excludes this, saying: yet a little while, and the world will see me no more. If we explain this as referring to His return after the resurrection, the meaning is this: yet a little while, that is, I will be with you only for a short time in this mortal flesh, and then I will be crucified; but after that, the world will see me no more. This is because after the resurrection He did not show Himself to all, but only to witnesses pre-ordained by God, that is, to His disciples (Acts 1:3). Thus He says, but you see me, that is, in my glorified and immortal body.

   He gives the reason for this when He says, because I live and you will live. This clears up a difficulty. The disciples could have wondered how they would see Him, since He would be dead, and they with Him. So He says that this will not be the case, because I live, that is, I will live after the resurrection: I died, and behold I am alive for evermore (Revelation 1:18), and you will live, because you will not be killed with me: if then you seek me, let these go their way (John 18:8). Or another interpretation is that: I live, by my resurrection, and you will live, that is, you will rejoice over this, since the disciples therefore were glad, when they saw the Lord (John 20:20). Here, to live means to rejoice, and it is used in this sense: when Jacob heard that Joseph was ruling in Egypt his spirit began to live again, with joy (Genesis 45:26).

5. Augustine finds fault with this interpretation because our Lord said, yet a little while, and the world will see me no more. This means that the worldly will never see Him again. Yet they will see Him at the judgment, according to: every eye will see him (Revelation 1:7). Regarding this, it can be said that it is true that men of the world, after a little while, will not see Him in mortal flesh. For this reason Augustine explains this little while as including the second coming, when Christ comes to judge.

   This time is described as little in comparison to eternity: for a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past (Psalms 90:4). The Apostle, in Hebrews, also refers to this time as a little while when he is explaining the statement: in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land (Haggai 2:7; Hebrews 12:26). And the world will see me no more, because after the judgment those who love the world and the wicked will not see Him, since they are going into eternal fire. As we read in another version of Isaiah: remove the wicked so they do not see the glory of God (Isaiah 26:10). But you, who have followed me and stayed with me in my trials, will see me, in an everlasting eternity: your eyes will see the king in his beauty (Isaiah 33:17); we will always be with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:17). You will see me because I live and you will live also. This is like saying: just as I have a glorified life in my soul and in my body, so will you; Christ will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body (Philippians 3:21). He says this because our glorified life is produced by the glorified life of Christ: for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ will all be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22). Christ speaks of Himself in the present tense, I live, because His resurrection would be immediately after His death, and there would be no delay; according to: I will rise at dawn (Psalms 108:2), because you will not let your holy one undergo corruption (Psalms 16:10). When referring to the disciples He uses the future, you will live, because the resurrection of their bodies was to be postponed until the end of the world: your dead will live, their bodies will rise (Isaiah 26:19).

6. Now we see the fruit of His return, which is the knowledge of those things which the apostles did not know. As we saw, Peter did not know where Christ was going, and so he asked: Lord, where are you going? (John 13:36); and Thomas did not know this, nor the way He would go: Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way? (John 14:5). Philip did not know the Father, and so he asked: Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us (John 14:8). All these questions arose from ignorance of one thing: they did not know how the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. Thus Christ said to Philip: do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? (John 14:10). And so our Lord promises them that they will know this, saying, in that day you will know, that I am in my Father, and so on. This will dispel all confusion from the hearts of the disciples.

7. This sentence can be explained as referring to His coming at the time of the resurrection, and His coming at the judgment.

   We have two kinds of knowledge of the mysteries of the divinity. One is imperfect, and we have this by faith; the other is perfect, and comes by vision. These two kinds of knowledge are mentioned in, for now we see in a mirror dimly, by the first kind of knowledge, but then face to face, referring to the second kind of knowledge (1 Corinthians 13:12).

   He says, in that day, after my resurrection, you will know, that I am in my Father: and they will know this by the knowledge of faith, because then having seen that He has arisen and is among them, they will have a most certain faith about Him, especially those who would receive the Holy Spirit, who would teach them all things. Or, on the other hand, in that day, of the final resurrection at the judgment, you will know, that is, clearly and by vision: then I will understand fully, even as I have been fully understood (1 Corinthians 13:12).

8. But what will they know? The two things He mentioned above. First, the Father who abides in me, he does the works (John 14:10). Referring to this He says, that I am in my Father, that is, by a consubstantiality of nature. The other thing they will know is what He said about doing works through the disciples, when He said, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he also will do (John 14:12). And referring to this He says, and you in me, and I in you.

9. Here our Lord seems to say that the relation between Himself and the Father is like the relation of the disciples to Himself. For this reason the Arians maintained that just as the disciples are inferior to Christ and not consubstantial with Him, so the Son is inferior to the Father and distinct from Him in substance.

   One should answer this by saying that when Christ says, I am in my Father, He means by a consubstantiality of nature: I and the Father are one (John 10:30); and the Word was with God (John 1:1).

10. The statement, and you in me, means that the disciples are in Christ. For what is protected or shielded by something is said to be in that thing, like something contained in its container. In this way the affairs of a kingdom are said to be in the hands of the king. And with this meaning it is said that in him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). And I in you, remaining within you, and acting and indwelling within you by grace: that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:17); you desire proof that Christ is speaking in me (2 Corinthians 13:3).

    Hilary gives another exposition. And you in me, that is, you will be in me through your nature, which I have taken on: for in taking on our nature He took us all on: he did not take hold of the angels, but he did take hold of the seed of Abraham (Hebrews 2:16). And I in you, that is, I will be in you when you receive my sacrament, for when one receives the body of Christ, Christ is in him: he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him (John 6:56).

    Another interpretation: and you in me, and I in you, that is, by our mutual love, for we read: God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him (1 John 4:16). And you did not know these things, but you will know them in that day.

11. Now the reason for His return is given, and our Lord mentions two reasons why He is seen by the faithful and not by the world.

    1. Their true love for God.
    2. God’s love for them: and he who loves me, will be loved by my Father.

12. Regarding the first, He says, he who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. Note that true love is love which appears and proves itself by actions, for love is revealed by its actions. Since to love someone is to will that person good and to desire what this person wants, one does not seem to truly love a person if he does not accomplish the will of the beloved or do what he knows this person wants. And so one who does not do the will of God does not seem to truly love Him. Thus He says, he who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me, that is, with a true love for me.

13. Some have these commandments of God in their heart, by remembering them and continually meditating on them: I have laid up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you (Psalms 119:11). But this is not enough unless they are kept in one’s actions: a good understanding have all those who practice it (Psalms 111:10). Others have these commandments on their lips, by preaching and exhorting: how sweet are your words to my taste (Psalms 119:103). They also should follow them in their actions, because he who does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:19). Thus in Matthew, God reprimands those who speak but do not act (Matthew 23). Others have them by hearing them, gladly and earnestly listening to them: he who is of God hears the words of God (John 8:47). Yet this is not enough unless they keep them in their actions, for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified (Romans 2:13); do not labor for the food that perishes, but for that which endures to eternal life (John 6:27).

    Therefore, those who have the commandments do keep them to a certain extent; but they still have to persist in keeping them. For this reason Augustine says: the person who keeps the commandments in his memory and keeps them in his life, who has them in his speech and keeps them in his conduct, who has them by hearing them and keeps them by doing them, who has them by doing and persisting in doing them, this is one who loves me.

14. Regarding the second reason why He will be seen by the faithful, He says, he who loves me, will be loved by my Father.

    But this is seen at first glance to be absurd. For surely the Lord does not love us because we love Him? God forbid! It is said, not as though we had first loved God, but because he has first loved us (1 John 4:10). Therefore, we should understand this statement in the light of what was said before, he who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. This does not mean that one keeps the commandments and as a result of this loves. But rather, one loves, and as a result of this, keeps the commandments. In the same way, we should say here that one is loved by the Father, and as a result he loves Christ, and not that one is loved because he loves. Therefore, we love the Son because the Father loves us. For it is a characteristic of true love that it draws the one loved to love the one who loves him: I have loved you with an everlasting love, and therefore I have drawn you, having compassion on you (Jeremiah 31:3).

15. Because the Father’s love is not without the Son’s love, since it is the same love in each—whatever he does, these the Son also does in like manner (John 5:19)—He adds, and I will love him.

    Why does He say, I will love, using the future, since the Father and the Son love all things from eternity?

    We should answer that love, considered as being in the divine will, is eternal; but considered as manifested in the accomplishment of some work and effect, is temporal. So the meaning is: and I will love him, that is, I will show the effect of my love, because I will manifest myself to him: for I love in order to manifest myself.

16. Note that one’s love for another is sometimes qualified and sometimes absolute. It is qualified when one wills some particular good for the other; but it is absolute when one wills all good for the other. Now God loves every created thing in a qualified sense, because He wills some good for every creature, even for the demons, for example, that they live and understand and exist. These are particular goods. But God loves absolutely those to whom He wills all good, that is, that they have God Himself. And to have God is to have truth, for God is truth. But truth is possessed when it is known. So God, who is truth, truly and absolutely loves those to whom He manifests Himself. This is what He says, and will manifest myself to him, that is, in the future, by glory, which is the ultimate effect of future beatitude: he showed it to his friend (Job 36:33); she hastens to make herself known to those who desire her .

17. Someone might ask: Will the Father not manifest Himself? Yes, both the Father and the Son. For the Son manifests Himself and the Father at the same time, because the Son is the Word of the Father: no one knows the Father except the Son (Matthew 11:27). If in the meantime the Son manifests Himself to anyone in some way, this is a sign of God’s love. And this can be a reason why the world will not see Him, because He will not manifest Himself to it because it does not love Him.