Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 14:27-31

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful. Ye heard how I said to you, I go away, and I come unto you. If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father: for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe. I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world cometh: and he hath nothing in me; but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence." — John 14:27-31 (ASV)

1. Above, our Lord consoled His disciples by mentioning what directly affected them: He promised them that they could approach the Father, that the Holy Spirit would come, and that He Himself would return. Here, He consoles them by mentioning what directly concerns Himself. This gives them two reasons for consolation: one is the fruit that will follow Christ’s departure, and the other is the reason for His death.

   First, He gives the first reason.

   Second, He gives the second reason, beginning with, I will not speak much more with you now.

2. Now, the fruit that would follow from Christ’s departure would be His exaltation, which would console them. For it is common among friends that when one of them departs for their own exaltation, the others feel less desolate. And so, our Lord mentions this reason for their consolation. First, He casts a certain uneasiness from their hearts; second, He recalls something that partly consoled them, yet also partly troubled them; third, He gives a reason that will completely console them; fourth, He answers an unspoken question.

3. He casts out uneasiness from their hearts when He says, let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid (John 14:27). Here, “trouble” means sadness, and “being afraid” refers to fear. Sadness and fear are similar in that both are concerned with an evil. Yet they are different, because sadness is over a present evil, while fear is over a future evil. Our Lord said, let not your hearts be troubled, about a present evil, for the righteous will never be moved (Psalms 112:6). He said, neither let them be afraid, of a future evil: who are you that you are afraid of man who dies? (Isaiah 51:12). This refers to human fear, for He does not reject divine fear.

4. Then, when He says, You have heard that I said to you: I go away, and I come to you, they were troubled because He was leaving them. But they were somewhat consoled because He added, and I will come to you. As before, I go away, and I come to you. This did not completely console them because they were afraid that perhaps in the meantime, while the shepherd was away, the wolf would attack the flock, according to the scripture, strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered (Zechariah 13:7). Thus He said to them, let not your hearts be troubled because I go away, and neither let them be afraid because I will come to you.

   He goes by His own power, by dying; and He comes by rising again: the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death... and he will rise on the third day (Matthew 20:18). Again, He went by His ascension: the beautiful one in his robe, walking in the greatness of his strength (Isaiah 63:1); and He will come to judge: they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory (Luke 21:27).

5. He completely consoles them when He says, If you loved Me, you would indeed be glad. It is as if He were saying, “If you love Me, you should not be sad, but should instead rejoice that I am leaving, because I am leaving to be exalted.” He then gives the reason: because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

6. This passage led Arius to the disparaging statement that the Father is greater than the Son. Yet our Lord’s own words refute this error. One should understand the Father is greater than I based on the meaning of I go to the Father. Now, the Son does not go to the Father insofar as He is the Son of God, for as the Son of God, He was with the Father from eternity: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God (John 1:1). Rather, He is said to go to the Father because of His human nature. Thus when He says, the Father is greater than I, He does not mean “I” as Son of God, but as Son of Man. For in this way, He is not only inferior to the Father and the Holy Spirit but even to the angels: we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor on account of His passion and death (Hebrews 2:9). In some things, He was even subject to human beings, such as His parents (Luke 2:51). Consequently, He is inferior to the Father because of His human nature but equal because of His divine nature: He did not think it robbery to be equal to God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant (Philippians 2:6).

7. One could also say, as Hilary does, that even according to the divine nature the Father is greater than the Son, yet the Son is not inferior to the Father, but equal. For the Father is not greater than the Son in power, eternity, or greatness, but by the dignity of being the grantor or source. The Father receives nothing from another, but the Son—if I may put it this way—receives His nature from the Father by an eternal generation. So, the Father is greater because He gives, but the Son is not inferior but equal, because He receives all that the Father has: God has bestowed on Him the name which is above every name (Philippians 2:9). For the one to whom a single act of existence is given is not inferior to the giver.

8. Chrysostom explains this by saying that our Lord is speaking with the apostles’ own perspective in mind, as they did not yet understand the resurrection or think that He was equal to the Father. And so He said to them: “Even if you do not believe Me on the grounds that I cannot help Myself, or do not expect that I will see you again after My cross, you should still believe Me because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.”

9. He now answers an unspoken question when He says, And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe. For they could have asked why He was telling them these things, and so He anticipates their question by saying, and now I have told you.

   Augustine raised a problem: since faith is concerned with things that are not seen, a person should believe before an event, not after it.

   The answer is that the apostles saw one thing and believed another. They saw the death and resurrection of Christ, and having seen these things, they believed that He was the Christ, the Son of God. But after these events, they did not believe with a new faith, but with an increased faith. Or, as Augustine says, they believed with a failing faith when He died, and a renewed faith when He rose.

10. Then, when He says, I will not speak much more with you now, He mentions another source of their consolation, based on the reason for His death. Sometimes the reason for a person’s death is a cause for sorrow, as when someone is killed because they are guilty. Other reasons are consoling, as when someone dies for the good we call virtue: Let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief... yet if one suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed (1 Peter 4:15). With respect to this:

    • Our Lord first shows that sin was not the reason for His death.
    • Second, that it was caused by the virtues of obedience and love, as in but that the world may know that I love the Father.

11. He says, I will not speak much more with you now, because the time is short: Little children, yet a little while I am with you (John 13:33). Or, because you are not yet ready for it: I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now (John 16:12). Or, “I will no longer talk much with you, because I will briefly explain to you that I will not die because of My own guilt.” And He does this when He says, for the prince of this world is coming, and in Me he has nothing. This prince is the devil, and he is called a prince of this world not because he is its creator or because of his natural power, as the Manicheans blasphemed, but because of guilt—that is, because of those who love this world. For this reason, he is called the prince of the world and of sin: for we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against... the world rulers of this present darkness (Ephesians 6:12). Therefore, he is not the ruler of creatures, but of sinners and of darkness: he is king over all the children of pride (Job 41:34).

    So this ruler comes to inflict suffering. He entered the heart of Judas to incite his betrayal and the hearts of the Jews to incite them to kill Him. But in Me he has nothing, for he has no power over us except through sin: Whoever commits sin is a slave to sin (John 8:34).

    Now, in Christ there was no sin: not in His soul—He committed no sin (1 Peter 2:22)—nor in His flesh, because He was conceived of the Virgin without original sin through the Holy Spirit: The child to be born of you will be called holy, the Son of God (Luke 1:35).

    Because the devil attacked Christ, over whom he had no right, he deserved to lose the power he justly held. This is reflected in the demon's cry: What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? (Mark 5:7). Therefore, it is clear that the cause of Christ’s death was not His own guilt. Indeed, there was no reason for Him to die, since He had no sin.

12. Then He mentions the true reason for His death, which is that good which is virtue. He says, but that the world may know that I love the Father. Augustine connects the sentence, but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father has given Me commandment, so I do, to what follows: Arise, let us go from here.

    Two things led Christ to undergo death: love for God and love for neighbor. As the Apostle says, Walk in love (Ephesians 5:2). He shows this love by the sign that He accomplishes what God commands: If you love Me, keep My commandments (John 14:15). Referring to this, He says, that the world may know that I love the Father, with an active love, because I go to die. Thus He adds, as the Father has given Me commandment, so I do. This is obedience, which is produced by love, and it is the second thing by which the Father moved Him to undergo death. The Father did not give this commandment to the Son of God, who, since He is the Word, is also the command of the Father. He gave this commandment to the Son of Man, insofar as He infused into His soul the knowledge that it was necessary for the salvation of humankind for Christ to die in His human nature. And so, that the world may know these things, Arise—from the place where they had eaten—let us go from here—to the place where I am to be betrayed—so that you can see that I am not dying by necessity, but from love and obedience: He goes out to meet the weapons (Job 39:21).

13. Chrysostom understands this differently, as he does not connect Arise, let us go from here to the preceding words in the same way. The meaning, in his view, is: “I am not dying because the ruler of this world has power over Me, but so that the world may know that I love the Father. As for you, however, Arise, let us go from here.” He said this because He saw they were afraid, both because it was late at night and because of the place, for they were in a house and constantly watching the entrance as if expecting to be attacked by their enemies. Consequently, they were not paying attention to what He was saying. So Christ led them to another, more secluded place so that, feeling more secure, they could listen with greater attention to what He would say and understand it better: I will bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her (Hosea 2:14).