Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 7:25-32

"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. But of the multitude many believed on him; and they said, When the Christ shall come, will he do more signs than those which this man hath done? The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him; and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to take him." — John 7:25-32 (ASV)

Having considered the origin of His doctrine, the Evangelist now tells us about the origin of its Teacher.

1. Christ shows His source, from which He comes.
2. He shows His end, to which He goes, at yet a little while I am with you (John 7:33).

Concerning the first point, he does three things:

1. We see the doubt of the people about His origin.
2. We have Christ’s teaching concerning His origin, at Jesus, therefore, teaching in the temple, cried out.
3. We see the effect this teaching had, at they sought therefore to apprehend him.

Regarding the first of these, he does three things:

1. We see the amazement of the people.
2. Their conjecture is presented, at have the rulers truly known that this is the Christ?
3. Their objection against those who are suspicious is brought forward, at but we know where this man comes from.

The people were amazed over two things:

1. The unjust statements of their leaders.
2. The public teaching of Christ, at behold, he speaks openly.

As we said before, Christ went up to this feast in secret to show the weakness of His human nature. However, He publicly taught in the temple, with His enemies being unable to restrain Him, to show His divinity. And so, as Augustine remarks, what was thought to be a lack of courage turned out to be strength.

Accordingly, some of Jerusalem said, in amazement, for they knew how fiercely their leaders were looking for Him, as they lived with them in Jerusalem. Thus Chrysostom says: The most pitiable of all were they who saw a very clear sign of His divinity and, leaving everything to the judgment of their corrupt leaders, failed to show Christ reverence. As it is written, As the ruler of a city is, so are its inhabitants .

Yet they were amazed at the power He had which kept Him from being apprehended. So they said, is this not he whom they seek?—"they" meaning the leaders of the Jews. This is according to what was said before: therefore the Jews—that is, the leaders—persecuted Jesus, because he did these things on the Sabbath (John 5:16). As it is written, evil has come out of the elders of the people, who ruled them (Daniel 13:5).

This also shows that Christ spoke the truth, while what their leaders said was false. For earlier, when our Lord asked them, why do you seek to kill me? they denied it, saying, you have a devil: who seeks to kill you? (John 7:20). But here, what their leaders had denied, these others admit when they say, is this not he whom they seek to kill? Accordingly, they are amazed, considering the evil intentions of their leaders.

Again, they were amazed that Christ was teaching openly, so they said, and behold, he speaks openly. Christ was teaching publicly, which is an indication of the secure possession of the truth—I have spoken publicly (John 18:20)—and they say nothing to him, because they were held back by divine power.

For it is a characteristic of God’s power that He prevents the hearts of evil men from carrying out their evil plans. As it is written, When the LORD is pleased with the way a man is living he will make his enemies be at peace with him (Proverbs 16:7), and again, the heart of the king is in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he wills (Proverbs 21:1).

We see their conjecture when they say, have the rulers truly known that this is the Christ? It is as if they were saying: Before, they sought to kill Him, but now that they have found Him, they do not say anything to Him.

Still, the leaders had not changed their opinion about Christ, for if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:8); rather, they were restrained by divine power.

Their objection to this conjecture is then added: but we know where this man comes from. They seem to be arguing: The Christ should have a hidden origin, but the origin of this man is known; therefore, he is not the Christ.

This shows their folly. For even if some of their leaders had believed in Christ, these people did not follow that opinion but instead offered another, which was false. This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations (Ezekiel 5:5). They knew that Christ took His origin from Mary, but they did not know how this came about, asking, isn’t Joseph his father, and Mary his mother? (Matthew 13:55).

Why did they say, but when the Christ comes, no man knows where he comes from, since it is written, out of you will come a leader, who will rule my people Israel (Micah 5:2)?

I answer that they took this opinion from Isaiah, who said, who will make known his origin? (Isaiah 53:8). Thus, they knew from the prophets where He was from according to His human origin, and they also knew from them that they did not know His origin according to His divine nature.

Then, at Jesus, therefore, teaching in the temple, cried out, He shows His origin.

1. He shows in what sense His origin is known and in what sense it is not known.
2. He shows how we can acquire a knowledge of His origin, at I know him, and if I said, I do not know him, then I would be like you, a liar.

Regarding the first point, He does two things:

1. He shows what they knew about His origin.
2. He shows what they did not know about it, at I have not come from myself.

They did know the origin of Jesus, and so He is said to have cried out. Now, a cry comes from some great emotion. Sometimes it indicates the upheaval of a soul in interior distress, and in this sense, it does not apply to Christ: he will not cry out (Isaiah 42:2); the words of the wise are heard in silence (Ecclesiastes 9:17).

Sometimes it implies great devotion, as in, in my trouble I cried to the LORD (Psalms 119:1). And sometimes, along with this, it signifies that what is to be said is important, as in, the seraphim cried to each other and said: holy, holy, holy, is the LORD God of hosts (Isaiah 6:3), and, does not wisdom cry out? (Proverbs 8:1).

This is the way preachers are encouraged to cry out: cry out, do not stop! Raise your voice like a trumpet (Isaiah 58:1). This is the way Christ cried out here, teaching in the temple, saying. And He said, you know me—according to appearances—and you know from where I come, that is, as to my bodily existence: after this he was seen on earth .

For they knew that He was born from Mary in Bethlehem and brought up in Nazareth, but they did not know about the virgin birth or that He had been conceived through the Holy Spirit, as Augustine says. With the exception of the virgin birth, they knew everything about Jesus that pertained to His humanity.

They did not know His hidden origin, and so He says, and I have not come from myself. Here, He first gives His origin and second, shows that it is hidden from them.

His origin is from the Father, from eternity. And so He says, I have not come from myself, as if to say: Before I came into the world through My humanity, I existed according to My divinity; before Abraham was made, I am (John 8:58). For He could not have come unless He already was.

And although I have come, I have not come from myself, because the Son is not of Himself, but from the Father. I came forth from the Father, and have come into the world (John 16:28).

Indeed, His origin was foretold by the Father, who promised to send Him: I beg you, O Lord, send him whom you are going to send (Exodus 4:13); I will send them a savior and a defender, to free them (Isaiah 19:20). And so He says, the one who sent me is truthful, as if to say: I have not come from another but from Him who promised and kept His promise, as He is truthful: God is truthful (Romans 3:4). Consequently, He teaches me to speak the truth, because I have been sent by one who is truthful.

But they do not know this, because they do not know Him who sent Me; and so He says, whom you do not know.

But since every person, although born in a bodily condition, is from God, it seems that Christ could say that He is from God, and consequently, that they do know where He comes from.

I answer, according to Hilary, that the Son is from God in a different way than others. For He is from God in such a way that He is also God; and so God is His consubstantial principle. But others are from God in such a way that they are not out of Him. Thus, it is not known where the Son is from because the nature out of which He is, is not known. But where humans are from is not unknown, for if something exists out of nothing, where it is from cannot be unknown.

Then when He says, I know him, He teaches us how to know Him from whom He comes. For if a thing is to be learned, it must be learned from one who knows it. But only the Son knows the Father. And so He says: If you wish to know Him who sent Me, you must acquire this knowledge from Me, because I alone know him.

1. He shows that He knows Him.
2. He shows the perfection of His knowledge.
3. He shows the nature of His knowledge.

He shows that He knows Him when He says, I know him. Now it is true that all men see him (Job 36:25), but they do not see Him in the same way. In this life, we see Him through the intermediary of creatures: the invisible things of God are clearly known through the things that have been made (Romans 1:20). Thus we read, now we see in a mirror, in an obscure manner (1 Corinthians 13:12).

But the angels and the blessed in heaven see Him through His essence: their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven (Matthew 18:10); we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:2).

The Son of God, on the other hand, sees Him in a more excellent way than all others, that is, with a comprehensive or all-inclusive vision. No one has ever seen God—that is, in a comprehensive way—the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has made him known (John 1:18); no one knows the Father but the Son (Matthew 11:27). It is of this vision that He is speaking here when He says, I know him, with a comprehensive knowledge.

He shows the perfection of His knowledge when He says, and if I said, I do not know him, then I would be like you, a liar. This is mentioned for two reasons. First, intellectual creatures know God, though from a distance and imperfectly, for all men see him, from a distance (Job 36:25). Because divine truth transcends all our knowledge—God is greater than our hearts (1 John 3:20)—whoever knows God can say without lying, I do not know him, because he does not know Him to the full extent that He is knowable.

But the Son knows God the Father most perfectly, just as He knows Himself most perfectly. Thus, He cannot say, I do not know him.

Second, because our knowledge of God, especially that which comes through grace, can be lost—they forgot God, who saved them (Psalms 105:21)—people can say, I do not know him, as long as they are in this present life, because no one knows whether he deserves love or hatred. The Son, on the other hand, has a knowledge of the Father that cannot be lost, so He cannot say, I do not know him.

We should understand I would be like you as a reverse likeness. They would not be lying if they said they did not know God, but they would be lying if they said that they did know Him, since they did not. But if Christ said that He did not know Him, He would be lying, since He did know Him. So the meaning of this statement is this: If I said, I do not know him—since I really do know Him—I would be like you, a liar, who say that you know Him, although you do not.

Could Christ not have said, I do not know him? It seems He could, since He could have moved His lips and said the words. And so, could He have lied?

I reply that if Christ were to say this, He still would not be lying. We should explain it this way: if He were to say, I do not know him, declaratively, it would mean, "I believe in my heart what I profess with my lips." Now, to state as truth what is false comes from two defects: from a defect of knowledge in the intellect, which Christ could not have since He is the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:30); or from a defect of right will in the affections, which also could not be in Christ since He is the power of God, according to the same text.

Thus, He could not say the words I do not know him declaratively. Yet this entire conditional statement—"if I said I do not know him, I would be a liar"—is not false, even though both its parts are impossible.

The reason for this singular and perfect knowledge of Christ is given when He says, I do know him, because I am from him, and he has sent me. All knowledge comes about through some likeness, since nothing is known except insofar as there is a likeness of the known in the knower. But whatever proceeds from something has a likeness to that from which it proceeds. And so, all who truly know God have a varied knowledge of Him according to the different degrees of their procession from Him.

The rational soul has a knowledge of God insofar as it participates in a likeness to Him in a more imperfect way than other intellectual creatures. An angel, because it has a more explicit likeness to God—being a stamp of resemblance—knows God more clearly. But the Son has the most perfect likeness to the Father, since He has the same essence and power as the Father does. Therefore, He knows Him most perfectly, as was said.

And so He says, but I know him—that is, to the extent that He is knowable. The reason for this is, because I am from him, having the same essence with Him through consubstantiality. Thus, just as the Father knows Himself perfectly through His essence, so I know him perfectly through the same essence.

So that we do not understand these words as referring only to His being sent into this world, He at once adds, because he has sent me. Consequently, the statement, I am from him, refers to His eternal generation, through which He is consubstantial with the Father.

Then, when He says, because he has sent me, He is saying that the Father is the author of the incarnation: God sent his Son, made from a woman, made under the law (Galatians 4:4). Now, just as the Son has a perfect knowledge of the Father because He is from the Father, so too the soul of Christ, because it is united to the Word in a unique way, has a unique and more excellent knowledge of God than other creatures, although it does not comprehend Him. And so Christ can say, according to His human nature: I know Him in a more excellent way than other creatures do, but without comprehending Him.

Then, at they sought therefore to apprehend him, the Evangelist considers the effect of His teaching.

1. First, on the people.
2. Then, on the Pharisees, at the Pharisees heard the people murmuring.

Regarding the first point, he does two things:

1. He shows the effect of this teaching on those among the people who were ill-willed.
2. He shows the effect on those who were favorable, at but of the people many believed in him.

Concerning the ill-willed, he does three things:

1. He mentions the evil intention of the people.
2. He shows that they were hindered in carrying out their plan.
3. He mentions the reason why they were hindered.

He presents their evil intention when he says, they sought therefore to apprehend him. Because our Lord said to them, whom you do not know, they became angry, feigning that they did know Him. And so they formed the evil plan of seizing Him, so that they could crucify and kill Him: go after him, and seize him (Psalms 70:11).

Yet there are some who have Christ within themselves and still seek to seize Him in a reverent manner: I will go up into the palm tree and seize its fruit (Song of Solomon 7:8). And so the Apostle says, I will go after it to seize it, wherein I am also apprehended by Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:12).

He mentions that they were hindered in their plans when he says, but no man laid hands on him, for their rage was invisibly checked and restrained. This shows that a person has the will to inflict injury from himself, while the power to inflict injury is from God. This is clear from the first chapters of Job, where Satan was unable to torment Job except to the extent that he was permitted to do so by God.

The reason they were hindered was because his hour had not yet come.

Here we should note that there is a time and fitness for everything (Ecclesiastes 8:6). However, the time for anything is determined by its cause. Therefore, because the heavenly bodies are the cause of physical effects, the time for things that act in a physical way is determined by the heavenly bodies.

The soul, on the other hand, is not subject to any heavenly body in its intellect and reason. In this respect, it transcends temporal causes and does not have its times determined by the heavenly bodies. Rather, its times are determined by its cause, that is, God, who decrees what is to be done and at what time: why is one day better than another? ... they are differentiated by the knowledge of the Lord . Much less, therefore, is Christ’s time determined by these bodies.

Accordingly, His hour must be regarded as fixed not by fatal necessity, but by the entire Trinity. For as Augustine says: You should not believe this about yourself; and how much less should you believe it about Him who made you? If your hour is His will—that is, God’s—what is His hour but His own will? Therefore, He was not speaking here of the hour in which He would be forced to die, but rather of the hour in which He thought it fitting to be killed.

This is seen in His words, My hour has not yet come (John 2:4), and later, Jesus knowing that his hour was come, that he should pass out of this world to the Father (John 13:1).

Then, at but of the people many believed in him, he mentions the effect His teaching had on those who were favorable.

First, he shows their faith: but of the people many believed in him. He does not say, "of the leaders," because the higher their rank, the further away they were from Him. So there was no room in them for wisdom: where there is humility, there is wisdom (Proverbs 11:2).

But the people, because they were quick to see their own sickness, immediately recognized our Lord’s medicine: you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and have revealed them to little ones (Matthew 11:25). This is why in the beginning, it was the poor and the humble who were converted to Christ: God chose what is lowly and despised in the world, and things that are not, to destroy those things that are (1 Corinthians 1:28).

Second, he gives the motive for their faith when they ask, when the Christ comes, will he do more miracles than what this man does? It had been prophesied that when the Christ came, He would work many miracles: God himself will come, and save us. Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will hear (Isaiah 35:4). And so when they saw the miracles Christ was accomplishing, they were led to believe.

Yet their faith was weak, because they were led to believe in Him not by His teaching, but by His miracles. Since they were already believers and instructed by the Law, they should have been influenced more by His teaching: signs were given to unbelievers; while prophecies were given to believers, not to unbelievers (1 Corinthians 14:22).

Their faith was also weak because they seemed to be expecting another Christ. Thus they say, when the Christ comes, will he do more miracles than what this man does? From this it is obvious that they did not believe in Christ as God, but as some just man or prophet.

Or, according to Augustine, they were reasoning this way: When the Christ comes, will he do more miracles than what this man does? As if to say: We were promised that the Christ would come. But he will not work more signs than this man is doing. Therefore, either this man is the Christ, or there will be several Christs.

Then when he says, the Pharisees heard the people saying these things concerning him, we see the effect this had on the Pharisees. As Chrysostom says, Christ said many things, and yet the Pharisees were not aroused against Him. But when they saw that the people were accepting Him, they were immediately inflamed against Him, and in their madness they wanted to kill Him.

This shows that the real reason they hated Him was not that He broke the Sabbath; what provoked them the most was the fact that the people were honoring Christ. This is clear from a later passage: Do you see that we accomplish nothing? Behold, the whole world is gone after him (John 12:19). Because they were afraid of the danger, they did not dare to seize Christ themselves, but sent their officers, who were used to such things.