Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 8:21-30

"He said therefore again unto them, I go away, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin: whither I go, ye cannot come. The Jews therefore said, Will he kill himself, that he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come? And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for except ye believe that I am [he], ye shall die in your sins. They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? Jesus said unto them, Even that which I have also spoken unto you from the beginning. I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you: howbeit he that sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these speak I unto the world. They perceived not that he spake to them of the Father. Jesus therefore said, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am [he], and [that] I do nothing of myself, but as the Father taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me; he hath not left me alone; for I do always the things that are pleasing to him. As he spake these things, many believed on him." — John 8:21-30 (ASV)

1. After our Lord showed His special position with respect to light, He here reveals the effect of this light: that it frees us from darkness.

   First, He shows that the Jews are imprisoned in darkness. Second, He teaches the remedy that can free them, beginning with the verse, the Jews therefore said, “Will he kill himself?”

   Concerning the first point, He does three things:

   1. The Lord tells them He is going to leave.
   2. He reveals the perverse plans of the Jews.
   3. He mentions what they will be deprived of.

2. Our Lord says that He is going to leave them by His death: I go. We can see two things from this. First, that He is going to die voluntarily, as one who is going, not as one led by someone else. I go to him who sent me (John 16:5); No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord (John 10:18). This appropriately follows what came before, for He had said, and no one laid a hand on him (John 8:20). Why? Because He is going willingly, on His own.

   Second, we can see that the death of Christ was a journey to that place from which He had come, and which He had not left. For just as one who walks heads toward what is ahead, so Christ, by His death, reached the glory of exaltation: He became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him (Philippians 2:8–9); knowing... that he had come from God and was going to God (John 13:3).

3. We see their sinful plans in their deceitful search for Christ; He says, you will seek me. Some look for Christ in a devout way through charity, and such a search results in life: Seek God, and your soul shall live (Psalms 69:32). But they wickedly searched for Him out of hatred, to persecute Him: Those who sought my life have used violence (Psalms 38:12). He says, you will seek me, by attacking Me after My death with your accusations: We remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, “After three days I will rise” (Matthew 27:63). And they will also seek out My members: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? (Acts 9:4).

4. This will be followed by their death, and so He adds what they will be deprived of, foretelling to them, and you will die in your sin.

   First, He foretells the deprivation that consists in the condemnation of death. Second, He foretells the deprivation that consists in their exclusion from glory, with the words, where I am going, you cannot come.

5. He is saying: because you will wickedly search for Me, you will die in your sin. We can understand this in one way as applying to physical death; in that case, one dies in his sins who keeps on sinning up to the time of his death. In saying, you will die in your sin, He emphasizes their obstinacy: No one repents of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” (Jeremiah 8:6); They have gone down to the nether world with their weapons (Ezekiel 32:27).

   In another way, we can understand this as applying to the death of sin, about which the Psalm says, The death of the wicked is evil (Psalms 34:21). Just as a physical weakness precedes physical death, so a certain weakness precedes this kind of death. As long as sin can be remedied, it is a kind of weakness that precedes death: Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am weak (Psalms 6:2). But when sin can no longer be remedied—either absolutely, as after this life, or because of the very nature of the sin, as with a sin against the Holy Spirit—it then causes death: There is a sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that (1 John 5:16). According to this, our Lord is foretelling to them that the weakness of their sins will result in death.

6. He shows the deprivation that consists in their exclusion from glory when He says, where I am going, you cannot come. Our Lord goes by death, and so do they. But our Lord goes without sin, while they go with their sins, because they are dying in their sin and so do not come to the glory of the vision of the Father. So He says, where I am going—willingly, by My passion, to the Father and to His glory—you cannot come, because you do not want to. For if they had wanted to and had not been able to, it could not have been reasonably said to them, you will die in your sin.

7. Note that one can be hindered from going where Christ goes in two ways.

   One way is by some contrary factor, and this is how sinners are hindered. This is what He is speaking of here. To those who are absolutely continuing in their sin He says, where I am going, you cannot come. The proud will not dwell in my house (Psalms 101:7); It shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not pass over it (Isaiah 35:8); Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly (Psalms 15:1–2).

   One is hindered in another way by some imperfection or indisposition. This is how the just are hindered as long as they live in the body: while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6). To persons such as these our Lord does not say absolutely, where I am going, you cannot come, but He adds a qualification as to the time: Where I am going you cannot follow me now (John 13:36).

8. Then, with the words, the Jews therefore said, “Will he kill himself?” He discusses the remedy that can set them free from the darkness.

   First, He gives the remedy for escaping the darkness. Second, He shows the efficacy of the remedy, starting with, They said to him, “Who are you?”

   Concerning the first point, He does three things:

   1. He indicates the unique remedy for escaping the darkness.
   2. He states the reasons why they should ask for this remedy.
   3. Christ foretells the means of obtaining it, with the words, So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know.”

   As for the first of these, He does two things:

   1. He gives the circumstances for Christ’s words.
   2. He gives the reason why Christ can propose the remedy, with the words, You are from below.

9. The circumstance surrounding Christ’s words was the perverse understanding of the Jews. Since they were carnal, they understood what Christ said, where I am going, you cannot come, in a carnal way: The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:14). Thus the Jews said, Will he kill himself? As Augustine says, this is indeed a foolish notion. For if Christ was going to kill Himself, could they not go where He was going? They could kill themselves also. Thus, death was not the destination of Christ’s journey; it was the way He was going to the Father. Accordingly, He did not say that they could not go to death, but that they could not go through death to the place where Christ, through His death, would be exalted: at the right hand of God.

   According to Origen, however, perhaps the Jews did have a reason for saying this. They had learned from their traditions that Christ would die willingly, as He Himself said: No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord (John 10:18). They seem especially to have gathered this from the saying: Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death (Isaiah 53:12). Because they suspected that Jesus was the Christ, when He said, where I am going, you cannot come, they understood it according to this opinion that He would willingly deliver Himself to death. But they interpreted this in an insulting way, saying, Will he kill himself? Otherwise they would have said: “Is His soul going to depart, leaving His body when He wishes? We are unable to do this, and this is the reason for His saying, where I am going, you cannot come.”

10. Then, with the words, You are from below, He proposes the remedy for escaping from the darkness.

    First, He mentions His own origin, and then theirs. Second, He concludes His point, with the words, I told you that you would die in your sins.

11. With respect to the first point, He distinguishes His own origin from theirs in two ways. First, because He is from above, and they are from below. Second, because they are of this world, and Christ is not. As Origen says, to be from below is not the same as to be of this world, for “above” and “below” refer to differences in place. Thus, so that they would not understand the statement that He is from above as meaning that He is from a part of the world that is above, He excludes this by saying that He is not of this world. He is saying, in effect: I am from above, but in such a way that I am entirely above the entire world.

12. It is clear that they are of this world and from below. But we have to understand correctly how Christ is from above and not of this world.

    Some who thought that all visible created realities were from the devil, as the Manicheans taught, said that Christ was not of this world even with respect to His body, but from some other created, invisible world. Valentinus also incorrectly interpreted this statement and said that Christ assumed a heavenly body. But it is obvious that this is not the true interpretation, since our Lord said to His apostles: you are not of the world (John 15:19).

    We must say, therefore, that this passage can be understood of Christ as the Son of God, and of Christ as human. Christ, as Son of God, is from above: I came from the Father and have come into the world (John 16:28). Likewise, He is not of this sensible world—that is, this world which is made up of sense-perceptible things—but He is of the intelligible world, because He is the very Word of God, being the supreme wisdom. For all things were made in wisdom. Thus we read of Him: the world was made through him (John 1:10).

    Christ, as human, is from above because He did not have any affection for worldly and weak things, but rather for higher realities, in which the soul of Christ was at home, as in our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20); where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:21). On the other hand, those who are from below have their origin from below and are of this world because their affections are turned to earthly things: The first man was from the earth, a man of dust (1 Corinthians 15:47).

13. Then, with the words, I told you that you would die in your sins, He concludes His point.

    First, He explains what He said about their deprivation. Second, He points out its remedy, with the words, for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.

14. We should note with respect to the first point that everything in its development follows the condition of its origin. Thus, a thing whose origin is from below naturally tends downward if left to itself. Nothing tends upward unless its origin is from above: No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven (John 3:13).

    Thus our Lord is saying: This is the reason why you cannot come where I am going. Since you are from below, then as far as you yourself are concerned, you can only go down. And so what I said is true, that you will die in your sin, unless you adhere to Me.

15. Then, in order not to entirely exclude all hope for their salvation, He proposes the remedy, saying, for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. He is saying in effect: You were born in original sin, from which you cannot be absolved except by faith in Me, because, if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sin.

    He says, I am he, and not what He is, to recall to them what was said to Moses: I am who I am (Exodus 3:14), for existence itself is proper to God. In any nature other than the divine, existence and what exists are not the same. This is because any created nature participates in its existence from the One who is being by His essence—that is, from God, who is His own existence, so that His existence is His essence. Thus, this name designates only God. And so He says, for unless you believe that I am he—that is, that I am truly God, who has existence by His essence—you will die in your sin.

    He says, that I am he, to show His eternity. For in all things that begin, there is a certain mutability and a potential for nonexistence; thus we can discern in them a past and a future, and so they do not have true existence of themselves. But in God there is no potential for non-existence, nor has He begun to be. Thus He is existence itself, which is appropriately indicated by the present tense.

16. Next, with the words, They said to him, “Who are you?” we are given the reasons that can lead them to believe.

    First, we see the question asked by the Jews. Second, the answer of Christ, with the words, Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning.” Third, the blindness of their understanding, with the words, They did not understand that he was speaking to them of the Father.

17. Since our Lord had said, unless you believe that I am he, it was left to them to ask who He was. And so they said to Him, Who are you? As if to say: Where are you from, so that we may believe?

18. When He says, Just what I have been telling you from the beginning, He gives an answer that can lead them to believe for three reasons:

    1. Because of the sublimity of His nature.
    2. Because of the power He has to judge, with the words, I have much to say about you and to judge.
    3. Because of the truthfulness of His Father, with the words, but he who sent me is true.

19. Indeed, the sublimity of Christ’s nature can lead them to believe in Him, because He is the source. Therefore Jesus said to them, the source, who also speaks to you. In Latin the word for ‘source’ (principium) is neuter in gender, and so there is a question whether it is used here in the nominative or accusative case. In Greek, it is feminine in gender and is used here in the accusative case. Thus, according to Augustine, we should not read this as “I am the source,” but rather as “Believe that I am the source, lest you die in your sins.”

    The Father is also called the source or beginning. In one sense the word ‘source’ is common to the Father and the Son, insofar as they are the one source of the Holy Spirit through a common spiration. Again, the three persons together are the source of creatures through creation. In another way, the word ‘source’ is proper to the Father, insofar as the Father is the source of the Son through an eternal generation. Yet, we do not speak of many sources, just as we do not speak of many gods: Yours is the dominion in the day of your power (Psalms 110:3). Here, however, our Lord is saying that He is the source or beginning with regard to all creatures, for whatever is such by essence is the source and the cause of those things which are by participation. But, as was said, His existence is an existence by His very essence. Yet because Christ possesses not only the divine nature but a human nature as well, He adds, who also speaks to you. Man cannot hear the voice of God directly, because as Augustine says, “Weak hearts cannot hear the intelligible word without a sensible voice.” What man is there that can hear the voice of the living God? . So, in order for us to hear the divine Word directly, the Word assumed flesh and spoke to us with a mouth of flesh. Thus He says, who also speaks to you, that is, I, who was humbled for your sakes, have come down to speak these words: Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son (Hebrews 1:1–2); the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known (John 1:18).

20. Chrysostom explains this a little differently, so that in saying, the source, who is also speaking to you, our Lord is reproving the Jews for their slowness to understand. For in spite of the many signs which they had seen our Lord perform, they were still impenetrable and asked our Lord, Who are you? Our Lord then answers: I am the beginning, that is, the one who has spoken to you from the beginning. It is the same as saying: You should not have to ask who I am, because it should be clear to you by now. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God (Hebrews 5:12).

21. Second, they can be led to believe in Christ by His judicial authority; and so He says, I have much to say about you and to judge, which means in effect: I have authority to judge you.

    Let us note that it is one thing to speak to us, and another to speak about us. Christ speaks to us for our benefit, that is, to draw us to Himself; and He speaks to us this way while we are living, by means of preaching, by inspiring us, and by things like that. But Christ speaks about us, not for our benefit, but for showing His justice, and He will speak about us this way at the future judgment.

22. This seems to conflict with what was said above: For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him (John 3:17).

    I answer by saying that it is one thing to judge, and another to have judgment. To judge implies the act of judging, and this does not belong to the first coming of our Lord, as He said above: I judge no one (John 8:15), that is, at present. But to have judgment implies the power to judge, and Christ does have this: The Father... has given all judgment to the Son (John 5:22); it is he who is appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:42). And so He says, explicitly, I have much to say about you and to judge, but at a future judgment.

23. The truthfulness of the Father can also lead them to believe in Christ, and as to this He says, but he who sent me is true. He is saying in effect: The Father is truthful; but what I say is in agreement with Him; therefore, you should believe Me.

    Thus He says, he who sent me, that is, the Father, is true, not by participation, but He is the very essence of truth; otherwise, since the Son is truth itself, He would be greater than the Father. Let God be true (Romans 3:4). The things that I have heard from him—what I have received, not by my human sense of hearing, but by my eternal generation—are the same that I speak. What I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I have announced to you (Isaiah 21:10); the Son can do nothing of his own accord (John 5:19).

24. The statement, he who sent me is true, can be connected in two ways with what went before. One way is this: I say that I have much to judge about you; but my judgment will be true, because he who sent me is true. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls (Romans 2:2).

    The other way of relating this to what went before is from Chrysostom, and is this: I say that I have much to judge about you; but I am not doing so now, not because I lack the power, but out of obedience to the will of the Father. For he who sent me is true: thus, since He promised a savior and a defender, He sent Me this time as savior. And since I only say what I have heard from Him, I speak to you about life-giving things.

25. When He says, They did not understand that he was speaking to them of the Father, He reproves their slowness to understand, for they had not yet opened the eyes of their hearts by which they could understand the equality of the Father and the Son. The reason for this was because they were carnal: The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 2:14).

26. Here, for the first time, Christ foretells how they are to come to the faith, which is the remedy for death. He does two things:

    1. He shows what will lead them to the faith.
    2. He teaches what must be believed about Himself, with the words, that I am he.

27. He says, first, that they ought to come to the faith by means of His passion: So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know.” He is saying in effect: You do not know now that God is My Father, but when you have lifted up the Son of Man—that is, when you have nailed Me to the wood of the cross—then you will know, that is, some of you will understand by faith. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself (John 12:32).

    And so, as Augustine says, He recalls the sufferings of His cross to give hope to sinners, so that no one will despair, no matter what his crime, or think that he is too evil, since the very people who crucified Christ are freed from their sins by Christ’s blood. For there is no sinner so great that he cannot be freed by the blood of Christ.

    Chrysostom’s explanation is this: When you have lifted up the Son of Man, on the cross, then you will understand, that is, you will be able to understand what I am, not only by the glory of My resurrection, but also by the punishment of your captivity and destruction.

28. With respect to the second point, He teaches three things that must be believed about Himself: first, the greatness of His divinity; second, His origin from the Father; third, His inseparability from the Father.

    He mentions the greatness of His divinity when He says, that I am he, that is, that I have in Me the nature of God, and that it is I who spoke to Moses, saying: I am who I am (Exodus 3:14).

    But because the entire Trinity pertains to existence itself, and so that we do not overlook the distinction between the Persons, He teaches that His origin from the Father must be believed, saying, I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me. Because Jesus began both to do and to teach, He indicates His origin from the Father in these two respects. As regards those things He does, He says, I do nothing on my own authority, as above: the Son can do nothing of his own accord (John 5:19). As regards what He teaches, He says, as the Father taught me, which is to say, He gave Me knowledge by generating Me as one who knows. Since He is the simple nature of truth, for the Son to exist is for Him to know. And so, just as the Father, by generating, gave existence to the Son, so He also, by generating, gave Him knowledge: My teaching is not mine (John 7:16).

    So that we do not think that the Son was sent by the Father in such a way as to be separated from the Father, He teaches, third, that they must believe that He is inseparable from the Father when He says, he who sent me, the Father, is with me, by a unity of essence: I am in the Father and the Father is in me (John 14:10). The Father is also with Me by a union of love: the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing (John 5:20). The Father sent the Son in such a way that the Father did not separate Himself from the Son; and so the text continues, he has not left me alone, because I am the object of His love. For although both are together, one sends and the other is sent: for the sending is the incarnation, and this pertains only to the Son, and not to the Father.

    That He has not deserted Me is clear from this sign: for I always do the things that are pleasing to him. We should not understand this to indicate a meritorious cause, but a sign. It is the same as saying: The fact that I always do, without beginning and without end, the things that are pleasing to him, is a sign that He is always with Me and has not deserted Me. I was with him, forming all things (Proverbs 8:30). Another interpretation would be this: and he has not left me alone, that is, as man, protecting Me, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him. In this interpretation it does indicate a meritorious cause.

29. Then when He says, As he was saying these things, many believed in him, He shows the effect of His teaching, which is the conversion of many of them to the faith because they had heard Christ’s teaching: So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17).