Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 8:51-59

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my word, he shall never see death. The Jews said unto him, Now we know that thou hast a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my word, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who died? and the prophets died: whom makest thou thyself? Jesus answered, If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing: it is my Father that glorifieth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God; and ye have not known him: but I know him; and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be like unto you, a liar: but I know him, and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad. The Jews therefore said unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was born, I am. They took up stones therefore to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple." — John 8:51-59 (ASV)

1. Above, our Lord had promised two things to his followers: liberation from darkness and the attainment of life, saying, he who follows me does not walk in darkness but will have the light of life (John 8:12). The first of these has been treated above, so we are now concerned with the second: obtaining life through Christ.

In this passage, two things happen:

1. He states the truth.
2. He counters its denial by the Jews, at the Jews therefore said: now we know that you have a demon.

2. It should be noted that although Christ had been loaded down with insults and criticisms, he did not stop his teaching. Indeed, after being accused of having a demon, he offers the benefits of his teachings more generously, saying, amen, amen, I say to you, if any man keeps my word, he will never see death. He is here giving us an example that when the malice of wicked men increases, and those who are converted are abused with insults, preaching, so far from being curtailed, should be increased: and you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words (Ezekiel 2:6); the Gospel for which I am suffering and wearing fetters like a criminal. But the word of God is not fettered (2 Timothy 2:9).

In this statement our Lord does two things: he requires something, and he promises something. What he requires is that his words be kept: if any man keep my word, for the word of Christ is the truth. Therefore, we should keep it:

1. By faith and continual meditation: do not forsake her, and she will keep you (Proverbs 4:6).
2. By fulfilling it in action: he who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me (John 14:21).

What he promises is freedom from death; thus he says, he will never see death, that is, experience it: they who act by me—that is, by divine wisdom—shall not sin; they who explain me shall have life everlasting . Such a reward suits such merit, for life everlasting consists especially in the divine vision: this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (John 17:3). Now the seedbed and source of this vision comes into us by the word of Christ; the seed is the word of God (Luke 8:11). Therefore, just as a person who keeps the seed of some plant or tree from being destroyed succeeds in obtaining its fruit, so the person who keeps the word of God attains life everlasting: keep my statutes and my ordinances by doing which a man shall live (Leviticus 18:5).

3. Next, at the Jews therefore said: now we know that you have a demon, the opposition of the Jews is repelled. They oppose Christ in three ways:

1. By accusing him of making a false statement.
2. By their derision, at the Jews therefore said to him: you are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?
3. By assaulting him, at they therefore took up stones to cast at him.

As to the first, there are two parts:

1. They try to accuse him of presumption.
2. Christ answers some of their rebuttals, at if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing.

As to the first of these, they do three things:

1. They insult Christ.
2. They state a certain fact, at Abraham is dead.
3. They ask a question, at are you greater than our father Abraham?

4. They reproached him for lying when they said, now we know that you have a demon. They said this because the Jews knew that the inventor of sin, and especially of lying, was the devil: I will go forth and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets (1 Kings 22:22). It seemed to them that our Lord’s statement, if any man keep my word, he will never see death, was an obvious lie. Since they were carnally minded, they understood what he said about spiritual and eternal death to be about physical death. This was especially because it seemed contrary to the authority of Sacred Scripture, which says, what man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? (Psalms 89:48). For these reasons they said to him, you have a demon. It was like saying: You are lying because you are prompted by the devil.

5. Further, they do two things to convict him of lying:

1. They mention the death of the ancients.
2. They quote Christ’s own words, at and you say, if any man keep my word, he will never taste death.

So they say: what you say, if any one keeps my word, he will never see death, is obviously false, for Abraham is dead (Genesis 25), and the prophets are dead. We must all die, we are like water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again (2 Samuel 14:14). But although they are dead in the bodily sense, they are not dead spiritually, for our Lord says, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob (Matthew 22:32), and then he adds, he is not God of the dead, but of the living. Thus, they were dead as to the body, but they were living in the spirit, because the Lord was not speaking of bodily death.

However, they repeat the words of Christ and add, and you say, if any man keep my word, he will never taste death. But they were careless and evil listeners and so distorted our Lord’s words and did not repeat them exactly. For our Lord had said, he will never see death, but they quote it as he will never taste death. However, as far as their understanding was concerned, it was all the same, because in both cases they understood that they would never experience a bodily death.

But as Origen tells us, there is a real difference between seeing death and tasting death. To see death is to experience it completely, while to taste it is to have some taste or share in death. Now, just as it is a greater punishment to see death than to taste it, so not to taste death is more of a glory than not to see death. For the ones who do not taste death are those who are on high with Christ, that is, who remain in an intellectual order: there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom (Matthew 16:28). And there are others who, if they do not see death by sinning mortally, nevertheless taste it, because they have a slight affection for earthly things. Consequently, our Lord, as it is written in the Greek, and as Origen explains it, said, he will never see death, because the person who has accepted and kept the words of Christ will not see death, even though he might taste something of it.

6. Then they ask their question, saying, are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? They are asking, first of all, about a comparison between him and their fathers of old: are you, they ask, greater than our father Abraham? But as Chrysostom says, in their carnal understanding they could have asked something higher, that is, "Are you greater than God?" For Abraham and the prophets kept God’s commands, yet they died in the bodily sense. Therefore, if anyone who keeps your word will never die, it seems that you are greater than God. Yet they were satisfied with their rebuttal, because they considered him less than Abraham, in spite of the fact that we read: there is none like thee among the gods, O Lord (Psalms 86:8); and who is like thee, O Lord, among the gods? (Exodus 15:11), as if to say: no one.

Second, they ask about his estimate of himself, that is, who does he take himself to be? It is as if to say: If you are greater than them, namely, Abraham and the prophets, it seems to imply that you are of a higher nature, say an angel or God. But we do not think you are. So they do not ask, "Who are you?" but "Who do you claim to be?" For whatever you say in this matter, we who know will regard it as a fiction. They spoke in a similar fashion below: we do not stone you for a good work but for blasphemy, and because you, being a man, make yourself God (John 10:33).

7. Then, at Jesus answered: if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing, our Lord’s answer is given.

1. He answers the second question.
2. He answers the first question, at your father Abraham rejoiced that he might see my day.

As to the first, the Lord does three things:

1. He rejects their error.
2. He teaches them a truth which they did not know, at it is my Father who glorifies me.
3. He clarifies both of these things, at and you have not known him.

8. He says, "You ask me, who do you make yourself to be?" as if I am usurping a glory that I do not have. But this is a false assumption on your part, because I do not make myself what I am, but I have received it from the Father: for if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. Now this could be understood of Christ as he is the Son of God, as though saying in precise language: if I, namely, myself alone, glorify myself, that is, ascribe to myself a glory which the Father does not give me, my glory is nothing. For the glory of Christ as God is the glory of the Word and the Son of God. But the Son has nothing except being begotten, that is, what he has received from another by being begotten. Therefore, assuming the impossible, if his glory were not from another, it would not be the glory of the Son.

However, it seems better to suppose that this is said of Christ as he is man, because anyone who ascribes to himself a glory he does not have from God has a false glory. For whatever is true is from God, and whatever is contrary to the truth is false, and consequently, nothing. Therefore, a glory which is not from God is nothing. We read of Christ: Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest (Hebrews 5:5); and it is not the man who commends himself that is accepted, but the man whom the Lord commends (2 Corinthians 10:18). Thus the error of the Jews is obvious.

9. He states the truth he intends to teach and says: it is my Father who glorifies me. It is like saying: I do not glorify myself, as you think; but it is another who glorifies me, namely, my Father, whom he describes by his proper characteristic and by his nature.

He describes him by his proper characteristic of fatherhood; thus he says that it is my Father and not I.

As Augustine says, the Arians use this statement to injure our faith, and they claim the Father is greater than the Son, for one who glorifies is greater than the one glorified by him. If, therefore, the Father glorifies the Son, the Father is greater than the Son.

Now this argument would be valid unless it were found that, conversely, the Son glorifies the Father. But the Son says: Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you (John 17:1); and I have glorified you on earth (John 17:4). In the Greek however, "glorify" and "clarify" are the same; and, according to Ambrose, glory is clarity accompanied by praise.

It is my Father who glorifies me can be applied to Christ both as he is the Son of God and also as the Son of man. As the Son of God, the Father glorifies him with the glory of the divinity, generating him from eternity as equal to himself, as we read: he reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature . . . he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:3); and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:11). But as man, he had glory through an overflowing into him of the divinity, an overflowing of unique grace and glory: we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

10. He describes the Father by his nature, that is, by his divinity, when he says, of whom you say that he is your God. But lest anyone suppose that his Father is other than God, he says that he is glorified by God: now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him; if God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself (John 13:31–32).

According to Augustine, these words are against the Manicheans, who say that the Father of Christ was not proclaimed in the Old Testament, but rather it was one of the princes of the evil angels. However, it is plain that the Jews do not say that their God is any other than the God of the Old Testament. Therefore, the God of the Old Testament is the Father of Christ and the One who glorifies him.

11. Then he shows both these things, that is, the error of the Jews and his own truth, when he says, and you have not known him. He shows these in two ways:

1. By pointing out the ignorance of the Jews.
2. By pointing out his own knowledge, at but I know him.

12. With respect to the first, it should be noted that the Jews could say: "You say that you are glorified by God, but his judgments are known by us, according to: he has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances (Psalms 147:20). Therefore, if what you say is true, we would certainly know it; but since we do not know of it, it is obviously not true." Christ concludes, saying, but you have not known him. This is like saying: It is not strange if you do not know about the glory with which my Father, who you say is your God, glorifies me, for you do not know God.

13. This seems to conflict with what is said: in Judah God is known (Psalms 76:1).

I answer that he was known by them as God, but not as the Father; thus he said above, it is my Father who glorifies me. Or, one might answer that you have not known him with affection, because you adore him in a bodily way, whereas he should be adored spiritually: God is spirit, and they who adore him ought to worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). And there is no affection because you are reluctant to keep his commandments: they profess to know God; but they deny him by their deeds (Titus 1:16).

14. But they might say: "Granted that we do not know about your glory, how do you know that you have glory from God the Father?" For this reason Christ speaks of his own knowledge, saying, but I know him.

1. He mentions his own knowledge.
2. He shows the need for mentioning it, at and if I said that I do not know him, I would be like you, a liar.
3. He explains what he said, at but I do know him.

15. He says: I know that I have glory from God the Father, because I know him, namely, with that knowledge with which he knows himself; and no one else except the Son knows him: no one knows the Father except the Son (Matthew 11:27), that is, with a perfect and comprehensive knowledge. And because every imperfect thing derives from the perfect, all our knowledge is derived from the Word; thus Christ continues, and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

16. Now because some who judge in a carnal manner might attribute arrogance to Christ for saying that he knows God, he mentions why his statement is necessary. For, according to Augustine, arrogance should not be so guarded against that the truth is neglected and a lie committed. Thus Christ says: and if I said that I do not know him, I would be like you, a liar. Thus he says, if I said; this is like saying: Just as you are lying when you say that you know him, so if I said that I do not know him, whereas I do, I would be like you, a liar. There is a similarity here in the fact of lying: as they lie in saying that they know him whom they do not know, so Christ would be a liar if he were to say that he does not know him whom he knows. But there is a lack of similarity because they do not know him, whereas Christ does.

But could Christ say these things, I do not know him and I would be like you, a liar? He could, indeed, have spoken the words materially, but not so as to intend expressing a falsehood. This could be done only by Christ’s will inclining to falsehood, which was impossible, just as it was impossible for him to sin. However, the conditional statement is true, although both antecedent and consequent are impossible.

17. When he continues, he shows that he knows the Father, both with speculative knowledge when he says, I know, and intellectually through saying, him. And I also know him with affective knowledge, by consenting to him with my will; thus he says, and I keep his word, as it said above: for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me (John 6:38).

18. Then when he says, your father Abraham rejoiced that he might see my day, he gives his answer to the first question asked by the Jews: are you greater than our father Abraham? He shows that he is greater for the following reason: whoever waits for someone as for his good and perfection is less than the one he waits for; but Abraham placed the entire hope of his perfection and good in me; therefore, he is less than I. In regard to this he says, your father Abraham, in whom you glory, rejoiced that he might see my day; he saw it and was glad. He is stating two visions and two joys, but the second vision and its joy is mentioned first.

In the first part of the statement, he first mentions the joy of exultation when he says, Abraham rejoiced, and then adds the vision, saying that he might see my day. Then in the second part he first mentions the vision, saying, he saw it, my day, and adds the joy, and was glad. Thus a joy lies between two visions, proceeding from the one and tending to the other. He is saying in effect: He saw my day, and rejoiced that he was to see my day.

First of all, let us examine what that day is which he saw, and also what that day is which he rejoiced that he was to see. Now the day of Christ is twofold: the day of eternity, today I have begotten you (Psalms 2:7); and the day of his incarnation and humanity, I must do the works of him who sent me while it is day (John 9:4); the night is passed, and the day is at hand (Romans 13:12). We say that Abraham saw, by faith, each day of Christ: the day of eternity and the day of the incarnation: he believed the Lord; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). It is clear that he saw the day of eternity, for otherwise he would not have been justified by God, because whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him (Hebrews 11:6).

That he saw the day of the incarnation is clear from three things. First, from the oath he exacted from his servant. For he said to his servant: put your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord (Genesis 24:2). This signified, as Augustine says, that the God of heaven was to come out of his thigh. Second, as Gregory says, when he showed hospitality to the three angels, a symbol of the most high Trinity. Third, when he knew the passion of Christ as prefigured in the offering of the ram and of Isaac (Genesis 22).

So he was glad over this vision, but he did not rest in it. Indeed, from it he rejoiced in another vision, namely, the direct face-to-face vision, as though placing all his joy in this. Thus he says, Abraham rejoiced that he might see by revealed vision, my day, the day of my divinity and of my human nature; many prophets and kings have desired to see the things that you see, and have not seen them.

19. Then, at the Jews therefore said to him: you are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?, he shows how the Jews ridiculed Christ’s words.

1. We have their ridicule, in an attempt to belittle what Christ said.
2. Christ clarifies what he said in order to counteract this ridicule, at Jesus said to them: amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am.

20. Because Christ had said that Abraham rejoiced that he was to see his day, the Jews, having a carnal mind and considering only his physical age, ridiculed him and said, you are not yet fifty years old. Indeed, he was not yet fifty years old, or even forty, but closer to thirty: and Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age (Luke 3:23).

The Jews said, you are not yet fifty years old, probably because they held the year of Jubilee in the greatest reverence and computed everything in terms of it—it was a time for freeing captives and giving up certain possessions. They were saying in effect: You have not yet lived beyond the span of a Jubilee, and have you seen Abraham? However, our Lord did not say that he saw Abraham, but that Abraham saw his day.

21. To counteract their ridicule, our Lord answers the Jews by explaining his words, saying, amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am. These words of our Lord mention two things about himself that are noteworthy and effective against the Arians. One is that, as Gregory says, he combines words of present and past time, because "before" signifies the past, and "am" signifies the present. Therefore, in order to show that he is eternal, and to indicate that his existence is an eternal existence, he does not say, "before Abraham, I was," but before Abraham, I am. For eternal existence knows neither past nor future time, but embraces all time in one indivisible instant. Thus it could be said: he who is, sent me to you, and I am who am (Exodus 3:14). Jesus had being both before Abraham and after him, and he could approach him by showing himself in the present and be after him in the course of time.

The other point, according to Augustine, is that when speaking of Abraham, a creature, he did not say, "before Abraham was," but before Abraham was made. Yet when speaking of himself, in order to show that he was not made as a creature is, but was eternally begotten from the essence of the Father, he does not say, "I came to be," but I am he who in the beginning was the Word (John 1:1); before the hills, I was brought forth (Proverbs 8:25).

22. Then, at they therefore took up stones to cast at him, we see the attitude of the Jews towards Christ: first, their harassment of him; second, Christ’s escape. The harassment of the Jews came from their unbelief, for the minds of unbelievers, being unable to tolerate or understand words of eternity, regard them as blasphemy. They, according to the command of the law, decided to stone Christ as a blasphemer, and therefore took up stones to throw at him. As Augustine remarks: "What hardness of heart! To what could it resort except the hardness of stones?" The Jews therefore respond: we do not stone you for a good work but for blasphemy (John 10:33). And they act in the same way who from the hardness of their own hearts, failing to understand the clearly stated truth, blaspheme the one who speaks it; for we read: these men revile whatever they do not understand (Jude 1:10).

23. Jesus escapes from them by his own power. He continues, but Jesus hid himself—he, who, if he had wished to exercise his divine power in his acts, could have bound them or delivered them to the punishment of a sudden death.

Jesus hid himself for two main reasons. First, as an example to his followers to avoid those who persecute them: when they persecute you in one town, flee to the next (Matthew 10:23). Second, because he had not chosen this form of death, but rather wanted to be sacrificed on the altar of the cross. He also fled because his time had not yet come. Thus, as man, he avoids their stoning. But he did not conceal himself under a rock or in a corner, but made himself invisible by his divine power and left the temple. He acted in a similar way when they wanted to throw him from the top of a hill (Luke 4:29). As Gregory says, this leads us to understand that the truth is hidden from those who disdain to follow his words. Indeed, the truth shuns a mind that it does not find to be humble: the Lord is hiding his face from the house of Jacob (Isaiah 8:17). Finally, he hid himself because it was fitting that he leave them, because they refused to accept correction and the truth, and that he go to the gentiles: behold your house is forsaken and desolate (Matthew 23:38).