1848 Above (ch 13), our Lord taught his disciples by example, here he consoles them by his words. First, they are encouraged in many ways by what he says; secondly, what he has said is explained (ch 16). Concerning the first, we should note that there were two things which could trouble the disciples. One was near, that Christ would soon be leaving them; the second was in the future, and was the hardships they would undergo. First, Christ consoles them over his leaving; secondly, over their future hardships (ch 15).

He does two things concerning the first: first, he consoles them from their own point of view, as those who will be left; secondly, from his own point of view, as the one leaving (v 27). He does three things about the first: first, he says that he is going to the Father; secondly, he promises them the gift of the Holy Spirit (v 15); thirdly, he promises that he will also be with them (v 18). He does two things about the first: first, he mentions that he is going to the Father; secondly, he brings in the way he would go (v 4). He does three things about the first: first, he expels their anxieties; secondly, he refers to his power (v 1b); thirdly, he adds a promise (v 2a).

1849 In regard to the first, note that the disciples could have been disturbed by what our Lord said about the betrayal of Judas, Peter's denial, and his own going away. Indeed, each of these did trouble them and make them sad: "Thou hast made the land to quake," that is, the hearts of the disciples, "thou hast rent it open" (Ps 60:2). Therefore our Lord, wishing to soothe their sorrow, said: Let not your hearts be troubled.

1850 In Acts (1:1) we read: "Jesus began to do and teach." Yet above (13:21) it says that Jesus "was troubled in spirit." How can he tell his disciples not to be troubled when he himself was troubled? I answer that he did not teach the opposite of what he did. It was stated above that he was troubled in spirit, not that his spirit was troubled. Here he is not forbidding them to be troubled in spirit, but he is forbidding that their hearts, that is, their spirits, be troubled. For there is a troubled state which arises from reason; this is to be praised and is not forbidden: "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation" (2 Cor 7:10). Yet there is a different grief or troubled state of the reason itself; this is not laudable because it draws the reason from its proper course; this is forbidden: "The just person will not be troubled for the Lord puts his hand under him" [Ps 37:24]. For one who always possesses God cannot be disturbed.

1851 Accordingly, our Lord refers to the power of his divinity, saying, you believe in God, believe also in me. Here he presupposes one thing and commands another. He presupposes their faith in God, saying, you believe in God: he had already taught them about this: "For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists" (Heb 11:6). What he commands is that they believe in him, saying, believe also in me. For if you believe in God, and since I am God, then you should believe in me. And this follows whether the word God stands for the divine essence, since the Son is God, or whether it stands for the person of the Father. For no one can believe in the Father unless he believes in the Son: "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father" (5:23).

The fact that he says, believe also in me, indicates that he is truly God; for although we are allowed to believe a human being (homini) or a creature, we ought to believe in God alone (in Deum). Therefore, we must believe in Christ as we believe in God. "We are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life" (1 Jn 5:20); "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent" (6:29). [See the Commentary on 6:28, no. 901.]

1852 Then when he says, in my Father's house are many rooms, he adds the promise that it is through Christ that they will approach and be brought to the Father. Now a promise to others that they will gain entrance to some place involves two things: first, the place must be prepared; next, they have to be brought there. Our Lord makes these two promises here: one concerns the preparation of the place, and the other is about their being brought there. Yet the first is not necessary, for the place has already been prepared; but the second is necessary. Thus he does two things: he says the first promise is not necessary; and then he makes his second promise (v 3). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he indicates that it is not necessary to prepare the place; secondly he shows that he could prepare it if it were necessary (v 2b).

1853 He says, in my Father's house are many rooms. The house of any one is where he dwells, and so the house of God is where God dwells. Now God dwells in his saints: "Yet thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us" (Jer 14:9). In some of them he dwells by faith: "I will live in them and move among them" (2 Cor 6:16); while in others he dwells by perfect happiness: "that God may be everything to every one" (1 Cor 15:28). Accordingly, God has two houses. One is the Church militant, that is, the society of those who believe: "that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God" (1 Tim 3:15). God dwells in this house by faith. "The dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them" (Rev 21:3). The other is the Church triumphant, that is, the society of the saints in the glory of the Father: "We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, thy holy temple" (Ps 65:4).

Yet the house of the Father is not only where he dwells, but he himself is the house, for he exists in himself. It is into this house that he gathers us. We see from 2 Corinthians (5:1) that God himself is the house: "We have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." This house is the house of glory, which is God himself: "A glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctification" [Jer 17:12]. We remain in this place, in God, with our will and affections by the joys of love: "He who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him" (1 Jn 4:16). And we remain here with our minds by our knowledge of the truth: "Sanctify them in the truth" (17:17).

In this house, then, that is, in glory, which is God, are many rooms, that is, various participations in happiness. This is because one who knows more will have a greater place. Therefore, the different rooms are the various participations in the knowledge and enjoyment of God.

1854 The question arises here whether one person can be happier than another. It seems not. For happiness is the end; and what is perfect, complete, does not have degrees; therefore, there cannot be different degrees of happiness.

I answer that a thing can be perfect in two ways: absolutely and in a qualified sense. The absolute perfection of happiness is found only in God, for only he knows and loves himself to the extent that he is knowable and lovable (since he knows and loves infinitely his own infinite truth and goodness). From this point of view, the supreme good itself, which is the object and cause of happiness, can not be greater or less. This is because there is only one supreme good, which is God.

But in a qualified sense, that is, considering certain conditions of time, of nature and of grace, one person can be happier than another depending on the possession of this good and the capacity of each. The greater the capacity a person has for this good, the more he shares in it, I mean he participates in it more the better disposed and prepared he is to enjoy it. Now one is disposed for this good in two ways. Happiness consists in two things. The first is the vision of God; and one is disposed for this by purity. And so the more one has a heart which is raised above earthly matters, the more he will see God, and the more perfectly. Secondly, happiness consists in the delight of enjoying [God], and one is disposed for this by love. Thus, one who has a more burning love for God will find more delight in the enjoyment of God. We read about the first in Matthew (5:8): "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see." [2]

1855 Another question arises from what Matthew (20:10) says, that every laborer received one denarius. This denarius is nothing but a room in the house of the Father. Therefore, there are not many rooms. I answer that the reward of eternal life is both one and many. It is many based on the various capacities of those who share in it, and from this point of view there are different rooms in the Father's house.

Yet this reward is one, and this for three reasons. First, because there is one object; for it is the same object which all the blessed see and enjoy. Thus, there is one denarius. But it is seen and loved in various degrees: "Then you will delight yourself in the Almighty" (Job 22:26); "In that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people" (Is 28:5). It is like a spring of water, available to all to take as much as they wish. Then, one who has a larger cup will receive more, and one who has a smaller cup will receive less. Therefore, there is one fountain, considering it in itself, but every one does not receive the same portion. This is the opinion of Gregory, in his Morals XXII. [3] Secondly, this reward is one, according to Augustine, because it is an eternal portion: each one will have an eternal happiness, for the just will go into eternal life; but there are differences in capacity. [4] Thirdly, this reward is one because of charity, which unites everything, and makes the joy of each the joy of the rest, and conversely: "Rejoice with those who rejoice" (Rom 12:15).

1856 The Pelagians erred by misunderstanding this passage. They said that children who die without baptism will be saved in the house of God, but not in the kingdom of God, for we read "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (3:5). Augustine answers this by saying that our Lord said that these rooms are in God's house. [5] Now in a kingdom there are nothing but houses: for a kingdom is made up of cities, and cities of neighborhoods, and neighborhoods of houses. Thus, if rooms are in a house, it is evident that they are in the kingdom.

1857 Then when he says, if it were not so I would have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you, he shows he has the ability to prepare a place for them if necessary. For one could say: it is true that in his Father's house many rooms have been prepared, but if not, he could not prepare them. Our Lord excludes this by saying, if it were not so, that is, if the rooms were not prepared, I would have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you.

Here we should consider what is meant by the phrase, to prepare a place for you. A place is prepared in two ways. In one way, when something is done to the place itself, as when it is cleaned or enlarged: "Enlarge the place of your tent" (Is 54:2). In another way, when someone is given the means to enter it; and so the Psalmist prays: "Be thou to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me" (Ps 71:3), which is like saying: May I always have the means to enter here. With this in mind, the text can be understood in two ways. If this place had some defect or was something created, it would be subject to my power to perfect it, for every creature is subject to the power of the Word: "All things were made through him" (1:3). So, if it had some defect, I would have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you. But this place, in itself, is prepared; for this place is God himself, as was said, in whom is the abundance of all perfections. But perhaps you do not have the means to enter it; and so, if it were not so, that is, if it were not so that you had the means to enter here and were not predestined to this place, I would have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you, for it is in my power to predestine you to this place. For he, with the Father and the Holy Spirit has predestined them to eternal life: "He chose us in him" (Eph 1:4).

1858 Our Lord said above: "Where I am going you cannot follow me now" (13:36). And then here, to keep them from believing that they would be absolutely separated from him he adds, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself. This is the second promise, that they will be brought into the kingdom.

This seems to conflict with his earlier statement, for he had said: if it were not so, [if places were not already prepared] I would have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you. This implies that he is not going to prepare a place for them. Yet here we read: if I go and prepare a place for you, which suggests that he is going to prepare a place for them.

One reply would be that these two sentences can be understood as connected together. Then the meaning would be this: "if it were not so," that is, if places were not prepared [that is, by predestination] and I had to go to prepare them, "I would have told you that I am going to prepare [such] a place for you." And then again, "if it were not so," [in the sense of the execution of predestination, see below] "I go and prepare a place for you."

According to Augustine, however, these are distinct sentences and are not read together. [6] Our Lord prepared places both by eternal predestination, and by carrying out this predestination. He also prepared these places by his departure. Thus, what our Lord said first, that rooms were prepared, is understood as referring to the first preparation from all eternity. Then when he says, if I go and prepare a place for you, this is understood as referring to the carrying out of the eternal predestination.

1859 Our Lord prepared a place for us by his departure in five ways. First he made room for faith: for since faith concerns things not seen, when the disciples saw Christ in person, they did not need faith for this. Thus he left them, so that the one they had possessed by his bodily presence and saw with their bodily eyes, they could still possess in his spiritual presence and see with the eyes of their mind. This is to possess him by faith. Secondly, his leaving prepared a place by showing them the way to go to that place: "He who opens the breach will go before them" (Mic 2:13). Thirdly, by his prayers for them: "He is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him" (Heb 7:25); "He rides through the heavens to your help" (Deut 33:26). Fourthly, by attracting them to what is above: "Draw me after you" (Song 1:4); "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above" (Col 3:1). Fifthly, by sending them the Holy Spirit: "As yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (7:39).

1860 The glorification of Christ was completed by his ascension. And so as soon as he ascended, he sent the Holy Spirit to his disciples. He told them ahead of time that he would physically leave them, saying, if I go and prepare a place for you. And then he promised them a spiritual return, saying, I will come again. I will come at the end of the world: "Then Jesus... will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven" (Acts 1:2). And will take you, glorified in soul and body, to myself: "We shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thess 4:17).

1861 Will Christ wait until the end of the world before he takes the spirits of the apostles? It is the opinion of the Greeks that the saints will not go to paradise until the day of judgment. But if this were true, the desire of the Apostle (Phil 1:23) to be with Christ would be futile. Therefore, one should say that immediately after the house where we dwell here is overthrown, our souls are with Christ. And so the statement, I will come again and will take you to myself, can be understood as that spiritual coming with which Christ always visits the Church of the faithful and vivifies each of the faithful at death. Then the meaning is: I will come again, to the Church, spiritually and continuously, and will take you to myself, that is, I will strengthen you in faith and love for me: "My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices," that is, to the community of the saints, "to feed in the garden," that is, to delight in their virtues, "and to gather lilies," to draw pure souls to himself when he gives life to the saints at death [Song 6:1]. [7]

1862 Then he mentions the fruit of this, saying, that where I am you may be also, that is, so that the members may be with their head; so the disciples may be with their Teacher: "Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together" (Mt 24:28); "Where I am, there shall my servant be also" (12:26).

1863 Above our Lord consoled his disciples because he was leaving, promising them that they could come to the Father. Now he mentions the way by which they are to approach the Father. But one does not know a way unless he also knows his destination; and so he also considers the destination. First, he mentions the way and its destination as known to them; secondly, he explains this (v 5).

1864 In regard to the first, note that our Lord had said: "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again." The disciples could have asked him where he was going, just like Peter did before: "Lord, where are you going?" (13:36). Our Lord knew this and so said to them, Where I am going you know, and the way you know. For I am going to the Father, whom you know, since I have manifested him to you: "I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gave me" (17:9). And I myself am the way through which I go, and you know me: "We have beheld his glory" (1:14). He spoke truly, therefore, when he said, where I am going you know, and the way you know: because they knew the Father through Christ, and they knew Christ by living with him.

1865 Next (v 5), our Lord explains what he has just said: first, we see the occasion for this explanation; secondly, the explanation itself (v 6).

1866 The occasion for this explanation was the hesitation expressed in the question of Thomas. Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way? Here Thomas denies the two things that our Lord affirmed. For our Lord said that they knew both the way and its destination; but Thomas denied that he knew the way and its destination. Yet both statements are true: for it is true that they knew, yet they did not know that they knew. For they knew many things about the Father and the Son which they had learned from Christ; yet they did not know that it was the Father to whom Christ was going, and that the Son was the way by which he was going. For it is difficult to go to the Father. It is not surprising that they did not know this because although they clearly knew that Christ was a human being, they only imperfectly recognized his divinity: "That path no bird of prey knows" (Job 28:7).

Thomas says, how can we know the way? Knowledge of the way depends on knowledge of the destination. And so because we do not know the destination ‑ "He dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see" (1 Tim 6:16) ‑ we can not discover the way: "How inscrutable his ways!" (Rom 11:33).

1867 Then when he says, Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life, the question is answered. Our Lord was to answer about two things: first, about the way and its destination; secondly, about their knowledge of both (v 7). He does two things about the first: first, he states what the way is; secondly, he gives its destination (v 6b).

1868 The way, as has been said, is Christ himself; so he says, I am the way. This is indeed true, for it is through him that we have access to the Father, as stated in Romans (5:2). This answer could also settle the uncertainty of the faltering disciple.

Because this way is not separated from its destination but united to it, he adds, and the truth, and the life. So Christ is at once both the way and the destination. He is the way by reason of his human nature, and the destination because of his divinity. Therefore, as human, he says, I am the way; as God, he adds, and the truth, and the life. These last two appropriately indicate the destination of the way. For the destination of this way is the end of human desire. Now human beings especially desire two things: first, a knowledge of the truth, and this is characteristic of them; secondly, that they continue to exist, and this is common to all things. In fact, Christ is the way to arrive at the knowledge of the truth, while still being the truth itself: "Teach me thy way O Lord, that I may walk in thy truth" (Ps 85:11). Christ is also the way to arrive at life, while still being life itself: "Thou couldst show me the path of life" (Ps 16:11). And so he indicated the destination or end of this way as truth and life. These two were already applied to Christ: first, he is life: "In him was life" (1:4); then, he is truth, because "the life is the light of men" (1:45), and light is truth.

1869 Note that both truth and life belong properly and essentially (per se) to Christ. Truth belongs essentially to him because he is the Word. Now truth is the conformity of a thing to the intellect, and this results when the intellect conceives the thing as it is. Therefore, the truth of our intellect belongs to our word, which is its conception. Yet although our word is true, it is not truth itself, since it is not true of itself but because it is conformed to the thing conceived. And so the truth of the divine intellect belongs to the Word of God. But because the Word of God is true of itself (since it is not measured by things, but things are true in the measure that they are similar to the Word) the Word of God is truth itself. And because no one can know the truth unless he adheres to the truth, it is necessary that anyone who desires to know the truth adhere to this Word.

Life also belongs properly to Christ: for everything which has some activity from itself is said to be living, while non‑living things do not have motion from themselves. Among the activities of life the chief are the intellectual activities. Thus, the intellect itself is said to be living, and its activities are a certain kind of life. Now in God the activity of understanding and the intellect itself are the same. Thus it is clear that the Son, who is the Word of the intellect of the Father, is his own life. [9]

This is the reason why Christ referred to himself as the way, united to its destination: because he is the destination, containing in himself whatever can be desired, that is, existing truth and life.

1870 If then, you ask which way to go, accept Christ, for he is the way: "This is the way, walk in it" (Is 30:21). And Augustine says: "Walk like this human being and you will come to God. It is better to limp along on the way than to walk briskly off the way." [10] For one who limps on the way, even though he makes just a little progress, is approaching his destination; but if one walks off the way, the faster he goes the further he gets from his destination.

If you ask where to go, cling to Christ, for he is the truth which we desire to reach: "My mouth will utter truth" (Prv 8:7). If you ask where to remain, remain in Christ because he is the life: "He who finds me finds life and shall have salvation from the Lord" [Prv 8:35]. Therefore, cling to Christ if you wish to be secure, for you cannot get off the road because he is the way. And so those who hold on to him are not walking off the road but on the right road: "I have taught you the way of wisdom" (Prv 4:11). But some are just the opposite: "They did not find the way of truth to dwell in" [Ps 107:4].

Again, those who hold on to Christ cannot be deceived, because he is the truth and teaches all truth: "For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth" (18:37). Further, they cannot be troubled, because he is the life and the giver of life: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (10:10).

Augustine says that when our Lord said I am the way, and the truth, and the life, he was saying in effect: How do you want to go? I am the way. Where do you want to go? I am the truth. Where do you want to remain? I am the life. [11] As Hilary says: he who is the way does not lead us off the right path; he who is the truth does not deceive us with falsehoods; and he who is the life does not abandon us to death. [12]

1871 Here is another interpretation. In human beings, holiness involves three things: action, contemplation, and one's intention. These are brought to perfection by Christ. Christ is the way for those in the active life; he is the truth for those who stand firm in the contemplative life. And he directs the intention of both those in the active and contemplative life to life, eternal life. For he teaches us to go and preach for the sake of the age to come. So, the Lord is our way by which we go to him, and through him to the Father.

1872 But when he, who is the way, goes to the Father, is he the way for himself? As Augustine says, he is the way, and the one who goes by the way, and the destination of the way. [13] Thus he goes to himself through himself. He, as having human nature, is the way. Thus, he came through his flesh, yet remained where he was; and he went through his flesh, without leaving where he had come from.

Also, through the flesh he returned to himself, the truth and the life. For God had come, through his flesh, to us, the truth to liars, the life to mortals: "God is truthful, and every human is a liar" [Rom 3:4]. And when he left us, and took his flesh up to that place where there are no liars, this very Word who was made flesh returned, through his flesh, to the truth, which is himself. For example: when I speak to others, my mind goes out to them, yet it does not leave me; and when I am silent, in a certain sense I return to myself, yet still remain with those to whom I spoke [if they remember what I said]. And so Christ, who is our way, be�came the way even for himself, this is, for his flesh, to go to the truth and the life.

1873 Then when he says, no one comes to the Father, but by me, he answers what was asked about the destination of the way. The way, which is Christ, leads to the Father. Yet, because the Father and the Son are one, this way leads also to himself. And so Christ says that he is the terminus of the way.

1874 Note that the Apostle says: "For what person knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him?" (1 Cor 2:11), that is, provided one does not choose to reveal his own thoughts. A person reveals what is hidden within by his words, and it is only by the words of a person that we can know what is hidden within. Now "no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the spirit of God" (1 Cor 2:11), therefore, no one can acquire a knowledge of the Father except by his Word, which is his Son: "No one knows the Father except the Son" (Mt 11:27). And just like one of us who wants to be known by others by revealing to them the words in his heart, clothes these words with letters or sounds, so God, wanting to be known by us, takes his Word, conceived from eternity, and clothes it with flesh in time. And so no one can arrive at a knowledge of the Father except through the Son. Thus he says: "I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved" (10:9).

1875 Note, with Chrysostom, that our Lord had said: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him" (6:44). [14] But here he says: no one comes to the Father, but by me. This indicates that the Son is equal to the Father.

It is now clear what the way is, it is Christ; what the destination is, it is the Father.

1876 Then when he says, If you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also, he shows that the disciples knew both where he was going and the way. First, he shows this; secondly he resolves a coming difficulty. He does two things about the first: first, he shows that knowledge of the Son is also knowledge of the Father; secondly, he states the disciples' knowledge of the Father (v 7b).

1877 He had said: I have said that I am the way, and that you know the way, that is, me. Therefore, you also know where I am going, because you cannot know me without knowing the Father. This is what he says: If you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also.

1878 Yet he had said to the Jews before: "If you knew me, you would perhaps know my Father also" [8:19]. Why does he say here, "without doubt," while before he said "perhaps"? It seems that before he had some doubts about what he says here.

We should answer that in the first instance he was speaking to the Jews, whom he was reprimanding. And so he added "perhaps" not because he had any doubts, but as a rebuke to them. But here he is speaking to his disciples, whom he is teaching. Thus, he simply states the truth to them: If you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also. This is like saying: If you knew my grace and dignity, you would without doubt also know that of the Father. For there is no better way to know something than through its word or image, and the Son is the Word of the Father: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God" (1:1); "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father" (1:14). The Son is also the image of the Father: "He is the image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15); "He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature" (Heb 1:3). Therefore, the Father is known in the Son as in his Word and proper image.

1879 Note that to the extent that something approaches to a likeness of the Word of the Father, to that extent the Father is known in it, and to that extent it is in the image of the Father. Now since every created word is some likeness of that Word, and some likeness, though imperfect, of the divinity is found in every thing, either as an image or a trace, it follows that what God is cannot be known perfectly through any creature or by any thought or concept of a created intellect. It is the Word alone, the only‑begotten Word, which is a perfect word and the perfect image of the Father, that knows and comprehends the Father.

Therefore, according to Hilary, this statement can be put in another context. [15] Our Lord said: "no one comes to the Father, but by me." If you ask Arius how one goes to the Father through the Son, he answers that it is by recalling what the Son taught, because the Son taught us about the Father: "Father... I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me" (17:6). But our Lord rejected this by saying: If you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also. This is like saying: Arius, or anyone else can indeed speak about the Father, but no human being is such that by knowing him the Father is known. This is true of the Son alone, who has the same nature as the Father.

1880 Next, our Lord shows the knowledge the disciples had of the Father. Our Lord had already told the disciples that they knew the Father when he said, "Where I am going you know." Yet Thomas denied this: "we do not know where you are going." Thus our Lord shows here that in a certain way they did know the Father, so that his statement was true; and in another sense they did not know the Father, so that what Thomas said was true. To do this, he mentions a twofold knowledge of the Father: one which will be in the future, and the other which was in the past.

He says, henceforth you shall know him. And he says, henceforth, because knowledge of the Father is of two kinds. One is perfect, and is by an immediate vision of him, and this will be in our homeland: "When he appears we shall be like him" (1 Jn 3:2). The other is imperfect, and is by reflections and is obscure; and we have this by faith: "For now we see in a mirror dimly" (1 Cor 3:2). Thus, this phrase can be understood of each kind of knowledge. Henceforth you shall know him, with perfect knowledge in your homeland: "I shall tell you plainly of the Father" (16:25). This is like saying: It is true that you do not know him with perfect knowledge, but from henceforth you shall know him, after the mystery of my passion has been accomplished. Or, in the other way, henceforth, after my resurrection and ascension and after I have sent the Holy Spirit, you shall know him, with the perfect knowledge of faith, for when the Spirit, the Paraclete, comes, "he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you" (14:26). So you are speaking the truth when you say that you do not know him with perfect knowledge.

And I am speaking the truth, because you have seen him: "Afterward he was seen on earth and conversed with men" [Bar 3:37]. They saw Christ in the flesh he had taken on, in which the Word existed, and in the Word they saw the Father. Thus they saw the Father in him: "He who sent me is with me" (8:29).

1881 Note that the Father was not in the flesh in such a way that it was joined to him to constitute one person, but he was in the incarnate Word because they had one and the same nature, and the Father was seen in the incarnate Christ: "We have be held his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father" (1:14).

1882 Here our Lord clears up a confusion in one of the disciples: first, we see what the confusion was; secondly, it is resolved (v 9).

1883 In regard to the first, recall that above our Lord mentioned two things. He promised something for the future, namely, a perfect knowledge of God, when he said: "henceforth you shall know him"; and he mentioned something about the past, namely, that they had seen him (v 7). When Philip heard this he believed that he had seen the Father. But now he asks to know him, saying, Lord, show us the Father (not asking for a vision but for knowledge) and we shall be satisfied. This is not surprising since that vision of the Father [a knowledge] is the end of all our desires and actions, and nothing else is necessary: "You will fill me with joy by your face," that is, by the vision of your face [Ps 16:11]; "He satisfies your desire with good things" [Ps 103:5].

1884 Now the confusion is cleared up. First, we see it resolved; secondly, this is explained further (v 10). As to the first, our Lord chides Philip for his slowness; secondly, he states the truth, Philip, he who has seen me has seen the Father also; thirdly, Christ objects to the very request, how can you say, Show us the Father.

1885 He says, Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He is saying in effect: you should know me, considering how long I have been living with you and talking with you. And if you had known me, you would without doubt have known the Father also. Therefore, since you do not know the Father, you indicate that you do not know me. And you can be chided for your slowness: "Are you also still without understanding?" (Mt 15:16); "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need some one to teach you again" (Heb 5:12)

1886 This gives rise to a question, for before, our Lord told the disciples that they knew him, when he said, "and the way you know" (v 4), while here he seems to say the opposite, "If you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also" (v 7).

Augustine answers this by saying that among the disciples there were some who knew Christ as the Word of God. [17] One of these was Peter, when he said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt 16:16). There were others who did not truly know him, and Philip was one of these. It is to the first group that our Lord says, "Where I am going you know, and the way you know" (v 4); it is to the second group that he says, "If you had known me, you would without doubt have known the Father also."

Here is another explanation. Christ could be known in a twofold way. He could be known in his human nature, and every one knew him this way. With this in mind he says, "Where I am going you know, and the way you know." He could also be known as being of a divine nature, but they did not yet perfectly know him in this way. In reference to this, he says, "If you had known me, you would without doubt have known my Father also." This is clear from the fact that he adds, Philip, he who has seen me has seen the Father also. He is saying in effect: If you knew me, you would know the Father; and then you would not be saying, show us the Father, because you would have already seen him by seeing me: "If you knew me, you would perhaps know my Father also" [8:19].

1887 Sabellius made this statement the basis of his error. He asked what could be the meaning of he who has seen me has seen the Father also, except that the Father and the Son are the same?

Hilary answers this by saying if this were so, our Lord would have said, "he who has seen me has seen the Father," without adding the "also." [18] But because he adds the "also," saying, has seen the Father also, he shows there is a distinction. Augustine says that we use the same way of speaking when we talk about two people who are alike. [19] We say that if you saw one you saw the other. Now the most perfect likeness of the Father is in the Son. Therefore he says, he who has seen me has seen the Father also. In fact, there is a greater likeness in the Son than there is among mere human beings, because in them there can never be a likeness based on the very same numerical form or quality, but only a likeness in species. In the Son, however, there is the same numerical nature as in the Father. Thus, when seeing the Son, the Father is better seen than when seeing some mere human another mere human is seen, no matter how much alike they are. [20]

1888 Note that this statement excludes the error of Arius on two points. First, it rejects his denial of consubstantiality. For it is impossible to see the uncreated substance by seeing some created substance, just as by knowing a substance of one genus, one cannot know a substance of another genus. It is evident, therefore, that the Son is not a created substance, but is consubstantial with the Father. Otherwise, one who sees the Son would not see the Father.

The other error excluded is their interpretation of 1 Timothy (1:17), "To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God," as meaning that only the Father is invisible, but the Son was often seen in his nature. But if this were so, it would follow that the Father was also frequently seen, because one who sees the Son sees the Father also. So since the Father is invisible as to his nature, it is impossible that the Father was seen in his nature.

1889 Someone might question why our Lord chided Philip for asking to see the Father after he had seen the Son, since when one sees a picture he should not be rebuked for wanting to see the thing pictured.

Chrysostom answers this by saying that after hearing about knowing and seeing the Father, Philip wanted to see the Father with his bodily eyes, just as he thought he had seen the Son. [21] This is what our Lord reproved, pointing out to him that he did not even see the Son in his nature with his bodily eyes.

Augustine says that our Lord did not disapprove of the request, but of the attitude behind it. [22] Philip said, Show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied. This was like saying: We know you, but that is not enough. Thus he believed that there was complete sufficiency in knowing the Father, but not in knowing the Son. He seemed to think that the Son was inferior to the Father. This is what our Lord reproved, showing that there is the same sufficiency in knowing the Son as there is in knowing the Father, saying, he who has seen me has seen the Father also.

1890 Then when he says, How can you say, Show us the Father? he shows his disapproval of the request, and of the basis of the request. He is displeased with the request because the Father is seen in the Son. Philip could have said what we read in Job: "I, who have spoken so unthoughtfully, what can I reply? I will put my hand over my mouth" [39:34]. He disapproves of the root of the request when he says, Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? This is like saying: You want to possess the Father, believing that you will have sufficiency in him. But if you believe that, Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? For if you believed the latter, you would expect to find in me all the sufficiency which is in the Father.

1891 He says, I am in the Father and the Father in me, because they are one in essence. This was spoken of before: "I and the Father are one" (10:30).

We should note that in the divinity essence is not related to person as it is in human beings. Among human beings, the essence of Socrates is not Socrates, because Socrates is a composite. But in the divinity, essence is the same with the person in reality, and so the essence of the Father is the Father, and the essence of one Son is the Son. Therefore, wherever the essence of the Father is, there the Father is; and wherever the essence of the Son is, there the Son is. Now the essence of the Father is in the Son, and the essence of the Son is in the Father. Therefore, the Son is in the Father, and the Father in the Son. This is how Hilary explains it. [23]

1892 Now our Lord clarifies his answer: first by the works he does himself; secondly, by the works he will do by the disciples (v 12). So he first mentions the works he does himself; secondly, he infers a tenet of the faith (v 11).

1893 The belief that Christ was God could be known from two things: from his teaching and from his miracles. Our Lord mentions these. "If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin" (15:24). Referring to his teaching he says, "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin" (15:22). We also read: "No man ever spoke like this man!" (7:46). The blind man, referring to his works, said: Never since the world began has it been heard that any one opened the eyes of a man born blind" (9:32). Our Lord shows his divinity by these two things. Referring to his teaching, he says, The words that I say to you, by the instrument of my human nature, I do not speak of myself, but from him who is in me, that is, the Father: "I declare to the world what I have heard from him," the Father (8:26). The Father, therefore, who speaks in me, is in me. Now whatever a human being says must come from the first Word. And this first Word, the Word of God, is from the Father. Therefore, all the words we speak must be from God. So when anyone speaks words he has from the Father, the Father is in him. Referring to his works, he says, the Father who dwells in me does the works, because no one could do the works that I do: "The Son can do nothing of himself" [5:19].

1894 Chrysostom wonders how Christ can start by referring to his words, and then bring in his works, for Christ says, the words that I say to you... but the Father does the works. There are two answers to this. Chrysostom says that Christ was referring to his teaching the first time, and then referring to his miracles. [24] For Augustine, our Lord is referring to his words as his works: "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent" (6:29). [25] So when the Lord says, the Father does the works, we should understand that these works are words.

1895 Two heresies were based on the above texts. When our Lord said, I am in the Father, Sabellius understood this to mean that the Father and the Son are the same. And from the statement, I do not speak of myself, Arius inferred that the Son is inferior to the Father. Yet these very texts refute these heresies. For if the Father and Son were the same, as Sabellius speculated, the Son would not have said, The words that I say to you I do not speak of myself. And if the Son were inferior to the Father, as Arius blasphemed, he would not have said, the Father who dwells in me does the works.

1896 Since our belief in the Trinity is shown by the above two statements, our Lord concludes to this belief, saying, Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? It was explained above how this is to be understood. In Greek, the text reads: Believe, that is, believe me, that I am in the Father and the Father in me. Or, it is surprising that you do not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me. Note that before our Lord was speaking only to Philip (v 8‑10a), but from the point where he says, the words that I say to you [v 10b], he is speaking to all the apostles together. But if what I say to you is not enough to show my consubstantiality, then at least believe me for the sake of the works themselves: "The works which the Father has granted me to accomplish, these very works which I am doing, bear me witness" (5:36); "Even though you do not believe me, believe the works" (10:38).

1897 After clarifying what he had said by appealing to the works he did by himself, our Lord now clarifies these things by the works he would do through the disciples. First, he mentions the works of the disciples; secondly, he mentions how they would do them, Whatever you ask the Father in my name, I will do it. As to the first, he first mentions the works of the disciples; secondly, he states the reason for what he said, because I go to the Father.

1898 He says, Truly, truly, I say to you, and so forth. He is saying in effect: The works that I do are so great that they are a sufficient sign of my divinity; but if these are not enough for you, then look at the works I will do through others. For the strongest sign of great power is when a person does extraordinary things not only by himself but also through others. So he says, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do. These words not only show the power of the divinity in Christ, but also the power of faith, and the union of Christ with those who believe. For just as the Son acts because the Father dwells in him by a unity of nature, so also those who believe act because Christ dwells in them by faith: "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (Eph 3:17). Now the works which Christ accomplished and the disciples do by the power of Christ are the miracles: "And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents" (Mk 16:17).

1899 What is remarkable is that he adds, and greater works than these will he do. We could say that in a certain sense our Lord does more things and greater things through his apostles than by himself. Among the miracles of Christ the greatest was when a sick person was healed by touching the fringe of his garment (Mt 9:20). But the sick were healed by the shadow of Peter, as we read in Acts (5:15). And it is greater to heal by one's shadow than by the fringe of one's garment. In another way, we could say that Christ did more by the words of his disciples than by his own. As Augustine says, our Lord is speaking here of works accomplished by words, when the fruit of these words was faith. [26] We see in Matthew that a young man was not persuaded by Christ to sell his possessions and follow him, for when Christ said to the youth, "Go, sell what you possess and give to the poor," we read that "he went away sorrowful" (Mt 19:21). Yet we read that at the preaching of Peter and the other apostles, people sold their possessions and all that they owned and brought the money and laid it at the feet of the apostles (Acts 4:34).

1900 Someone might find fault with this because our Lord did not say that the apostles would do greater things, but he who believes in me. Should we say, then, that those who do not do greater things than Christ are not to be counted among those who believe in Christ? Of course not! That would be too harsh.

We should say, rather, that Christ works in two ways. In one way, he works without us, as in creating the heavens and the earth, raising the dead to life, and things like that. In the other way, he works in us but not without us: the result of this is faith, by which the impious are brought to life. Our Lord is speaking here of what is found in all believers: this is the result which Christ produces in us, but not without us. The reason for this is that whoever believes is producing the same result since what is produced in me by God is also produced in me by myself, that is, by my free choice. Thus the Apostle says: "it was not I," that is, I alone, "but the grace of God which is with me" (1 Cor 15:10). Christ is speaking of this result or work when he says that believers will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, for it is a greater thing to justify the impious than to create the heavens and the earth. For the justification of the impious, considered in itself, continues forever: "Righteousness is immortal" (Wis 1:15). But the heavens and the earth will pass away, as Luke (21:33) says. Further, effects which are physical are directed to what is spiritual. Now the heavens and the earth are physical effects, but the justification of the impious is a spiritual effect.

1901 This gives rise to a question. The creation of the holy angels is included in the creation of the heavens and the earth. Is it then a greater work to cooperate with Christ in one's own justification than to create an angel? Augustine does not settle this, but he does say: "Let him who can judge whether it is greater to create the just angels than to justify impious men. Certainly, if each shows an equal power, the second shows greater mercy." [27] But if we carefully consider what works our Lord is talking about here, we are not setting the creation of the angels above the justification of the impious. When our Lord said, and greater works than these will he do, we need not understand this to mean all the works of Christ, but perhaps only those which he was then doing. But then he was working by the word of faith, and it is not as great to preach words of righteousness [or of faith] which he did without us, as to justify sinners, which he does in us in such a way that we also do it.

1902 Now he gives the reason why he said they will do greater things, which is because I go to the Father. This can be understood in three ways. First, according to Chrysostom: I will work as long as I am in the world, but when I leave, you will take my place. [28] And so, the things that I am doing you will do, and even greater things, because I go to the Father, and after that I will do nothing by myself, that is, by preaching. The second interpretation is this: The Jews think that if I am killed faith in me will be eradicated. This is not true. Indeed, it will be approved even more, and you will do greater things because I go to the Father, that is, I will not perish, but continue in my own dignity in heaven: "Now is the Son of man glorified, and in him God is glorified" (13:31). A third interpretation: You will do greater things because I go to the Father. He is saying in effect: Since I will be glorified more, it is appropriate that I do greater things, and also give you the power to do greater things. Thus, before Jesus was glorified, the Spirit was not given to the disciples in that fullness with which it was given after: "As yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (7:39).

1903 Now he mentions how these things will be done: first, the way, whatever you ask; secondly, why they will be done, that the Father may be glorified.

1904 As to the first, since our Lord said, "and greater works than these will he do," in order that the greatness of the worker might be known from the greatness of the works, some might suppose that one who believes in the Son of God would be greater than the Son. Our Lord excludes this by the way the works are done. For the Son does these works by his own authority, while one who believes in him does it by asking. So he says, Whatever you ask the Father in my name, I will do it.

This eliminates the equality between believers and Christ in three ways. First, because as was said, believers do these works by asking: so he says, Whatever you ask. "Every one who asks receives" (Mt 7:8). Secondly, because believers work by reason of the Son; so he says, in my name, that is, by reason of my name: "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). For this name is above every name: "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to thy name give glory" (Ps 115:1). Thirdly, because the Son himself does all these works in them and through them: thus he says, I will do it. Note that the Father is asked and the Son does the work, the reason being that the works of the Father and the Son are inseparable: "Whatever he [the Father] does, that the Son does likewise" (5:19). For the Father does all things through the Son: "All things were made through him" (1:3).

1905 How could he say, Whatever you ask I will do it, since we see that his faithful ask and do not receive? According to Augustine, we should consider here that he first says, in my name, and then adds, I will do it. [29] The name of Christ is the name of salvation: "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (Mt 1:21). Therefore, one who asks for something pertaining to salvation asks in the name of Christ. It does happen that someone asks for something which does not pertain to salvation. This happens for two reasons. First, because one has a corrupt affection: as when one asks for something to which he is attracted, but which if he did have, would be an obstacle to his salvation. One who asks this way is not heard because he asks wrongly: "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly" (Jas 4:3). For when someone, because of his corrupt affection, would badly use what he wants to receive, he does not receive it because of our Lord's compassion. The reason being that our Lord does not just look at one's desire, but rather the helpfulness of what is desired. For the good Lord often denies what we ask in order to give us what we should prefer.

The second reason we may ask for something which does not pertain to our salvation is our ignorance. We sometimes ask for what we think is helpful, but really is not. But God takes care of us, and does not do what we ask. Thus Paul, who labored more than all others, asked our Lord three times to take away a thorn in his flesh, but he did not receive what he asked because it was not useful for him (2 Cor 12:8). "We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words" (Rom 8:26). "You do not know what you are asking" (Mt 20:22). Thus it is clear that when we truly ask in his name, in the name of Jesus Christ, he will do it.

He says, I will do it, using the future tense, not the present tense, because he sometimes postpones doing what we ask so that our desire for it will increase and so that he can grant it at the right time: "Rain will fall on you when it should fall" [Lev 26:4]; "In a day of salvation I have helped you" (Is 49:8). Again, it sometimes happens that we pray for people and are perhaps not heard, and this is because they put obstacles in the way. "Do not pray for this people... for I do not hear you" (Jer 7:16); "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people" (Jer 15:1).

1906 Then when he says, that the Father may be glorified in the Son, he gives the reason. Augustine punctuates this passage in the following way. "Whatever you ask the Father in my name, I will do it." Then a new sentence begins: "That the Father may be glorified in the Son, if you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." This is like saying: I will do what you ask in my name so that the Father may be glorified in the Son, and everything that the Son does is directed to the glory of the Father: "I do not seek my own glory" (8:50). We also should direct all our works to the glory of God: "Do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor 10:31).

1907 Above, our Lord consoled his disciples over his leaving by promising that they would be able to approach the Father. But because it might seem that this was in the distant future, and in the meantime they would still be in sorrow without their Teacher, he here soothes their sorrow by promising them the Holy Spirit. First, we see the preparation needed to receive the Holy Spirit; secondly, the Holy Spirit is promised, he will give you another Paraclete. Thirdly, this promise is clarified, to be with you forever. Preparation for receiving the Holy Spirit was necessary both for the disciples and for Christ.

1908 The disciples needed a twofold preparation: love in their hearts and obedience in their work. Our Lord assumes they have one of these, for he says, If you love me. And it is clear that you do because you are sad over my leaving: "You also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning" (15:27). The other he commands for the future, keep my commandments. This is like saying: You don't express your love for me by tears but by obedience to my commands, for this is a clear sign of love: "If a man love me, he will keep my word" (14:23). Thus, two things prepare one to receive the Holy Spirit. Since the Holy Spirit is love, he is given only to those who love: "I love those who love me" (Prv 8:17). Likewise, he is given to the obedient: "To this we are witnesses" (Acts 3:15); "I have put my Spirit upon him" (Is 42:1).

1909 Yet is it true that it is the obedience of the disciples and their love for Christ that prepare them for the Holy Spirit? It seems not, because the love by which we love God is from the Holy Spirit: "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Rom 5:5). Further, our obedience is from the Holy Spirit: "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God" (Rom 8:14); "I have run in the way of your commandments when you enlarged my heart" [Ps 119:32]. One might answer that it is by loving the Son that we deserve to receive the Holy Spirit, and having him, we love the Father. But this is false because our love for the Father and the Son is the same love.

Accordingly, we should say that it is characteristic of the gifts of God that if one makes good use of a gift granted to him, he deserves to receive a greater gift and grace. And one who badly uses a gift, has it taken from him. For we read in Matthew (25:24) that the talent which the lazy servant received from his master was taken from him because he did not use it well, and it was given to the one who had received five talents. It is like this with the gift of the Holy Spirit. No one can love God unless he has the Holy Spirit: because we do not act before we receive God's grace, rather, the grace comes first: "He loved us first" [1 Jn 4:10]. We should say, therefore, that the apostles first received the Holy Spirit so that they could love God and obey his commands. But it was necessary that they make good use, by their love and obedience, of this first gift of the Holy Spirit in order to receive the Spirit more fully. And so the meaning is, If you love me, by means of the Holy Spirit, whom you have, and obey my commandments, you will receive the Holy Spirit with greater fullness.

1910 Another preparation was needed for Christ, and as to this he says, And I will pray the Father, and so forth. Note that our Lord Jesus Christ, as a human being, is the mediator between God and humankind, as we see from 1 Timothy (2:5). And so as a human being he approaches God and asks heavenly gifts for us, and coming to us he lifts us up and leads us to God. And so, because he had already come to us, and by giving us the commandments of God had led believers to God, he still had to return to the Father and ask for spiritual gifts: "Approaching God by himself he is able to save forever" [Heb 7:25]. He does this by asking the Father; and he says this, I will pray the Father: "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men" (Eph 4:8).

Note that it is the same person who asks that the Paraclete be given and who gives the Paraclete. He asks as a human being, he gives as God. And he says I will pray in order to banish their sorrow over his leaving them, because his very leaving is the reason they can now receive the Holy Spirit.

1911 Now we see the promise of the Holy Spirit. The word Paraclete is Greek, and means "Consoler." He says, he will give you another Paraclete, that is, the Father, although not without the Son, will give the Holy Spirit, who is the Consoler, since he is the spirit of love. It is love that causes spiritual consolation and joy: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy" (Gal 5:22). The Holy Spirit is our advocate: "We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words" (Rom 8:26).

The fact that he says, another, indicates a distinction of persons in God, in opposition to Sabellius.

1912 An objection. The word "Paraclete" suggests an action of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, by saying another Paraclete, a difference in nature seems to be indicated, because different actions indicate different natures. Thus the Holy Spirit does not have the same nature as the Son.

I reply that the Holy Spirit is a consoler and advocate, and so is the Son. John says that the Son is an advocate: "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteousness" (1 Jn 2:1). In Isaiah we are told he is a consoler: "The Spirit of the Lord has sent me to comfort those who mourn" [Is 61:1]. Yet the Son and the Holy Spirit are not consolers and advocates in the same way, if we consider the appropriation of persons [how and why we attribute certain attributes to the different Persons of the Trinity]. Christ is called an advocate because as a human being he intercedes for us to the Father; the Holy Spirit is an advocate because he makes us ask. Again, the Holy Spirit is called a consoler because he is formally love. But the Son is a consoler because he is the Word. The Son is a consoler in two ways: because of his teaching and because the Son gives the Holy Spirit and incites love in our hearts. Thus the word, another, does not indicate a different nature in the Son and in the Holy Spirit. Rather, it indicates the different way each is an advocate and a consoler. [31]

1913 Now the promise of the Holy Spirit is given: first, we see how it is given; secondly, what the gift itself is; thirdly, those who receive it (v 17).

1914 The Spirit is truly given because it is given forever. Thus he says, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth. When something is given to a person only for a time, this is not a true giving; but there is a true giving when something is given to be kept forever. And so the Holy Spirit is truly given because he is to remain with them forever. He is with us for ever: in this life he enlightens and teaches us, bringing things to our mind; and in the next life he brings us to see the very reality: "And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward" (1 Sam 16:13). Although Judas had received him, the Spirit did not remain with him forever, because he did not receive him to remain with him forever, but only for a temporary righteousness.

According to Chrysostom, one could say that our Lord said these things to dispel a certain physical interpretation they might have. [32] They could have imagined that this Paraclete, which was to be given to them, would also leave them after a while by some kind of suffering, like Christ. He rejects this when he says, to be with you for ever. This is like saying: The Spirit will not suffer death as I do, nor will he leave you.

1915 We saw above that it was said to John the Baptist: "He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit" (1:33). It seems from this that it is peculiar to Christ that the Holy Spirit remain with him forever. Yet this is not true if he also remains with the disciples forever.

According to Chrysostom, the solution is that the Holy Spirit is said to remain in us by his gifts. Certain gifts of the Holy Spirit are necessary for salvation; these are found in all the saints and always remain in us, as charity, which never leaves (1 Cor 13:8), since it will continue into the future. Other gifts are not necessary for salvation, but are given to the faithful so they can manifest the Spirit: "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good" (1 Cor 12:7). With this in mind, the Holy Spirit is with the disciples and the saints forever by the first type of gift. But it is peculiar to Christ that the Spirit is always with him by the second type of gift, for Christ always has a plenitude of power to work miracles and to prophesy, and so on. This is not true of others, because, as Gregory says, the spirits of the prophets are not under the control of the prophets.

1916 The Spirit is a most excellent gift because he is the Spirit of truth. He is called the Spirit to show the subtlety or fineness of his nature, for the word "spirit" is used to indicate something which is undiscoverable and invisible. And so what is invisible is usually referred to as a spirit. The Holy Spirit also is undiscoverable and invisible: "The Spirit blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes" [3:8]. He is also called the Spirit to indicate his power, because he moves us to act and work well. For the word "spirit" indicates a certain impulse, and that is why the word spiritus can also mean the wind: "For all who are impelled by the Spirit of God are sons of God" [Rom 8:14]; "Let thy good spirit lead me on a level path" (Ps 143:10).

He adds, of truth, because this Spirit proceeds from the Truth and speaks the truth, for the Holy Spirit is nothing else than Love. (When a person is impelled to love earthly things and the world, he is impelled by the spirit of the world: "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God" (1 Cor 2:12); and when one is impelled to works of the flesh, he is not impelled by the Holy Spirit, as Ezekiel (13:3) says: "Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit.")

But the Holy Spirit leads to the knowledge of the truth, because he proceeds from the Truth, who says, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (14:6). In us, love of the truth arises when we have conceived and considered truth. So also in God, Love proceeds from conceived Truth, which is the Son. And just as Love proceeds from the Truth, so Love leads to knowledge of the truth: "He [The Holy Spirit] will glorify me because he will receive from me and declare it to you" [16: 14]. And therefore Ambrose says that any truth, no matter who speaks it, is from the Holy Spirit. [33] "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor 12:3); "When the Paraclete comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth..." [15:26]. It is a characteristic of the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth because it is love which impels one to reveal his secrets: "I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you" (15:15); "He showed it," the truth, "to his friend" [Job 36:33].

1917 The ones who receive the Holy Spirit are those who believe; he says, whom the world cannot receive. First, he shows to whom the Spirit is not given; secondly, to whom he is given, you will know him. First, he shows that he is not given to the world; secondly, he mentions why (v 17).

1918 As to the first he says, whom the world cannot receive. Our Lord is here calling those who love the world, the "world." As long as they love the world they cannot receive the Holy Spirit, for he is the love of God. And no one can love, as his destination, both God and the world: "If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him" (1 Jn 2:15). As Gregory says: "The Holy Spirit inflames everything he fills with a desire for invisible things. And because worldly hearts love only visible things, the world does not receive him, because it does not rise to the love of what is invisible. For worldly minds, the more they widen themselves with their desires, the more they narrow the core of their hearts to the Spirit" [34] (Morals V). "The Holy Spirit of discipline will flee from the deceitful" [Wis 1:5].

1919 In regard to the second, why he is not given to the world, he says, because it neither sees him nor knows him. For spiritual gifts are not received unless they are desired: "She," divine Wisdom, "hastens to make herself known to those who desire her." And they are not desired unless they are somehow known. Now there are two reasons why they are not known. First, because one does not want to know them; and secondly, because one is not capable of such knowledge. These two reasons apply to the worldly. In the first place, they do not desire this, and as to this he says, the world neither sees him, that is, does not want to know him: "They have fixed their eyes on the ground" [Ps 16:11]. Further, they are not capable of knowing him, and as to this he says, nor knows him. As Augustine says: "Worldly love does not have invisible eyes which alone can see the invisible Holy Spirit." [35] "The sensual person does not perceive those things pertaining to the Spirit of God" [1 Cor 2:14]. Just as a tainted tongue does not taste sweet flavors, so a soul tainted by the corruption of the world does not taste the sweetness of heavenly things.

Here is the interpretation of Chrysostom. [36] I say that he will give you another Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, but he will not assume flesh, because the world neither sees him nor knows him, that is, it will not receive him, but only you will.

1920 Now he mentions, first of all, to whom the Spirit is given; secondly, he gives the reason. The Holy Spirit is given to believers: he says, you, who are moved by the Holy Spirit, will know him: "Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God" (1 Cor 2:12). This is because you scorn the world: "We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen" (2 Cor 4:18).

The reason for this is, for he will dwell with you. Note, first, the familiarity of the Holy Spirit with the apostles, for he will dwell with you, that is, for your benefit: "Let your good spirit lead me on a level path!" (Ps 143:10); "O, how good is your spirit, O Lord, in all things" [Wis 12:1]. Secondly, note how intimate his indwelling is, for he will be in you, that is, in the depths of your heart: "I will put a new Spirit within them" (Ez 11:19).

1921 Above, our Lord promised that the Holy Spirit would be our Consoler. But because the apostles had not risen very high in their knowledge of the Holy Spirit, and their attention was absorbed by the presence of Christ, this consolation seemed small to them. Thus, in this part, our Lord promises, first, that he will return; secondly, his own gifts (v 25). Concerning the first, he promises then that he will return; and then he gives the reason (v 21); thirdly, he answers a question for one of the disciples (v 22). Concerning the first, he first shows that he will return; secondly, the way he will return (v 19); and thirdly, he foretells the fruit of his return (v 20). Concerning the first, he shows why he needs to return; secondly, he promises to return, I will come to you (v 18).

1922 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" (Lam 5:3).

Consider that we can have three fathers. One father gives us existence: "We have had earthly fathers," literally, fathers of our flesh (Heb 12:9). Another father would be one whose evil example we follow: "You are of your father the devil" (8:44). A third father would be one who gratuitously adopts us: "You have received the spirit of adoption of sons" [Rom 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 Cor 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" (Mt 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" (Ps 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" (Ps 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 special to the Father, yet if it is taken to indicate an essence, it is appropriate for the entire Trinity. So our Lord said above (13:33): "Little children, yet a little while I am with you."

1923 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 Tim 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 (c 20). 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" (Lk 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" (16:22). Again, I will come to you at the end of the world: "The Lord will come to judge" [Is 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" (above v 3). And again, I will come to you, visiting you in a spiritual way: "We will come to him and make our home with him" (14:23).

1924 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 will 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" (Rev 1:18), and you will live, because you will not be killed with me: "If you seek me, let these men go" (18:8). Here is another interpretation: I live, by my resurrection, and you will live, that is, you will rejoice over this, since "The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord" (20:20) Here, to live means to rejoice, and it is used in this sense in Genesis [45:26]: "When Jacob heard that Joseph was ruling in Egypt his spirit began to live again," with joy.

1925 Augustine finds fault with this interpretation because our Lord said, Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more. [38] 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" (Rev 1:7). 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" (Ps 90:4). The Apostle, in Hebrews (12:26), also refers to this time as a little while when he is explaining the statement in Haggai: "In a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land" (2:7). 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 [26:10]: "Remove the wicked so they do not see the glory of God." 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" (Is 33:17); "We shall always be with the Lord" (1 Thess 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" (Phil 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 shall all be made alive" (1 Cor 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" [Ps 108:2], because "You will not let your holy one undergo corruption" [Ps 16:10]. When referring to the disciples he uses the future, you will live, because the resurrection of their bodies was to be postponed till the end of the world: "Your dead shall live, their bodies shall rise" (Is 26:19).

1926 Now we see the fruit of his return, which is the knowledge of those things which the apostles did not know. For, as we saw, Peter did not know where Christ was going, and so he asked: "Lord, where are you going?" (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?" (14:5). Philip did not know the Father, and so he asked: "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied" (14:8). All these 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?" (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 forth. This will dispel all confusion from the hearts of the disciples.

1927 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 Cor 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 shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood" (1 Cor 13:12).

1928 But what will they know? The two things he mentioned above. First, "the Father who dwells in me does the works" [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 will also do the works that I do" (14:12). And referring to this he says, and you in me, and I in you.

1929 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" (10:30); "And the Word was with God" (1:1).

1930 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" (Eph 3:17); "You desire proof that Christ is speaking in me" (2 Cor 113:3).

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" [Heb 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" (6:56). [39]

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 Jn 4:16). And you did not know these things, but you will know them in that day.

1931 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. The first is their true love for God; the second is God's love for them (v 21b).

1932 As to 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 something 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.

1933 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" (Ps 119:11). But this is not enough unless they are kept in one's actions: "A good understanding have all those who practice it" (Ps 111:10). Others have these commandments on their lips, by preaching and exhorting: "How sweet are your words to my taste" (Ps 119:103). They also should follow them in their actions, because "He who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 5:19). Thus in Matthew (c 23), God reprimands those who speak but do not act. Others have them by hearing them, gladly and earnestly listening to them: "He who is of God hears the words of God" (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" (Rom 2:13); "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life" (6:27). Therefore, those who have the commandments [in the above ways] 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." [40]

1934 As for the second reason why he will be seen by the faithful, he says, he who loves me will be loved by my Father. At first glance this does not seem to make sense. Does God love us because we love him? Assuredly not; for we read: "not that we loved God, but because he has first loved us" [1 Jn 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" [Jer 31:3].

1935 Because the Father's love is not without the Son's love, since it is the same love in each, "Whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise" [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.

1936 Note that one's love for another is sometimes qualified and sometimes absolute. It is qualified when one wills the other some particular good; but it is absolute when one wills the other all good. Now God loves every created thing in a qualified sense, because he wills some good to every creature, even to the demons, for example, that they live and understand and exist. There 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 had or 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 I 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" (Wis 6:13).

1937 Someone might ask: The Father will manifest himself, will he not? 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" (Mt 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.

1938 Above, our Lord promised the disciples that he would come to them; here he clears up a perplexity for one of the disciples. First, we see the bewildered disciple; secondly, Christ's answer (v 23).

1939 With respect to the first, when those who are humble and saintly hear great things about themselves, they are usually astonished and bewildered. Now the disciples had just heard our Lord say, "Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me," and so on. So it seemed that he was preferring the apostles to the entire world. Thus Judas, the brother of James, whose letter is part of Holy Scripture, was bewildered and astonished, and said, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world? It is like saying: Why will you do this? Are we superior to the whole world? David said something like this: "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?" (2 Sam 7:18). And the righteous also say: "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you?" (Mt 25:37).

1940 Then, Christ's answer is given: first, Christ states the reason why he will manifest himself to the disciples and not to the world; secondly, he explains something he had said (v 24b). He shows, first, why he will manifest himself to his disciples; secondly, why he will not manifest himself to the world, at he who does not love me. As to the first, we see the fitness of the disciples to have Christ manifest himself to them; secondly, we see the manner and order of this manifestation, at and my Father will love him (v 23). In regard to the first, he mentions two things which make a person fit to receive God's manifestation. The first, is charity, the second is obedience.

1941 As to charity, he says, If a man loves me. Three things are necessary for a person who wants to see God. First, one must draw near to God: "Those who approach his feet will receive his teaching" [Deut 33:3]. Secondly, one must lift up his eyes in order to see God: "Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these things" [Is 40:26]. And thirdly, one must take time to look, for spiritual things cannot be seen if one is absorbed by earthly things: "Take time and see that the Lord is sweet" [Ps 34:8]. Now it is charity which accomplishes these three things. Charity joins our soul to God: "He who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him" (1 Jn 4:16). It also makes us look at God: "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Mt 6:21). As the saying goes: "Where your love is, there your eyes are." Charity also frees us from worldly matters: "If any one loves the world, perfect love for God is not in him" [1 Jn 2:15]. Thus, to turn it about, one who perfectly loves God, does not love the world.

1942 Obedience follows from charity; and so he says, he will keep my word. Gregory says: "The proof of love is one's actions. Love for God is never lazy: if it is present it accomplishes great things; if it refuses to work, it is not love." [42] For the will, especially when it is concerned with an end, moves the other powers to their actions: for a person does not rest until he does those things which will bring him to his intended end, especially if it is intensely desired. And so, when a person's will is intent on God, who is its end, it moves all powers to do those things which obtain him. Now it is charity which makes one intent on God, and thus it is charity which causes us to keep the commandments: "The love of Christ controls us" (2 Cor 5:14); "Its flashes are flashes of fire" (Song 8:6). And through obedience a person is rendered fit to see God: "Through your precepts," that is, as kept by me, "I get understanding" (Ps 119:104). Again, "I understood more than the aged" (Ps 119:100).

1943 Then when he says, and my Father will love him, we see the manner and order of this manifestation. Three things are needed so a divine manifestation can be made to us. The first is divine love; and he refers to this when he says, and my Father will love him. We explained above why the future tense is used, will love, which is that he is referring to the effect of love, although from the point of view of his willing to do good, God loves us from eternity: "Yet I have loved Jacob but I have hated Esau" (Mal 1:2). Jesus does not say here, "I will love him," because he had already made that clear to them before: "I love those who love me" (Prv 8:17). It remained for him to say that the Father would love them: "He loved the people: all the saints are in his hand" [Deut 4:37].

1944 The second thing needed is that the divine come to us; referring to this, he says, and we will come to him. An objection to this is that for a thing to come, it has to change its place. But God does not change. Therefore, I answer that God is said to come to us not because he moves to us, but because we move to him. Something comes into a place in which it previously was not: but this does not apply to God since he is everywhere: "Do I not fill heaven and earth?" (Jer 23:24). Rather, God is said to come to someone because he is there in a new way, in a way he had not been there before, that is, by the effect of his grace. It is by this effect of grace that he makes us approach him.

1945 According to Augustine, God comes to us in three ways and we go to him in the same three ways. [43] First, he comes to us by filling us with his effects; and we go to him by receiving them: "Come to me, you who desire me, and eat your fill of my produce" (Sir 24:19). Secondly, God comes to us by enlightening us; and we go to him by thinking of him: "Come to him and be enlightened" [Ps 33:6]. Thirdly, he comes to us by helping us; and we go to him by obeying, because we cannot obey unless helped by Christ: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord" (Is 2:3).

1946 Why does he not mention the Holy Spirit? Augustine says that we do not read here that the Spirit will be excluded when the Father and Son come, because we read above that the Spirit was "to be with you for ever" (v 16). Since in the Trinity there is a distinction of Persons and a unity of essence, sometimes the three persons are mentioned to indicate the distinction of the persons. And sometimes only two of the three persons are mentioned to indicate the unity of essence. Or again, one could say that since the Holy Spirit is nothing other than the love of the Father and the Son, when the Father and Son are mentioned, the Spirit is implied.

1947 The third thing required for the manifestation of God is the continuation of each of the above, that is, of the love of God and of his coming to us. In regard to these he says, and make our home with him. Two things are indicated here. First, when he says, home, he indicates the stability with which we cling to God. God comes to some by faith, but does not remain because "they believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away" (Lk 8:13). He comes to others through their sorrow for sin; yet he does not stay with them because they return to their sins: "Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool that repeats his folly" (Prv 26:11). But he remains forever in his predestined: "I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Mt 28:20). Secondly, these words indicate the intimacy of Christ with us: with him, that is, with the one who loves and obeys him, since he takes pleasure in us, and has us take pleasure in him, "delighting in the sons of men" (Prv 8:31).

1948 Chrysostom gives this a different meaning. [44] He says that when Judas heard I will not leave you orphans... but you will see me, he thought that after his death Christ would come to them like the dead appear to us in a dream. So he asks, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world? This was like saying: How unfortunate for us! You will die and can only help us as the dead do. To exclude this Christ says, I and the Father will come to him (v 23), that is, as the Father manifests himself, so I do also, and make our home with him, which is not done in dreams.

1949 Now he gives the reason why he will not manifest himself to the world: this reason is the lack of those things on account of which he says that he will manifest himself. For when the cause is absent, the effect is absent. Now the causes for a divine manifestation to be made to the worldly are not found in them. And so God will not manifest himself to the world and the worldly.

It is clear that they do not have the cause, because the world does not love him. Referring to this he says, he who does not love me. Further, they do not obey him; and so he says, does not keep my words. As Gregory says: "To love God it is necessary to use our words, our minds and our lives." [45] The reason is obvious why God will manifest himself to his own, and not to the world. It is because his own really have love, and it is love which distinguishes the saints from the world: "He hides the light from the proud. He shows his friend that he owns it" [Job 36:32]; "The deep says 'It is not in me' and the sea," that is, one who is disordered, "says, 'It is not with me.'" (Job 28:14).

1950 Then when he says, and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father's, he clears up what he had just said, "If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him." For someone could say that there was no reason for this statement (v 23), and it would be more reasonable to have said: "I will love him, and I will come to him." To exclude this idea he says, and the word which you hear is not mine, that is, it is not mine as coming from myself, but it is mine as coming from another, from the Father, who sent me. It is like saying: One who does not hear this word does not love only me, he also does not love the Father. And therefore, one who loves both Christ and the Father deserves a manifestation of each. So he says: and the word which you hear, spoken by me, as a human being, is indeed mine insofar as I speak it, and yet it is not mine, insofar as it is mine from another: "My teaching is not mine" (7:16); "The words that I say to you I do not speak of my self" [14:10].

1951 Augustine remarks that when our Lord refers to his own words he uses the plural, "my words" (v 24), but when he speaks of the utterance of the Father, he uses the singular form, "the word which you hear is not mine," because he wants us to understand that the word of the Father is he himself, the unique Word of the Father. [46] Thus he says he is from the Father, and not from himself, because he is neither his own image nor his own Son, but the Son and image of the Father. Yet all the words in our heart are from this unique Word of the Father.

1952 Here our Lord promises gifts to his disciples. He had promised them both the Holy Spirit and himself; and so now he first mentions what they will receive when the Holy Spirit comes; and secondly, what they will receive from him, peace. From the coming of the Holy Spirit they will receive great things, namely an understanding of all the words of Christ. In regard to this he first mentions what he taught them, and secondly he promises they will understand them (v 26).

1953 He says, in regard to the first, these things, what I have said, I have spoken to you, by the instrument of my human nature, while I am still with you, as bodily present. It is indeed a very great favor that the Son himself should speak to us and teach us: "In these last days he has spoken to us by a Son" (Heb 1:1); "What is all flesh that it should hear its Lord?" [Deut 5:26].

1954 He promises them that they will understand his teachings through the Holy Spirit, who will give himself to them; he says, the Paraclete... will teach you all things. He does three things concerning the Holy Spirit: he describes him, mentions his mission and his effect.

1955 He describes the Holy Spirit in several ways: as the Paraclete, as Spirit, and as Holy. He is the Paraclete because he consoles us. He consoles us in our sorrows which arise from the troubles of this world: "fighting without and fear within" (2 Cor 7:5); "who comforts us in all our affliction" (2 Cor 1:4). He does this because he is love, and causes us to love God and give him great honor. For this reason we endure insults with joy: "Then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name" (Acts 5:41); "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven" (Mt 5:12). He also consoles us in our sadness over past sins; Matthew refers to this in "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted" (5:4). He does this because he gives us the hope of forgiveness: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven" (20:22).

He is the Spirit because he moves hearts to obey God: "He will come like a rushing stream, which the Spirit of the Lord drives" [Is 59:19]; "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God" (Rom 8:14). He is Holy because he consecrates us to God, and all consecrated things are called holy: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you" (1 Cor 6:19); "There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God" (Ps 46:4).

1956 Then when he says, whom the Father will send in my name, he refers to the mission of the Spirit. We should not think the Spirit comes by a local motion, but rather by being in them in a new way in which he was not before: "When you send forth your Spirit, they are created," that is, with a spiritual existence (Ps 104:30). Notice that the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son. To show this Christ sometimes says that the Father sends him, as he does here; and he sometimes says that he himself sends him, "I will send him to you" (16:7). Yet Christ never says that the Spirit is sent by the Father without mentioning himself. So he says here, whom the Father will send in my name. Nor does Christ say that the Spirit is sent by himself, the Son, without mentioning the Father: "the Paraclete, whom I shall send to you from the Father" (15:26).

1957 Why does he say, in my name ? Will the Holy Spirit be called the Son? One could answer that this was said for the reason that the Holy Spirit was given to the faithful when they invoked the name of Christ. But it is better to say that just as the Son comes in the name of the Father ‑ "I have come in my Father's name" ‑ so the Holy Spirit comes in the name of the Son. Now the Son comes in the name of the Father not because he is the Father, but because he is the Son of the Father. In a similar way, the Holy Spirit comes in the name of the Son not because he was to be called the Son, but because he is the Spirit of the Son: "Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him" (Rom 8:9); "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts" (Gal 4:6), because he is the Spirit of his Son, and not because he was to be called the Son: "he predestined [them] to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom 8:29). The basis for this is the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father and of the Holy Spirit with the Son.

Further, just as the Son, coming in the name of the Father, subjects his faithful to the Father ‑ "and has made them a kingdom and priests to our God" (Rev 5:10) ‑ so the Holy Spirit conforms us to the Son because he adopts us as children of God: You have received the spirit of adoption, by which we cry out 'Abba!' Father" [Rom 8:15]. [47]

1958 Next he mentions the effect of the Holy Spirit, saying, he will teach you all things. Just as the effect of the mission of the Son was to lead us to the Father, so the effect of the mission of the Holy Spirit is to lead the faithful to the Son. Now the Son, once he is begotten Wisdom, is Truth itself: "I am the way, and the truth, and the life" (14:6). And so the effect of this kind of mission [of the Spirit] is to make us sharers in the divine wisdom and knowers of the truth. The Son, since he is the Word, gives teaching to us; but the Holy Spirit enables us to grasp it.

He says, he will teach you all things, because no matter what a person may teach by his exterior actions, he will have no effect unless the Holy Spirit gives an understanding from within. For unless the Spirit is present to the heart of the listener, the words of the teacher will be useless: "The breath of the Almighty makes him understand" (Job 32:8). This is true even to the extent that the Son himself, speaking by means of his human nature, is not successful unless he works from within by the Holy Spirit.

1959 We read before that "Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me" (6:45). Here he is expanding on this, because one does not learn without the Holy Spirit teaching. He is saying in effect: one who receives the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son knows the Father and the Son and comes to them. The Spirit makes us know all things by inspiring us from within, by directing us and lifting us up to spiritual things. Just as one whose sense of taste is tainted does not have a true knowledge of flavors, so one who is tainted by love of the world cannot taste divine things: "The sensual man does not perceive those things of the Spirit of God" [1 Cor 2:14].

1960 Since to remind a person of something is the task of an inferior, like an agent in divine affairs, shall we say that the Holy Spirit, who brings things to our mind, is inferior to us? According to Gregory, we should say that the Holy Spirit is said to bring things to our remembrance not as though he brought us knowledge from below, but because in a hidden way he aids our ability to know. [48] Or, one could say the Spirit teaches because he makes us share in the wisdom of the Son; and he brings things to our remembrance because, being love, he incites us. Or, the Spirit will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you, that is, he will recall them to your memory: "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord" (Ps 22:27).

We should notice that of all the things Christ said to his disciples, some were not understood, and others were not remembered. Thus our Lord says, he will teach you all things, which you cannot now understand, and bring to your remembrance all that you cannot remember. How could John the Evangelist after forty years have remembered all the sayings of Christ he wrote in his Gospel unless the Holy Spirit had brought them to his mind?

1961 Above, our Lord promised his disciples what they would gain from the presence of the Holy Spirit. Here he promises them a gift they will obtain from his own coming and presence.

Note that if we consider the characteristic feature of the persons of the Son and the Holy Spirit, our Lord seems to interchange their gifts. Since the Son is the Word, it seems that the gifts of wisdom and knowledge are appropriate to him. But peace is appropriate, appropriated, to the Holy Spirit, since he is love, which the cause of peace. Nevertheless, because the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Son, and what the Holy Spirit gives he has from the Son, our Lord here attributes this gift of knowledge to the Holy Spirit, saying, he will teach you all things. Yet, this gift is still appropriate to the Son. And because the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son, actions which are appropriate to the Holy Spirit are attributed to the Son. This is the reason why Christ attributes peace to himself, saying, Peace I leave with you. First, he promises his gift of peace, which he is leaving; secondly, he distinguishes this peace from the peace of the world.

1962 He says, Peace I leave with you. Peace is nothing else than the tranquillity arising from order, for things are said to have peace when their order remains undisturbed. In a human being there is a threefold order: that of a person to himself; of a person to God; and of a person to his neighbor. Thus, the human person can enjoy a threefold peace. One peace is interior, when he is at peace with himself, and his faculties are not unsettled: Great peace have those who love your law" (Ps 119:165). Another peace is peace with God, when one is entirely conformed to his direction: "Since we are justified by faith, let us have peace with God" (Rom 5:1). The third peace is with our neighbor: "Strive for peace with all men" (Heb 12:14).

There are three things which have to be put in order within us: the intellect, the will and sense appetency. The will should be directed by the mind or reason, and sense appetency should be directed by the intellect and will. Accordingly, Augustine, in his The Words of our Lord, describes the peace of the saints by saying: "Peace is a calmness of mind, a tranquillity of soul, a simplicity of heart, a bond of love and a fellowship of charity." [49] Calmness of mind refers to our reason, which should be free, not tied down, nor absorbed by disordered affections; tranquillity of soul refers to our sense appetency, which should not be harassed by our emotional states; simplicity of heart refers to our will, which should be entirely set toward God, its object; the bond of love refers to our neighbor; and the fellowship of charity to God. The saints have this peace now, and will have it in the future. But here it is imperfect because we cannot have an undisturbed peace either with ourselves, or with God, or with our neighbor. We will enjoy it perfectly in the future, when we reign without an enemy and there can never be conflicts.

Our Lord here promises us each kind of peace. The first kind when he says, Peace I leave with you, that is, in this world, so that you can conquer the enemy and love each other. This is a kind of covenant established by Christ which we should keep: "A covenant of peace was established with him" (Si 45:24). As Augustine says, one can not gain the inheritance of the Lord who is unwilling to observe his covenant, nor can he have a union with Christ if he lives in strife with a Christian. [50] He promises the second kind of peace when he says, my peace I give to you, that is, in the future: "I will bring her," the heavenly Jerusalem, "a river of peace" [Is 66:12].

1963 Since whether in this world or in our native land, all the peace possessed by the saints comes to them through Christ - "in me you shall have peace" [16:33] ‑ why does our Lord, when speaking of the peace of the saints in this life not say, "my peace I give to you," instead of reserving this for the peace of our native land? We should say that each peace, of the present and of the future, is a peace of Christ. But our present peace is the peace of Christ because he is only its author. The future peace is the peace of Christ both because he is its author and because it is a peace such as he possesses it. He always had this second kind of peace, because he was always without [interior] conflict. Our present peace, as was said, is not without conflict, and although Christ is its author, he does not possess it this way. This explanation makes use of the distinction between the peace of this time and the peace of eternity. According to Augustine, both statements can refer to the peace of this time. Then Christ is saying, Peace I leave with you, by my example, but my peace I give to you, by my power and strength.

1964 Then when he says, not as the world gives do I give to you, he distinguishes this peace from the peace of the world. The peace of the saints is different from the peace of the world in three ways. First, the purpose of each is different. Temporal peace is directed to the quiet and calm enjoyment of temporal things, with the result that it sometimes helps a person to sin: "They live in strife due to ignorance, and they call such great evils peace" (Wis 14:22). But the peace of the saints is directed to eternal goods. The meaning, therefore is: not as the world gives do I give to you, that is, not for the same end. The world gives peace so exterior goods can be possessed undisturbed; but I give peace so that you can obtain eternal things.

They also differ as the pretended or deceitful from the true, because the peace of the world is a pretended peace since it is only on the outside: "The wicked... who speak peace with their neighbors, while mischief is in their hearts" (Ps 27:3). But the peace of Christ is true, because it is both on the outside and the inside. So the meaning is, not as the world gives do I give to you, that is, I do not give a pretended peace, as the world does, but true peace. Thirdly, they differ in perfection, because the peace of the world is imperfect since it is not concerned with the interior tranquillity of a person but only with externals. "There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked" (Is 57:21). But the peace of Christ brings tranquillity both within and without. "Great peace have those who love your law" (Ps 119:165). So the meaning is: not as the world gives, that is, not such an imperfect peace.

1965 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. These give them two reasons for being consoled: one is from the fruit which will follow Christ's leaving; the other is from the reason for his death (v 30).

1966 Now the fruit which would follow from Christ's leaving would be such things as his exaltation, which would console them. For it is usual among friends that when one departs to go to his 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; secondly, he recalls something which somewhat consoled them, yet partly troubled them; thirdly, he gives a reason which will completely console them; fourthly, he answers an unspoken question.

1967 He casts out uneasiness from their hearts when he says, Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 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 an evil which is present, while fear is over an evil which is to come. Our Lord said, Let not your hearts be troubled, about evil which is present: "For the righteous will never be moved" (Ps 112:6). Neither let them be afraid, of what is future: "Who are you that you are afraid of man who dies?" (Is 51:12), which refers to human fear, for he does not reject divine fear.

1968 Then when he says, You heard me say to you, I go away, they were troubled because he was leaving them. But they were somewhat consoled because he added, and I will come to you. This did not completely console them because they were afraid that perhaps in the meantime, when the shepherd was gone, the wolf would attack the flock, according to "Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered" (Zech 13:7). Thus he said to them, Let not your hearts be troubled because I go away, neither let them be afraid because I will come to you.

He goes by his own power, by dying; and he comes by arising: "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" [Mt 20:18]. Again, he went by his ascension: "The beautiful one in his robe, walking in the greatness of his strength" [Is 63:1]; and he will come to judge: "They will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory" (Lk 21:27).

1969 He completely consoles them when he says, If you loved me, you would have rejoiced. It is like saying: If you love me, you should not be sad, but rather rejoice that I am leaving, because I am leaving to be exalted, because I go to the Father, who is greater than I.

1970 This passage led Arius to the disparaging statement that the Father is greater than the Son. Yet our Lord's own words repel 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" (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" [Heb 2:9]. Again, in some things he was subject to human beings, as his parents (Lk 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" [Phil 2:6].

1971 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. [52] For the Father is not greater than the Son in power, eternity and greatness, but by the dignity of a grantor or source. For the Father receives nothing from another, but the Son, if I can 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" (Phil 2:9). For the one to whom a single act of existence (esse) is given, is not inferior to the giver.

1972 Chrysostom explains this by saying that our Lord is saying this by taking into account the opinions of the apostles, who did not yet know of the resurrection or think that he was equal to the Father. [53] And so he said to them: even if you do not believe me on the ground that I cannot help myself, or expect that I will see you again after my cross, yet believe me because I go to the Father, who is greater than I.

1973 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 them by saying this.

Augustine brought up a problem: since faith is concerned with things which are not seen, a person should not believe after the event, but before it. One should say to this that the apostles saw one thing and believed another. They saw the death and resurrection of Christ, and having seen, 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, indeed, they believed with a failing faith when he had died, and a renewed faith when he arose, as Augustine says. [54]

1974 Then when he says, I will no longer talk much with you, 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 one is killed because he is guilty; other reasons are consoling, as when someone dies for that 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 Pet 4:15). With respect to this, our Lord first shows that a sin was not the reason for his death; secondly, that it was caused by the virtues of obedience and love, so that the world may know that I love the Father.

1975 He says, I will no longer talk much with you, because the time is short: "Little children, yet a little while I am with you" (13:33). Or, because you are not yet ready for it: "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now" (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 ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me. This ruler is the devil, and he is called a ruler 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 the lovers of this world. For this reason he is called the ruler of the world and of sin: "For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against... the world rulers this present darkness" (Eph 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 afflict: he entered into the heart of Judas to incite his betrayal, and into the hearts of the Jews to incite them to kill. But he has no power over me, for he has no power over us except because of sin: "Every one who commits sin is a slave to sin" (8:34). Now in Christ there was no sin: not in his soul, "He committed no sin" (1 Pet 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" (Lk 1:35). Because the devil even attacked Christ, over whom he had no right, he deserved to lose what he justly held: "What have I do to with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?" [Mk 5:7]. So it is clear that the cause of Christ's death wasArial'> not his own guilt; and there was no reason for him to die if he had no sin.

1976 Then he mentions the true reason for his death, which is that good which is virtue. He says, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Augustine relates this sentence to what follows, Rise, let us go hence. [55]

Two things led Christ to undergo death: love for God and love for neighbor; "Walk in love" (Eph 5:2). He shows this love by the sign that he accomplishes what God commands: "If you love me keep my commandments" [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, I do as the Father has commanded me. 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 that it was necessary for the salvation of humankind that the Christ die in his human nature. And so, that the world may know these things, Rise, from the place where they had eaten, let us go hence, 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).

1977 Chrysostom understands this differently, since he does not relate Rise, let us go hence, to what came before it in the same way. [56] The meaning now is: I am not dying because the ruler of this world has power over me; I am doing this because I love the Father. But as for you, Rise, let us go hence. He said this because he saw they were afraid, both because of the time, as it was deep into the night, and due to the place, for they were obviously at some house and constantly watching the entrance as if expecting to be set upon by their enemies. Consequently they were not paying attention to what he was saying. So Christ led them to another hidden place, so that feeling more secure they could listen with more attention to what he would say to them and understand it better: "I will bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her" (Hos 2:14).

[1] St. Thomas refers to Jn 14:1 in the Summa Theologiae: II-II, q. 1, a. 9, obj. 5; q. 16, a. 1, obj. 2; q. 174, a. 6; Jn 14: 2: ST I-II, q. 5, a. 2, s. c.; III, q. 57, a. 6; q. 75, a. 1; Jn 14:3: ST III, q. 57, a. 1, ad 3; q. 57, a. 6.

[2] Summa-different degrees of happiness in heaven.

[3] Moralia, 22, ch. 24; PL 76; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:1-4.

[4] Tract. in Io., 67, ch.2, col. 1812; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:1-4.

[5] Ibid., 3, col. 1813; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:1-4.

[6] Tract. in Io., 68, ch. 1, col. 1814; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:1-4.

[7] Summa-the saints will be with Christ immediately after death.

[8] St. Thomas refers to Jn 14:5 in the Summa Theologiae: III, q. 45, a. 1; Jn 14:6 : ST I, q. 2, a. 1, obj. 3; I. q. 3, a. 3, s. c.; I, q. 16, a. 5, s. c.; I, q. 39, a. 8, obj 5; II-II, q. 34, a. 1, obj. 2; III, q. 78, a. 5, s. c.

[9] Summa-Christ is essentially truth and life and thus the object of man's desire.

[10] Sermones de Verbis Domini 142, ch. 1; PL 38, col. 778; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:5-7.

[11] Ibid.; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:15-7.

[12] De Trin., 7, ch. 33; PL 10, col. 228A; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:5-7.

[13] Tract. in Io., 69, ch. 2, col. 1816; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:5-7.

[14] In Ioannem hom., 73, ch. 2; PG 59, col. 398; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:5-7.

[15] De Trin., 7, ch. 33; PL 10, col. 228A; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:5-7.

[16] St. Thomas quotes Jn 14: 9 in the Summa Theologiae: I, q. 19, a. 4, arg. 1; q. 88, a. 3, arg 2; Jn 14: 11: ST I, q. 42, a. 5, s. c; II-II, q. 1, a. 8, obj. 3; Jn 14:10: ST III, q. 43, a. 2, s. c.; Jn 14:12: ST I- q. 105, a. 8, s. c.; I-II, q. 111, a. 2, obj. 2; q. 113, a. 9, s. c.; III, q. 43, a. 4, obj. 2; q. 64, a. 4, obj. 2; q. 69, a. 6, obj. 2.

[17] Tract. in Io., 70, ch. 1, col. 1818; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:8-11.

[18] De Trin., 7, ch. 34; PL 10, col. 228D; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:8-11.

[19] Tract. in Io., 70, ch. 2, col. 1819; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:8-11.

[20] Summa--

[21] In Ioannem hom., 74, ch. 1; PG 59, col. 401; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:8-11.

[22] Tract. in Io., 70, ch. 3, col. 1820; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:8-11.

[23] De Trin., 7; PL 10; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:8-11.

[24] Chrysostom, In Ioannem hom., 74, ch. 2; PG 59, col. 401; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:8-11.

[25] Tract. in Io., 71, ch. 1, 2, col. 1820-1; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:8-11.

[26] Tract. in Io., 71, ch. 2, col. 1821; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:12-14.

[27] Tract. in Io., 71, ch. 3, col. 1821-2; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:12-14.

[28] In Ioannem hom., 74, ch. 2; PG 59, col. 402; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:12-14.

[29] Tract. in Io., 72, ch. 2, col. 1823; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:12-14.

[30] St. Thomas quotes Jn 14:16 in the Summa Theologiae: I, q. 27, a. 3, s. c.; II-II, q. 83, a. 10, obj. 1; Jn 14:17: ST I-II, q. 68, a. 3, s. c.; q. 106, a. 1, ad 1.

[31] summa-appropriation of persons in the trinity

[32] In Ioannem hom., 75, ch. 1; PG 59, col. 405; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:15-17.

[33] Ambrose.

[34] Moralia, V, ch. 28, no. 50; PL 75, col. 706A; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:15-17.

[35] Tract. in Io., 74, ch. 4; col 1828; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:15-17.

[36] Chrysostom, In Ioannem hom., 75, ch. 1; PG 59, col. 405; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:15-17.

[37] St. Thomas quotes Jn 14: 18 in Summa Theologiae: I, q. 88, a. 3, s. c.; Jn 14:21: ST I-II, q. 114, a. 4, s. c.; II-II, q. 24, a. 12, s. c.; III, q. 58, a. 3, obj. 4.

[38] Tract. in Io., 75, ch. 2, col. 1829; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:18-21.

[39] De Trin., 8; PL 10; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:18-21.

[40] Tract. in Io., 75, ch. 5, col. 1830; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:18-21.

[41] St. Thomas quotes Jn 14:23 in the Summa Theologiae: II-II, q. 184, a. 3, obj. 3; Jn 14:28: ST I, q. 42, a. 4, obj. 1; Jn 14:23: ST I, q. 43, a. 4 obj. 2 and a. 5.

[42] H omiliae in Evangelista XXX, ch.1; PL 76, col. 1220C; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:22-27.

[43] Tract. in Io., 76, ch. 2, col. 1831; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:22-27.

[44] In Ioannem hom., 75, ch. 3; PG 59, col. 406; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:22-27.

[45] Homiliae in Evangelista XXX, ch. 2; PL 76, col. 1221B; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:22-27.

[46] Tract. in Io., 76, ch. 5, col. 1832; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:22-27.

[47] Summa-this whole section of the chapter on the nature of the Holy Spirit and his relationship to the Father and the Son.

[48] Homiliae in Evangelista XXX, ch. 3; PL 76, col 1222B; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:22-27.

[49] Sermones de Verbis Domini 97; PL 39, col. 1931; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:22-27.

[50] Ibid.; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:22-27.

[51] St. Thomas quotes Jn 14:28 in the Summa Theologiae: III, q. 3, a. 8, obj. 1; q. 20, a. 1. s. c.; q. 57, a. 2, obj. 3; q. 58, a. 3 obj. 3; Jn 14:31: ST I, q. 42, a. 6, obj. 2; III, q. 47, a. 2, ad 1.

[52] De Trin., 9, ch. 54; PL 10, col. 324B; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:27-31.

[53] In Ioannem hom., 75, ch. 4; PG 59, col. 407; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:27-31.

[54] Tract. in Io., 79, ch. 1, col. 1838; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:27-31.

[55] Tract. in Io., 79, ch. 2, col. 1838; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:27-31.

[56] In Ioannem hom., 76, ch. 1; PG 59, col. 409-411; cf. Catena Aurea, 14:27-31.