Homilies on the Gospel of John

“I can of My own self do nothing; as I hear I judge, and My judgment is just, because I seek not My own will, but the will of Him which sent Me.”

Although He had but lately given no trifling proof of the Resurrection by bracing the paralytic; on which account also He had not spoken of the Resurrection before He had done what fell little short of resurrection. And the Judgment He hinted at after He had braced the body, by saying, “Behold, you are made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto you”; yet still He proclaimed beforehand the resurrection of Lazarus and of the world. And when He had spoken of these two, that of Lazarus which should come to pass almost immediately, and that of the inhabited world which should be long after, He confirms the first by the paralytic and by the nearness of the time, saying, “The hour comes and now is”; the other by the raising of Lazarus, by what had already come to pass bringing before their sight what had not yet done so. And this we may observe Him do everywhere, putting (forth) two or three predictions, and always confirming the future by the past.

4. Yet after saying and doing so much, since they still were very weak He is not content, but by other expressions calms their disputatious temper, saying, “I can of Myself do nothing; as I hear I judge, and My judgment is just, because I seek not My own will, but the will of Him which sent Me.” For since He appeared to make some assertions strange and varying from those of the Prophets, (for they said that it is God who judges all the earth, that is, the human race; and this truth David everywhere loudly proclaimed, “He shall judge the people in righteousness,” and, “God is a righteous Judge, strong and patient”; as did all the Prophets and Moses; but Christ said, “The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son”: an expression which was sufficient to perplex a Jew who heard it, and to make him in turn suspect Christ of being an enemy of God,) He here greatly condescends in His speech, and as far as their infirmity requires, in order to pluck up by the roots this pernicious opinion, and says, “I can of Myself do nothing”; that is, “nothing strange, or unlike, or what the Father desires not will you see done or hear said by Me.” And having before declared that He was “the Son of Man,” and because they supposed Him to be a man at that time, so also He puts [His expressions] here. As then when He said above, “We speak that we have heard, and testify that we have seen”; and when John said, “What He has seen He testifies, and no man receives His testimony”; both expressions are used respecting exact knowledge, not concerning hearing and seeing merely; so in this place when He speaks of “hearing,” He declares nothing else than that it is impossible for Him to desire anything, save what the Father desires. Still He said not so plainly, (for they would not as yet have at once received it on hearing it thus asserted;) and how? In a manner very condescending and befitting a mere man, “As I hear I judge.” Again He uses these words in this place, not with reference to “instruction,” (for He said not, “as I am taught,” but “as I hear”;) nor as though He needed to listen, (for not only did He not require to be taught, but He needed not even to listen;) but it was to declare the Unanimity and Identity of [His and the Father's] decision, as though He had said, “So I judge, as if it were the Father Himself that judged.” Then He adds, “and I know that My judgment is just, because I seek not My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” What sayest Thou? Have You a will different from that of the Father? Yet in another place He says, “As I and Thou are One,” (speaking of will and unanimity,) “grant to these also that they may be one in Us”; that is, “in faith concerning Us.” Do you see that the words which seem most humble are those which conceal a high meaning? For what He implies is of this kind: not that the will of the Father is one, and His own another; but that, “as one will in one mind, so is My own will and My Father's.”

And marvel not that He has asserted so close a conjunction; for with reference to the Spirit also Paul has used this illustration: “What man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God.” Thus Christ's meaning is no other than this: “I have not a will different and apart from that of the Father, but if He desires anything, then I also; if I, then He also. As therefore none could object to the Father judging, so neither may any to Me, for the sentence of Each is given from the same Mind.” And if He utters these words rather as a man, marvel not, seeing that they still deemed Him to be mere man. Therefore in passages like these it is necessary not merely to enquire into the meaning of the words, but also to take into account the suspicion of the hearers, and listen to what is said as being addressed to that suspicion. Otherwise many difficulties will follow. Consider for instance, He says, “I seek not My own will”: according to this then His will is different (from that of the Father), is imperfect, nay, not merely imperfect, but even unprofitable. “For if it be saving, if it agree with that of the Father, why do You not seek it?” Mortals might with reason say so because they have many wills contrary to what seems good to the Father, but Thou, wherefore sayest Thou this, who art in all things like the Father? For this none would say is the language even of a “man” made perfect and crucified. For if Paul so blended himself with the will of God as to say, “I live, yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me”, how says the Lord of all, “I seek not My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me,” as though that will were different? What then is His meaning? He applies His discourse as if the case were that of a mere man, and suits His language to the suspicion of His hearers. For when He had, by what had gone before, given proof of His sayings, speaking partly as God, partly as a mere man, He again as a man endeavors to establish the same, and says, “My judgment is just.” And whence is this seen? “Because I seek not My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” “For as in the case of men, he that is free from selfishness cannot be justly charged with having given an unfair decision, so neither will you now be able to accuse Me. He that desires to establish his own, may perhaps by many be suspected of corrupting justice with this intent; but he that looks not to his own, what reason can he have for not deciding justly? Apply now this reasoning to My case. Had I said that I was not sent by the Father, had I not referred to Him the glory of what was done, some of you might perhaps have suspected that desiring to gain honor for Myself, I said the thing that is not; but if I impute and refer what is done to another, wherefore and whence can you have cause to suspect My words?” Do you see how He confirmed His discourse, and asserted that “His judgment was just” by an argument which any common man might have used in defending himself? Do you see how what I have often said is clearly visible? What is that? It is that the exceeding humility of the expressions most persuades men of sense not to receive the words off hand and then fall down [into low thoughts], but rather to take pains that they reach to the height of their meaning; this humility too with much ease then raises up those who were once groveling on the ground.