John 10:33Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Looking only at the flesh, they tried to stone Him, bringing against Him the charge of blasphemy. For by the words "I and the Father are one," they say, You make Yourself God by nature. In this one thing alone they understood correctly. Thus the Jews surpass the impious Arians. They affirm that He who dared to say plainly, "I and the Father are one," must necessarily rise to divine dignity. Otherwise, how could He be one with God by nature if He Himself were not such? Since He does not lie, being Himself truly God by nature, He is also one with the Father. And how could such a One be made or created? In the words "I and the Father are one" there is an indication not of unity of will, but of unity of essence. The Jews understood this also, namely that by saying this Jesus calls Himself God and equal to the Father. Christ did not deny that He had said it in precisely the sense in which they understood it. When our Savior said in conversation, "I and the Father are one," the Jews became angry. They did not understand who He was who said this, and they looked only at the flesh. Then they wished to stone Him and even made the attempt, already accusing Him of blasphemy. "For by saying, 'I and the Father are one,' You make Yourself God by nature," they say. This alone they understood correctly. Therefore even the Jews, who affirm that one who dares to say, "I and the Father are one," as it were necessarily ascends to divine dignity, are better than the impious Arians. For how could He be one with God by nature if He Himself were not such? Since He does not lie, it follows that He Himself, being God by nature, is one with the Father. And how can such a One be made or created?

In other places of the Old Testament, judges and other men chosen by God are also called gods; see Ex 4:16; 7:1; 21:6; 22:8, 28; Zech 12:8. In the Old Testament, judges, kings, and prophets are called gods because, under the theocratic order of the Hebrew people, God Himself was the judge and king. From among men He chose organs for the revelation of His will to other men; cf. Ex 18:15; Deut 1:17; 19:17. Therefore judges, kings, and prophets were called gods and sons of the Most High insofar as the authority and power of God acted and were revealed in them. They were called so insofar as they revealed the will of God to men. Consequently, there is a certain likeness between them and Christ. In Him also God is revealed to the world, with whom He not only has communion but is one in essence. Thus the meaning of the proof is this. If ordinary men, because the word of God came to them, were called gods and sons of the Most High, and Scripture, being inspired by God, undoubtedly speaks truth in this case, then does He not have the right to call Himself the Son of God, whom God sent from heaven to earth? If they were called gods because they were in communion with God, then I have still greater right to be called the Son of God, for I am one with God. If they were both chosen and sanctified for sacred ministry, then I am the Sanctified One, chosen from among those sanctified and chosen. I am sanctified and chosen preeminently, for the Godhead is united to My humanity. Proofs of My unity with the Father have been given to you in My teaching and works. If you do not believe the former, then in any case you ought to believe the latter (cf. 5:31, 36), that the Father is in Me and I in Him, that I and the Father are one.

Jehovah likewise lamented through the mouth of the prophet, Mic 6:3. The apostles also preached: "Him who went about doing good and healing the sick, you killed" (Acts 10:38-39). "The Jews said, We want to stone You because You, being a man, make Yourself God." If the Jews thought that Jesus presented Himself only as a divine man, they would not have said, "You, being a man, make Yourself God." It is clear that, in their understanding, Jesus acknowledged Himself to be the true Son of God. For this they accuse Him of blasphemy. The accusation is unjust. The general claim is unjust, namely that a man cannot be called god without allowing blasphemy. The Savior points to Ps 81:6. There it is said: "I said: You are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High." "I said" when and where? In Moses, Ex 21:6; Ex 22:8, 9, 28. Some, Gesenius and De Wette, insist that in Moses Elohim does not refer to judges. But this contradicts the words of Moses. In Moses, as in the psalm, the judges are called gods. Some thought that the psalmist meant pagan kings, or the kings of Israel. But this is arbitrary. Nowhere in Scripture were kings called sons of God. The exception applied only to David and Solomon, and only as types of the King Messiah. The Savior says to His enemies: If, in your opinion, the honor is too high for Me when I call Myself God, will it seem a high honor to you if I call you gods, honored judges, in the words of Holy Scripture? "Your law" means the same as Holy Scripture, as in Jn 12:34 and Jn 15:25. "The Scripture cannot be broken" means that it cannot remain without effect, as in Jn 5:18; Jn 7:23; Sir 28:2. In what sense is it said of Christ, "whom the Father sanctified"? Since His sending as Son is spoken of here, the sanctification undoubtedly refers to His human nature and His ministry as Messiah. In usage, to sanctify means to set apart for a special ministry, such as the ministry of a prophet or a king, Sir 45:4; Sir 49:7; Jer 1:6; Gal 1:15. The Messiah is preeminently the Holy One of God, Mk 1:24, foreordained before the foundation of the world, 1 Pet 1:20. The miracles that occurred at the birth of Jesus, and the descent of the Holy Spirit at His baptism, served as proof that Jesus was an unheard-of messenger of God.

But the Lord had earlier said to the Jews in Jn 5 that the Father had given all judgment to the Son. He told them that He is the true great Judge of the world. Therefore, if those were called gods "to whom the word of God came," how will the Jews deny the name Son of God to Him whom "the Father sanctified and sent into the world"? Here the Lord plainly has in view the final words of Psalm 81, which prophesy precisely concerning Him to whom "the Father has given all judgment." These words are: "Arise, O God, judge the earth, for Thou shalt inherit all nations." This prophecy revealed in the Old Testament the future greatness of Christianity, which would embrace all nations. It would acknowledge in the incarnate God the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, the one Judge of all. The Jews dared to call blasphemy the revelation given them of the Son of God, because they "could never receive the words of God" (Jn 8:37), because of malice. Therefore the Lord also said, "For this reason the Wisdom of God said: I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute" (Lk 11:49). The Lord reminds the Jews that those to whom the word of God was addressed themselves become gods. By receiving it, they are sanctified and raised up, becoming "God's own" (Eph 2). He then passes to the most important moment in the life of mankind, when the Word of God was incarnate and Himself speaks to the world. The Father sanctifies not God the Word, but the man Jesus. Yet Jesus is God, speaking to men through the veil of the flesh, according to the expression of Gregory the Theologian. The Jews do not wish to acknowledge this man, sanctified by God, as the Son of God, and they call this blasphemy. The Lord knows that they cannot receive the mystery of the tri-hypostatic Godhead. He knows that they see in Him only a man. Yet He closes their mouths with the words of the law when they dare to call blasphemy His calling Himself the Son of God. For He did the works of God, Jn 5:20, 36 and elsewhere, and spoke the words of God, Jn 3:34; Jn 6:63; Jn 8 and elsewhere. They themselves admitted this, Jn 3:2. So spoke the better among them; cf. Jn 9:16. St. John Chrysostom also says on this passage, vv. 35-36: "These words mean this: if those who received this name, sons of God, by grace are not accused when they call themselves gods, how can He justly be subject to reproach who has this, the essence of God, by nature?"