John 2:25Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The meaning of these words is this. He did not attend to words alone, but penetrated the very hearts and entered into their thoughts. Clearly seeing that their zeal was only temporary, He did not trust them as already resolved disciples.

Nor did He preach the whole teaching to them as though they had already become firm in faith. To know what is in the hearts of men belongs to Him who "fashioned all their hearts" (Ps 32:15), that is, to God alone.

For it is said, "You alone know the heart" (3 Kgs 8:39). He had no need of witnesses in order to know the thoughts of His own creatures. Therefore He did not trust them in their temporary faith.

Alongside other things, this dignity of Christ is divine and belongs to none of created beings. The Psalmist ascribes it to the one true God alone, saying, "He who fashions their hearts one by one, who understands all their works" (Ps 32:15).

If this property of God alone belongs also to Christ, namely to know what is within us, how then is He not God by nature? He is "the Knower of hidden things" (Dan 13:42) and "He who knows deep and hidden things," as it is written (Dan 2:22).

"For what man knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man which is in him?" (1 Cor 2:11). Yet while no one knows, God is not ignorant. He is not numbered among all those of whom "no one" is rightly said. He is beyond all, and all things are in His power.

They already believed in Jesus, yet Jesus Himself did not trust Himself to them. Why? Because they had not yet been born again of water and the Spirit.

This has stirred us, and we stir up our catechumen brethren. If you ask them, they have already believed in Jesus. Yet because they do not yet receive His Body and Blood, Jesus does not yet trust Himself to them.

What must they do, then, so that Jesus may trust Himself to them? Let them be born again of water and the Spirit. Let the Church bring forth those whom she is preparing to bear.

They have been conceived. Let them come forth into the light. There is a breast from which they will be nourished. Let them not fear suffocation after birth. Let them not be torn away from their mother's breast.

“And He had no need that anyone should testify concerning man,” concerning any man at all. “For He Himself knew what was in man,” in every man, as God who knows the heart.

Yet Jesus, as though to soften the formidable form in which He had revealed Himself before Jerusalem by His zeal for the house of God, marked the subsequent time of His stay in that city with several striking and beneficent miracles.

These miracles drew people still more to Him. They compelled them to pay greater attention to the divine power which Jesus revealed in Himself through them.

The report that John had called Him the Messiah spread more and more among the people. The miracles led to its confirmation. Indeed, many began to believe that they had found their Messiah in Him.

When Jesus Christ was in Jerusalem, He performed other wondrous works besides the divinely authoritative expulsion of the merchants from the temple.

These miracles of Jesus Christ made a powerful impression on the inhabitants and visitors of Jerusalem at the feast of Passover, and many believed in His name.

Yet the omniscient One, who searches human hearts, saw that this was a momentary impression on shallow and easily excited natures. It was ready to fade and dry up after even a brief absence of exciting causes.

Therefore Jesus Christ did not admit these many people, who believed in His name because they were carried away by His miracles, into closer communion with Himself.

And He had no need, and so forth: in these words the thought of the last words of the preceding verse is unfolded more fully, namely that Christ knew all men.

"The meaning of these words is this: He did not pay attention to words alone, for He penetrated the very hearts and entered into the thoughts. Seeing clearly only their temporary fervor, He did not trust them as already decisive disciples.

He had no need of witnesses in order to know the thoughts of His own creatures. Therefore He did not trust them in their temporary faith" (Chrysostom).

This knowledge of His was not mediated, nor acquired through men, as ordinarily happens among men. It was His own knowledge, self-existent and without any mediation.

He Himself knew what is in man: his qualities, inclinations, aspirations, and so forth. God alone can fully know everything hidden in man without any mediation (Jer 17:10).

If Jesus possessed such knowledge, then He is God.

During His stay in Jerusalem, Jesus Christ performed many miracles. The Evangelist John mentions this in verse 23, but does not describe the deeds themselves, since they were already known from the other Gospels.

He only observes that Jesus Christ did not attach great importance to the people's manifestation of faith in Him when they were struck by the miracles they had seen (vv. 24-25).

By this the Lord, the Knower of hearts, teaches that faith based only on miracles is too superficial. It does not penetrate to the depth of the heart. It easily weakens and even passes into complete unbelief.

For this reason the Lord always refused unbelieving men when they asked Him for signs and miracles, as He also refused the devil in the wilderness.

Verses 23-25. "Many believed in His name, seeing the signs which He did." The Evangelist does not say what miracles the Savior performed at the feast of Passover.

"Many believed in His name." They acknowledged Him as the promised Prophet, the Messiah. Yet the faith of some lasted only a day or two, and afterward they joined His enemies.

Others believed in an earthly king alone, without thinking of eternity. Still others believed, but without changing in anything. Christ Jesus saw the hearts of men. He had no need for anyone to tell Him what this or that man was like.

Therefore, although many treated Him kindly and with respect, He did not entrust Himself to all. He did not reveal the mysteries of the Kingdom, which some could have used for evil.

The holy Evangelist is silent about the miracles and healings which the Lord performed in Jerusalem. Yet we know them: "the blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them" (Mt 11:5; Lk 7:22), wherever the God-man is present.

"Seeing His signs, many believed." But what did these people believe, who saw these signs? That Jesus is the Christ, or that Jesus is a prophet?

Apparently even those Jews of Jerusalem who were ready to believe that the Messiah had appeared were afraid to declare their faith, "for fear of the rulers." From the first moment, these rulers were hostile to the Lord. Compare Jn 2:24, Jn 7, and many other places.