John 8:16Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

But why did He mention the Father? Because they did not consider the Son worthy of faith unless He had testimony from the Father. In any other sense, these words have no force. Among men, testimony is true when two testify in another’s matter. This is the testimony of two. But if someone bears witness about himself, this is no longer the testimony of two.

Do you see that He said this for no other reason than to show His consubstantiality with the Father? He shows that in Himself He has no need of testimony from another, and that He is in no way less than the Father.

Therefore, when you hear, “I judge no one,” understand these words not of the future Coming, but of the first. Having said, “I am not alone, but My Father is with Me,” He declared: I alone do not condemn you; the Father does also. For I do not judge in one way while the Father judges in another. As I judge, so does He; and as He judges, so do I.

The Psalmist also testified concerning Him, speaking in the Spirit: "God is a righteous Judge," Ps 7:12. That there is no other judge besides Him, He Himself bears witness before us in the Gospels: "For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son," Jn 5:22.

Did God the Father give Him judgment as to one unable to judge rightly? I think it must be counted a sign of extreme folly to hold such an opinion about the righteousness of the Father, that is, about the Son.

For the Father knew His own Offspring, gave Him judgment, and through this gift of judgment clearly testified to His ability to judge rightly. Therefore it is altogether evident that He speaks of the Father's presence with His judgment not because He is powerless in righteous judgment.

Rather, this saying contains a contemplation similar to what preceded and corresponding to it. Let us state clearly what it means. You, He says, leaders and teachers of the Jews, have passed upon Me a wicked and most unrighteous judgment.

Because of the flesh alone, you think it right to count Me as nothing, though I am God by nature. But when I begin to judge you, I shall not pronounce such a sentence upon you.

I shall not regard you as worthy of punishment because you are men by nature. Rather, having the Father as One Who approves all things with Me and judges with Me, I shall condemn you rightly.

For what fault? Because you did not receive Him Who came from heaven. You continually insult Him Who was sent to you from the Father. You dishonor Me, Who came for the salvation of all, because of the flesh alone. You always thrust far away the Law dear to you.

For tell me, where does Moses command that anyone be condemned merely because he is a man by nature? Therefore you both judge and reason unrighteously. You do not have the Law's consent for this. You dare something terrible alone, not possessing the approval of the divine will.

But I am not so. In everything concerning your condemnation, I have the Father in Myself as Co-worker and as One Who approves together with Me. Therefore I judge the most righteous judgment.

I give your whole land over to desolation and heap upon it the calamities of war. Besides this, I remove from the very Kingdom of Heaven those who rage so furiously against Him Who wills to save, and for this reason came in human form.

But one must know that, when He again calls Himself sent, He does not indicate that His dignity is lower than the Father's. This mission must not be imagined in servile terms, though He could with complete justice have said of Himself that He was clothed in the form of a servant, Phil 2:7.

He was sent as a word is from the mind, as the brightness of rays is from the sun. These are manifestations of that in which they exist, through the appearance of the essence in outward visibility. They abide naturally and indivisibly in that from which they proceed.

For if a word proceeds from the mind and brightness from the sun, it certainly does not follow that the producing realities, the mind and the sun, exist without what proceeds from them, the word and the brightness.

On the contrary, we find them existing as those are in these and these in those. For the mind can never be without word, just as the word cannot be without the mind expressed in it. The other comparison, that of the sun and its radiance, must be understood in the same way.

Those before us who discussed the mysteries of the Holy Scriptures have for the most part understood this living creature, or rather these living creatures, as the four Evangelists.

The lion was taken as a king, because, in accord with his power and terrible strength, the lion seemed in some sense the king of beasts. This figure was assigned to Matthew, because in the Lord's genealogy he followed the royal line, showing how the Lord descended from the seed of King David according to the royal branch.

Luke, since he began his account from the priest Zechariah when he mentioned the father of John the Baptist, was associated with the calf. For the calf was a great sacrificial offering among the priests.

The man was rightly associated with Mark, because he said nothing about the royal dignity, nor did he begin from the priesthood, but only from Christ the man.

All these Evangelists departed little from earthly matters, that is, from those things which our Lord Jesus Christ did on earth. They said very little concerning His Godhead, as though walking with Him upon the earth.

The eagle remains. This is John himself, the preacher of lofty truths, who gazed with steady eye upon the deep and eternal Light. For it is said that eagle parents test their young in this way: the father holds them in his talons and turns them toward the rays of the sun. The one who looks at it without turning away he acknowledges as his offspring. If one begins to turn his gaze aside, the father releases him from his talons as though illegitimate.

See, then, how loftily one must speak who is compared to an eagle. Yet we who crawl upon the earth, weak and scarcely esteemed among men, dare to discuss this, to explain it, and to think that we can grasp what he wrote as we reason, and make others grasp it by our preaching.

Why have I said this? Perhaps after these words someone may rightly say to me: "Leave this book. Why do you take into your hands what is beyond your measure? Why do you use your tongue for this?"

I answer thus. Many heretics stand before me, and God has allowed them to abound, so that we may not always be fed only with milk, nor remain forever in the state of childish foolishness.

Because they did not understand how the Godhead of Christ was revealed, each understands according to his own judgment. Reasoning not according to the truth, they set very difficult questions before the faithful Orthodox. The hearts of believers began to be stirred and troubled.

Immediately it became necessary for spiritual men, spiritalibus viris, who not only read something in the Gospel concerning the Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ, but also understood it, to bare the weapons of Christ against the swords of the devil.

In open battle they had to fight with all possible strength for the Godhead of Christ against false and deceitful teachers. When those teachers were silenced, others would not perish.

All who think that our Lord Jesus Christ is of another essence than the Father, or those who suppose that there is only Christ, so that He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, have made shipwreck in the waters of faith.

So also have all who wish to think that He was only man and not God made man, or that He was God in such a way that His Godhead underwent change, or that He was God in such a way that He was not also man. They were driven out of the harbor of the Church, lest the ships standing near them sink because of their unrest.

This circumstance has compelled us, though we are insignificant and utterly unworthy in ourselves, yet by His mercy made in some way sharers in His divine economy, to speak with you. Either you may understand what is said and rejoice with me, or, if you are not yet able to understand, you may remain peaceful in the harbor by faith.

Therefore I will not cease speaking. Let him who can understand understand, and let him who cannot believe. Still, I will speak what the Lord said: "You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one," now and according to the flesh. "And if I do judge, My judgment is true" (Jn 8:15-16).

Why is Thy judgment true? "Because I am not alone," He says, "but I and the Father Who sent Me." What, then, Lord Jesus? If Thou wert alone, would Thy judgment not be true? Dost Thou judge truly because Thou art not alone, but Thou and the Father Who sent Thee?

What shall I answer? Let Him Himself answer: "My judgment is true." Why? "Because I am not alone, but I and the Father Who sent Me." If He is with Thee, how did He send Thee? Did He both send Thee and remain with Thee? When Thou wast sent, didst Thou not depart from the Father? Didst Thou come to us and remain there? How can this be believed? How can this be understood?

To these two questions I answer thus. You speak rightly when you say, "How can this be understood?" You speak wrongly when you say, "How can this be believed?" Rather, it is better to believe precisely because it cannot immediately be understood.

If it could be understood at once, there would be no need of faith, because the matter would be evident. You believe because you do not understand. Having believed, you become able to understand. If you do not believe, you will never understand (cf. Isa 7:9), because you will remain incapable of understanding.

Let faith purify you, so that understanding may fill you. "My judgment is true," He says, "because I am not alone, but I and the Father Who sent Me."

Therefore, Lord our God Jesus Christ, Thy sending is Thy Incarnation. Thus I see, thus I understand, and at last, lest my words be presumptuous, thus I believe. Thus I understand.

Certainly our Lord Jesus Christ is present here. Rather, according to the flesh He was here; now He is here according to His Godhead. As He was with the Father, so He did not leave the Father.

Therefore, when it is said that He was sent and came to us, His Incarnation is entrusted to us, because the Father was not incarnate. For there are heretics called Sabellians, who are also called Patripassians. They assert that the Father Himself underwent the Passion.

Resist this, Orthodox man. If you become a Patripassian, you will lose salvation. Understand, then, that the sending of the Son means the Incarnation of the Son. Do not believe that the Father was incarnate, but also do not believe that the incarnate Son abandoned the Father.

The Son bore flesh; the Father was with the Son. If the Father is in heaven and the Son on earth, how was the Father together with the Son? Because both Father and Son are everywhere. God does not so dwell in heaven that He is absent from earth.

Hear the one who wished to flee from the judgment of God and found nowhere to go: "Where shall I go from Thy Spirit, or where shall I flee from Thy face? If I ascend into heaven, Thou art there" (Ps 138:7-8). Our question concerned the earth. But hear what follows: "If I descend into Hades, Thou art there" (Ps 138:8).

If, as it is said, He is present even in Hades, can there be any place in the world where He is not? Here is the voice of God, speaking through the prophet: "I fill heaven and earth" (cf. Jer 23:24). Therefore He is everywhere and is confined by nothing.

Do not turn away from Him, and He is with you. If you wish to come to Him, do not be slow in love. You hasten not with your feet, but with your affections. You come to Him while remaining in place, if you believe and love.

Therefore He is everywhere. And if He is everywhere, how can He not be with the Son? How can He not be with the Son, Who is with you if you believe?

Why, then, is His judgment true, if not because the Son is true? For He said: "And if I do judge, My judgment is true, because I am not alone, but I and the Father Who sent Me." It is as though He said, "My judgment is true because I am the Son of the Father."

How wilt Thou prove that Thou art the Son of God? "Because I am not alone, but I and the Father Who sent Me." Be ashamed, Sabellian. You hear the Son; you hear the Father. The Father is the Father, and the Son is the Son.

He did not say, "I am the Father and I am the Son." He said, "I am not alone." Why art Thou not alone? "Because the Father is with Me." "I and the Father Who sent Me." Do you see? "I and the Father Who sent Me."

So that you may not lose sight of the Persons, distinguish the Persons. Distinguish them in understanding, but do not separate them by prejudice. Otherwise, while seeming to avoid Charybdis, you may run into Scylla.

The whirlpool of Sabellian impiety was swallowing you, making you say that the Father is the same as the Son. Now you have learned: "I am not alone, but I and the Father Who sent Me." You acknowledge that the Father is the Father, and the Son is the Son. You acknowledge this rightly.

But do not assert that the Father is greater and the Son lesser. Do not assert that the Father is gold and the Son silver. They have one substance, one Divine essence, one coeternity, perfect equality, no distinction.

If you believe that Christ is another Person and not the same Person as the Father, but still think that by nature He differs somewhat from the Father, you have indeed turned away from Charybdis, but you are wrecked on the rocks of Scylla.

Sail through the middle, and avoid dangers on both sides. The Father is the Father, and the Son is the Son. You already say, "The Father is the Father, and the Son is the Son." You have successfully escaped the danger of the devouring whirlpool.

But why do you want to go to the other side and say, "The Father is one thing, and the Son is another thing"? "He is another Person" is rightly said. "He is another thing" is wrongly said.

For the Son is another Person because He is not the Father. The Father is another Person because He is not the Son. Yet He is not another thing, but Father and Son are one and the same. What does "one and the same" mean? God is one.

You have heard: "because I am not alone, but I and the Father Who sent Me." Hear how you must believe in the Father and the Son. Hear the Son Himself: "I and the Father are one" (cf. Jn 10:30).

He did not say, "I am the Father," or, "I and the Father are one person." But when He says, "I and the Father are one," hear both: the "one," unum, and the "We are," sumus. Then you will be delivered from both Charybdis and Scylla.

Of these two words, His saying "one" delivers you from Arius, and His saying "We are" delivers you from Sabellius. "One" means that They have no distinction of essence; "We are" means the Father and the Son as two Persons.

For the verb sumus, "We are," is not used of one Person, and the word "one" is not used of differing essences.

Thus He says, "My judgment is true," so that you may hear: "I am the Son of God." "But I so impress upon you," He says, "that I am the Son of God, so that you may understand that the Father is with Me.

"I am not Son in such a way that I have left the Father. I am not here so as to have ceased to be with Him. Nor is He there in such a way as not to be with Me. I assumed the form of a servant, but I did not lose the form of God" (cf. Phil 2:6-8).

This is why He says: "I am not alone, but I and the Father Who sent Me."

Yet this does not mean that I fear My judgment might be as mistaken as yours. No, My judgment is true, for I do not judge alone. The Father judges with Me. If you wish to judge Me, then it would be fitting for you to hear My witnesses. Your law requires two or three witnesses. I present two to you. The first witness is Myself. Here the divine nature of Jesus is clearly distinguished, bearing witness to what is accomplished through the mediation of His human nature. The second is My Father.

“If I bear witness about Myself, My testimony is true, because I have the most perfect knowledge of Myself, of My origin, My purpose, and the aim of My coming into the world. I alone know this, and you do not know it and cannot know it of yourselves. Therefore you must receive testimony concerning Me from Me Myself. What you say about testimony does not apply to My self-testimony. It has force only in earthly relations.

You judge according to the flesh, according to carnal impulses. Hence your judgment is false in its very foundation, whether it is judgment about yourselves or about others. Thus you judge Me to be an untrue witness about Myself, because you judge according to the flesh and desire to condemn.

But I judge no one, that is, not with the aim of condemning, and not according to the flesh. Yet if I do judge, whether concerning Myself or others, My judgment is just. It is also the judgment of God the Father Himself. Thus, in each of My judgments and testimonies, two witnesses appear: I and the Father. And your law, on which you rest, also recognizes the testimony of two as true” (Deut 17:6; 19:15).

But let it be as though I alone were bearing witness about Myself. Even in that case My testimony is true, because I know that I came from God and go to Him. Can such testimony be false? I judge no one, since I came to save sinners, not to judge. And if I judge concerning Myself, My judgment is true, because I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent Me.

“I judge no one, and if I judge,” and so forth. I do not judge by My will alone, separated from the Father, as you do. I judge in agreement with the will of My Father, God. Therefore My judgment is righteous and true, unlike your judgment according to the flesh.

This is the same teaching Christ had unfolded earlier when He spoke of His unity with the Father (Jn 5:30; see note). The conclusion, though unspoken, follows from these words. If He bears witness to Himself and pronounces such a judgment upon the Pharisees, then His testimony and His judgment are trustworthy and true.

The Son of God stands above the measure of human truth. Moreover, the law concerning witnesses was introduced only for sinful mankind. Otherwise, the testimony of a pure conscience is trustworthy testimony. Such is the meaning of the expressions “in your law” and “men.”

Yet, contending with the stubbornness of the wretched Jews, the Lord summons against them even the response of the law they honored. They measure everything by the letter of the law. So be it. But are not He and the Father, man and God, two witnesses? The Son bears witness to Himself by words. The heavenly Father bears witness by miracles performed to the glory of the Son.

God the Father and the Lord Jesus, who is God the Word in the flesh, were manifested in distinct ways. Yet the Lord Jesus, as the God-man, indicates that His words and deeds flow from one source: God Almighty, revealed in the Son and manifested by the Holy Spirit, who is co-present with the Father and the Son. The same is the meaning of the following two verses.