John 8:55Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

On the contrary, the following words serve as proof of it: "And I keep His word." At this point they certainly could have convicted Him, if only they had anything against Him. For this served as the strongest proof that He was sent from God.

By this you clearly reveal that you do not know Him. For if you knew Him, you would keep His word, that is, His commandments. Others understand the words "I keep His word" in this way. I know Him because in Myself I have the unchanging image of His Being, that is, of His existence. The form of nature in the Father is also in Me. For the Father and the Son have one and the same nature, and one and the same mode of being. Therefore I know the Father, because I keep the unchanging image of His Being. This turn of speech is customary in Scripture. For example, it says, "Give us help from trouble, and vain is the salvation of man" (Ps 59:13). Here the particle "and" is used instead of "for," and the statement has this sense: give us help, for salvation from man is unreliable. So also in these words, "I know Him, and I keep His word," the particle "and" stands for "for." For, He says, I keep His word.

Thus, I think no sensible person will trouble himself to investigate what God is in His nature, for this cannot be discovered. Yet what belongs to Him, or does not belong to Him, everyone can know quite easily through the Holy Scriptures. Thus we know and believe that He is almighty. We know that He is not powerless. We know that He is good. We know that He is not evil. We know that He is righteous, and not unrighteous. We know that He is eternal. We are persuaded and think that He is not bounded by time, and is not temporal like us.

Thus the Jews confess God in words and with their lips, and plainly declare Him to be their God. Nevertheless, they do not know Him. We do not find them understanding that He is incorruptible and eternal. If they had known this, I think they would not have fallen into such folly as to suppose that the Only-begotten Son, who comes from His essence, would die. Likewise, pointing to the death of Abraham and the prophets, they would not have said to Him irrationally, "Whom do You make Yourself?"

Is it not wholly natural to affirm that those who know who the Father is by nature must necessarily believe that the Word who has proceeded from Him is such as He is? As a sweet stream flows from a sweet spring, and good fruits are born from good trees, so, I think, the One who proceeds from God by nature must be regarded as true God. The One begotten from the eternal Father must be acknowledged as eternal, like Him who begot Him.

Therefore it is timely in this case also to say to the Jews, "Either make the tree bad and its fruit bad, or make the tree good and its fruit good" (Mt 12:33). For "a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit" (Mt 7:18). In view of this, is it possible to allow, or rather is it not filled with every madness, to think that the One begotten from the immortal Father is mortal? Is it not madness to place the One who has not known corruption among corruptible things?

"But I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I shall be a liar like you." I, He says, did not speak falsely to the Jews in the words, "If anyone keeps My word, he shall never see death" (Jn 8:51). I am able to make immortal, because I know that He from whom I am has power to do this. I know that My Father is Life by nature. Therefore I also, as He is, am plainly Life by nature and Life-giver.

If I were to deny in Myself the power to give life, I would prove to be ignorant of the Father. I possess the property of His essence, and therefore I can give life as He does. Therefore I confess that I have all that is in the Father. I affirm that I am such as He is. In promising to do what He does, I certainly "know Him."

If I say that I do not have in Myself, without change, the properties of the Father, "I shall be a liar" like you, as one who does not know the Father. But when I affirm that the glory of Abraham and the prophets is nothing, because they were from the earth and men by nature, to whom death was not alien, while My glory is the eternity of the Father, I say this as One who knows the Father.

If I were to say that I too shall undergo corruption like them, and that I am not coeternal with the Father, I would lie like you, not knowing the Father from whom I am. It is not natural that the One who has proceeded from Him who is and is always unchangeable should not Himself be and always remain unchangeable. What is begotten of the Eternal is eternal.

This saying can be interpreted more simply in another way. "I know," He says, "My Father. If I say that I do not know Him, I shall be a liar" like you, who do not know God, though you say that you know Him. We have already spoken clearly about what this knowledge consists in, and why they are accused of ignorance. We shall add nothing more.

"But I know Him and keep His word." With regard to the simple sense of this saying, let us observe that Christ again speaks as man and lowers Himself to our condition, not laying aside the form of a servant before the proper time. Therefore He says that He both knows the Father and "keeps His word." We do not think it was necessary for Him to bear this witness about Himself, or to enumerate anything proper to Him. This is done for the greater skill of the discourse.

By saying that He knows the Father and keeps His word, He shows that the Jews thought the opposite of what He affirms He Himself possesses. They do not know God, and they do not consider it necessary to keep His word. Otherwise they would have received very gladly the One foretold by Moses and the prophets.

Among us also, such a form of speech is considered noble and beautiful. It has the force of reproof, and discreetly shows someone where his faults lie, while forestalling anger against the reproof. For example, a dignified man, excellent in other respects, may say in rebuke of a thief or drunkard, "I am a respectable man. I have not stolen what belongs to another, and I have never been drunk." We shall not think that such a man is bearing witness to himself and speaking about himself. Rather, he is rebuking the opposite qualities.

For this reason our Lord Jesus Christ also spoke in this way. He said that He knows the Father and keeps His word. At the same time, from another side, He was showing the impious Jews that they do not know God, do not keep His word, and do not deem worthy of any observance the law appointed for them from above.

If these words must also be understood in another way, and the meaning indirectly expressed here must be explained more subtly, then we may also say this. The Son knows His Father with a knowledge unlike ours, but one proper to God and ineffable. A man begotten of a man knows the nature of his parent, not by being taught by someone else, but from what he himself is, from his own nature. So also the Son "knows" His Father from what He Himself is, from His own nature. He "keeps His word," that is, He preserves in Himself, in its whole limit and scope, His entire essence.

The term "word" here means limit or scope. Thus the word of man, that is, the limit, definition, or conceptual scope of his essence, is this: a rational, mortal animal, possessing mind and knowledge. Likewise, for example, the word of an angel may be recognized as the definition of his essence.

With regard to God by nature, however, we cannot admit a word or definition, for we do not know what He is by nature. But the Son knows His Father. Being begotten from His essence, He knows what He who begot Him is by nature. Therefore, following our custom and using human words, He says that He "keeps" in Himself the word of the Father, as though the definition of His essence. For He is the image of His Begetter and His impress, free from every unlikeness. He possesses in Himself all the God-befitting and particular properties of His Begetter.

For He refers His glory to the Father, from whom He has being as God. At times the Arians slander our faith on the basis of this statement and say, "Look, the Father is greater, because He glorifies the Son."

Heretic, have you not read of the Son who declared that He glorifies His Father (cf. Jn 17:4)? If the Father glorifies the Son and the Son glorifies the Father, abandon your stubbornness. Acknowledge equality. Renounce perversity.

"It is My Father," He said, "who glorifies Me, of whom you say that He is your God. And you have not known Him" (Jn 8:54-55).

See, my brethren, how He reveals that the Father of Christ is the God proclaimed also to the Jews. I say this because there are certain heretics who in turn claim that the God proclaimed in the Old Testament is not the Father of Christ.

They say He is some prince of evil angels. The Manichees say this, and the Marcionites also say the same.

The Marcionites are followers of Marcion's heresy. Marcion, like many gnostics, held that the God of the Old Testament is not the true God, but a demiurge who created this world.

According to this teaching, the true God is alien and unknown to the world and to its creator. In their opinion, the true God only appeared in seeming, after taking the human flesh of Jesus, to redeem mankind from the power of lower forces.

There may also be other heretics whom there is either no need to mention, or whom I cannot now recall. Yet there are not a few who say such things.

Therefore pay attention, so that you may have something to say against them. The Lord Jesus Christ calls Him His Father whom the Jews called their God, though they did not know Him.

For if they had known Him, they would have received His Son.

"But I know Him" (Jn 8:55), He said. To those who judged according to the flesh, He could seem proud because He said, "I know Him." But see what follows.

"If I say that I do not know Him, I shall be a liar like you" (Jn 8:55). Let pride not be rejected in such a way that truth is cast aside.

"But I know Him and keep His word" (Jn 8:55). As Son He spoke the word of the Father. He Himself was the Word of the Father who spoke with men.

Here by knowledge and recognition He simply means knowing and recognizing that He is God and Father. He does not mean knowledge of the nature of God. That nature not only cannot be known, but is altogether incomprehensible and inaccessible, not only to men, but also to the heavenly powers. "But I know Him and keep His word." See that keeping the word of God is a sign of knowing Him. Let us also fear, then, who do not keep the commandments of God. For we stand alongside those who do not know God. After this Jesus Christ proves that He is greater than Abraham.

If I say that I do not know Him, then, like you, who unjustly boast of the knowledge of God and say that He is your God, I shall be a liar. But I will not deny My witness, and I proclaim to all: I know Him and keep His word." It is clear that, besides removing the thought that He unjustly and excessively exalts Himself, Jesus Christ also answers the Jews' question rather clearly, though not directly. The question was, "Who do You make Yourself out to be?" "I," Jesus answered, "am the Son of Him of whom you say that He is your God." With this is joined the answer to the other reproach made by the Jews against Jesus Christ, that He sets Himself above Abraham. "I am so far above Abraham that he rejoiced to see My day; he saw it and was glad." "My day," which Abraham desired to see, means the time and circumstances of the Messiah's appearing on earth (Lk 10:23-24; 1 Pet 1:10-12). Ἠγαλλιάσατο, "he rejoiced," and ἐχάρη, "he was glad," differ from each other. The first denotes intense joy, a joyful stirring. The second denotes a calm joy. After the first, in other places, ὅτι commonly stands (cf. Mt 5:12). Here, however, ἵνα stands, because Abraham's state was a joyful desire and expectation. With joyful stirring he expected and desired to see the Savior's day. He saw it and was glad, ἐχάρη, that is, he was also calmed. As to when this happened, some think that Abraham's desire was fulfilled during his earthly pilgrimage (Heb 11:13). In that case, it was a contemplation of Christ's day from afar, by faith. It occurred either in a state of prophetic inspiration or through understanding the mysterious and typological meaning of some event in his life. An example is the offering of his son Isaac as a sacrifice (Heb 11:17-19). Others understand it this way. Throughout his whole life Abraham was moved with joy while awaiting the fulfillment of the promise concerning the Messiah. Then, when at last in his life beyond the grave he saw the day of the Messiah, he rejoiced with calm joy. In support of this understanding, besides the indicated difference in the meanings of the verbs, they point to the appearance of Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ. From this fact it is clear that the blessed righteous of the Old Testament had access, in their life beyond the grave, to the contemplation of Christ's day.

"I keep His word." Compare verse 51. The Lord's whole life was the full expression of the most perfect obedience to the divine will (Phil 2:8; Rom 5:19; Heb 5:8). That will is inseparable from His own will (cf. Jn 5:19, 30 and parallels).

By "Seed" Christ is meant, the Savior of the world. As God and as the Son of God, the Savior is eternal. Yet at the appointed time He was pleased to become incarnate for the salvation of men. This very time of the Incarnation of the Son of God and of His coming to earth Abraham foresaw with the eyes of faith and rejoiced.

There is, without doubt, a historical and economic difference between the revelation of the Old Testament and that of the New. Yet the essential content is one and the same in both. The Savior is one, and God is one.

The books of the Old Testament are holy for every Christian as divinely inspired Scripture. They are not like monuments of ancient pagan literature.

Nevertheless, the new revelation is not only the revelation of the same Godhead. It is a fuller and clearer revelation of the Godhead known through the ancient revelation. Therefore our reverence for the new revelation must be higher and deeper.

"And you have not known Him, but I know Him."

The revelation of God concerning God and Christ is one thing. The understanding of that revelation among the Hebrew people is another. The Savior says to the Jews: you do not know Him, the heavenly Father.

Does this reproach refer only to the contemporaries of Jesus? "You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you," says St Stephen (Acts 7:51).

The people of Israel were the chosen people, the best people. Yet their own monuments, the historical and prophetic books, clearly say that they understood God's revelation badly.

So they appeared also in their dealings with Christ Jesus. They do not recognize in Jesus the One of whom the prophets spoke. They fail to recognize Him because they formed false ideas of the Messiah and the God of the prophets.

In the tumult of earthly passions, they lost the pure concepts of the salvation of mankind. "I know Him," says the Savior.

This knowledge was not received from outside, as it is with men. It is the consequence of the inward consubstantiality of the Son with the Father.

The Savior says this because truth requires it. If He said otherwise, He would resemble the Jews, to whom lying is so characteristic. The faithfulness of such a testimony can be verified by deeds.

His whole life is dedicated to the glory of the heavenly Father. Thus it is not vainglory, but love of truth, that bears witness before the Jews that He knows the Father.

Therefore whoever values truth must value His testimony.

"Abraham your father rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."

The Jews vainly regard the greatness of Abraham as inaccessible to Jesus. On the contrary, Jesus is far higher than Abraham. He is the Messiah awaited by the father of believers.

The "day" of Jesus is "the time of His coming" (Cyril of Alexandria). This is explained by the Savior Himself in Jn 9:4-5. Otherwise, it is the time of light indicated by the prophets (2 Pet 1:19).

It is the time of salvation, "concerning which the prophets searched and inquired" (1 Pet 1:10-12). Abraham desired to see this day, and saw it with rapture.

How and when did Abraham see the time of Jesus Christ? Some suppose that he saw it in types, for example in the offering of his son as a sacrifice, as Zigabenus, Augustine, and Origen say.

But Jesus Christ distinguishes the expectation of the manifestation from the seeing. In the latter, He lets us see a special state of Abraham.

Abraham was not glad only when he received promises concerning the Messiah, or when he was instructed about Him through types. He saw with rapture the very time of Christ, or what is the same, His manifestation to the world.

When and how? By a revelation given in the life beyond the grave. This thought is confirmed by the example of Moses and Elijah, who appeared on Tabor and spoke with Jesus about the Cross (Mt 17:4).

Reading the Law and the Prophets, you failed to know the love and mercy of God in His sacred words. You were unable to enter into the meaning of His promises. To teach you, I, God in the flesh, came to earth. And I, as the Truth, cannot say that I do not know God, for I am God in the form of man. Therefore I reveal to you Myself and My Being, in accordance with the promises I gave in the covenant with your fathers. I cannot be a liar like you. Concerning the word translated as liar in the Slavonic text, it should be noted that, as a rendering of φεύστης, it means liar and not falsehood, φεῦδος, that is, untruth. The Slavonic word replaces the idea "lying" or "false." We note that in the Norov Greek-Slavonic New Testament of 1861 the word was printed incorrectly. All Synodal editions, however, preserve the correct form throughout.