Chapter XVI.
1. (Verse 1.). These things I have spoken to you etc. Here, fifth, he arms his disciples for patience, so that they may not fail on account of tribulations, but endure them; therefore he says: These things I have spoken to you, that you may not be scandalized: because, as Gregory says, "arrows that are foreseen strike less forcefully, and we endure the evils of the world more tolerably if we are fortified against them by the shield of foresight." Therefore he forearms them concerning future tribulation.
2. (Verse 2.). They will put you out of the synagogues: Acts 8: "There arose a great persecution against the Church which was at Jerusalem, and they were all dispersed through the regions of Judea and Samaria." And the reason for this bitter persecution is added: But the hour comes, that whoever kills you will think that he is offering service to God. That hour was the time of the preaching of the Apostles; then, by killing them, they thought they were doing well; whence there is an example in Paul, Acts 9, who "asked for letters from the chief priests to Damascus, that if he found any" etc. But such thinking has its origin in unbelief; and therefore he says:
3. (Verse 3.). And these things they will do to you, because they have not known the Father nor me, that is, on account of ignorance and unbelief. There is an example in Paul, 1 Timothy 1: "I was a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, but I did it ignorantly in unbelief." Against these evils, therefore, he arms the disciples by foretelling them; whence he says:
4. (Verse 4.). But these things I have spoken to you, that when the hour of them shall come , in which they will persecute you, you may remember that I told you. Remembrance and memory of the words of God avails greatly for enduring all evils; conversely, forgetfulness is harmful: therefore Deuteronomy 8: "Beware lest you forget the Lord your God and neglect his commandments." The recollection of God's words raises up and directs a person; whence it is said in Matthew 26: "Peter remembered the word of Jesus, and going out, wept bitterly"; the Psalm: "All the ends of the earth shall remember and shall be converted to the Lord."
QUESTIONS.
5. Question I. But it is asked here first concerning what he says: They have not known me; it is asked whether the Pharisees themselves knew Christ.
That they did, it seems:
1. Because it is said in Matthew 21 in the parable of the vineyard: Those husbandmen said: This is the heir: come, let us kill him.
2. Likewise, in the text it is said: But now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father: therefore they knowingly hated him.
But against this: I. Because Acts 3: And now, brethren, I know that you did it through ignorance, as did also your rulers: therefore the rulers killed Christ through ignorance: therefore they did not know him.
2. Likewise, 1 Corinthians 2: If they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory: therefore they did not know Christ.
I respond: It must be said that Christ was both God and the Messiah, that is, the prince promised in the Law. It must be said, therefore, that the wicked Jews knew that he was the Christ promised to them, and that he was truthful and innocent; but that he was the Son of God, they did not know. For because they attacked the truth they had recognized, wishing to show that he was neither good nor holy, they were therefore blinded, so that they did not recognize the Divinity in him whose humanity they hated.
What is said, therefore, either that they knew or that they did not, the knowledge must be referred to different objects known.
Others refer it to different times, that in the beginning they knew, but afterwards, by attacking through malice, they were blinded.
6. Question II. Likewise, there is a question about what he says: If I had not come and had not spoken to them, they would not have sin.
1. Therefore, according to this reasoning, those who do not hear and do not believe are not condemned for unbelief; which is manifestly false, because no one is saved without faith.
2. Likewise, according to this, the Tyrians and Sidonians, who did not believe, will not be condemned: which is manifestly false by the testimony of the Gospel.
I respond: It must be said that by way of eminence, different kinds of sins are given to be understood under the general name of sin, but chiefly among others the sin against the Holy Spirit, which is purely sin, admitting no excuse. By the name of sin, therefore, is understood here the sin against the Holy Spirit, which was added to the sin of unbelief: and this the Jews would not have had, but would only have remained in unbelief, if the Lord had not manifested himself to them through open signs.
7. Question III. Likewise, there is a question about what he says: If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, etc.
1. This seems false, because we read of greater and more wondrous signs in the Old Testament. For we read that the Red Sea was divided, and the Jordan, that men were fed from heaven for forty years, that the dead were raised, and many such things.
2. Likewise, the Lord himself says: He who believes in me will do greater things than these: therefore the sign of works was not a certain sign nor a singular one that he was the Christ.
To this the Gloss responds that it is not understood of miraculous works, but of wondrous works, such as that a woman encompassed a man, and that he was born of a Virgin, and similar things.
But that does not solve it, because these things were not known to them.
Therefore it must be said otherwise: either that this is said with respect to the multitude and diversity of works, because no one had ever performed so many miracles, and so varied and diverse, as Christ did.