Jn. 10:35. If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken,
Jn. 10:36. Do you say to Him Whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world: 'You blaspheme,' because I said: 'I am the Son of God'?
He calls the book of David "Law," as indeed all of Scripture. His words have this meaning: if those who received deification by grace are gods (Ps. 81:6), and this is not imputed to them as a fault, then what justice is there when you condemn Me, Who am God by nature, Whom the Father sanctified, that is, set apart for sacrifice for the world? For that which is set apart for God is called holy. Clearly, when the Father sanctified Me and appointed Me for the salvation of the world, I am not equal to the other gods, but am the true God. And if those to whom the Word of God came — that is, I, for I am the Word of God, and having dwelt in them, I granted them adoption — if they are gods, then all the more can I call Myself God without any fault, I Who am God by My very Nature and grant deification to others.
Let the Arians and Nestorians be put to shame by these words. For Christ is the Son of God and God by Essence and Nature, and not a creature, and He grants deification to the rest, to whom the Word of God came, and is not Himself deified by grace. Clearly, by these present words He distinguishes Himself from those deified by grace and shows that He, being the Word of God and having dwelt in them, bestowed deification upon them. For this is what is meant by the words "to whom the Word of God came" — with whom it was, in whom it dwelt.
How then do I blaspheme when I call Myself the Son of God? For although I bear flesh and descend from the lineage of David, you do not know the mystery, namely that the fleshly human nature could not otherwise receive communion with God unless He appeared to it in the flesh, as if under a veil.
Jn. 10:37. If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;
Jn. 10:38. If I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me and I in Him.
"Do you wish," He says, "to know My equality with the Father?" You cannot know the equality according to Essence, because it is impossible to know the Essence of God; but accept the equality and identity of works as proof of the identity of power, for the works will be testimony for you of My Divinity. And you will know and believe that I am nothing other than the Father. For while remaining the Son and being distinct in Person, I have one and the same Essence; just as the Father also, while remaining the Father and being distinct in Person, is nothing other than the Son, that is, in Essence and Nature. Although We are distinguished by Persons, the Persons are inseparable and indivisible, and the Father and the Son abide in one another without confusion.
Among us, a father exists separately from a son, though they are one by nature. But in the Divine Persons it is not as it is among us; rather, They abide one in another without confusion. Therefore, concerning us it is said "three men," for we are separate Persons and do not properly constitute one; but of the Holy Trinity it is said "one" God, and not three, because the Persons abide together with One Another without confusion. Add to this the identity of will and desire.
Jn. 10:39. Then they sought again to seize Him; but He escaped out of their hands,
They seek to seize the Lord, unable to bear His lofty testimony about Himself, for they could not endure His sublime theology. But He withdraws, yielding to their anger and arranging it so that through His withdrawal the passion of their anger might subside. He withdraws against their will, in order to show (as we have said many times) that He would not have been taken to the cross either, had He not delivered Himself up voluntarily.
Jn. 10:40. And He went away again beyond the Jordan, to the place where John was baptizing at first, and stayed there.
Where then does He withdraw to? Beyond the Jordan, to the place where John was baptizing. He did not withdraw there without purpose, but in order to remind many of what had happened there and what John had said about Him.
Jn. 10:41. Many came to Him and said that John performed no miracle, but everything that John said about Him was true.
That His stay here benefited many is evident from the fact that the Evangelist adds: "Many came to Him and, remembering this place, said that John performed no miracle." Their words have this meaning: if we believed him (John), even though he performed no miracle, then all the more should we believe This One (Jesus), since He performed so many miracles.
Since John had already testified about Christ, yet performed no miracle and therefore could have been considered unreliable, the Evangelist adds: "All that John said about Him was true."
Jn. 10:42. And many there believed in Him.
They attribute faith not to Jesus on the testimony of John, but to John on account of the works that Jesus performed. "Therefore," he says, "many believed there." The word "there" shows that the place brought them much benefit. For this reason Jesus often leads the people out to deserted places and removes them from the company of evil men, so that more fruit might be produced. So, it seems, He did also in the Old Testament: He led them out of Egypt and in the wilderness formed and established the people, giving them the Law.
Note that the departure of Christ is accomplished also in a spiritual sense. He departs from Jerusalem, that is, from the Jewish people, and passes to a place having springs, that is, to the Church from the Gentiles, having the springs of baptism. And many come to Him, passing through baptism. For "beyond the Jordan" means this, that is, the passage through baptism. For no one comes to Jesus and becomes truly faithful otherwise than by passing through baptism, which is signified by the Jordan.