So also in another place He says: "I came not to judge the world, but to save it" (Jn. 12:47). And that He is the Judge of all, hear the truthful lips: "The Father has given all judgment to the Son" (Jn. 5:22). 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: not I alone condemn you, but the Father also. For I do not judge one way and the Father another, but as I judge, so does He, and as He judges, so do I.
Jn. 8:17. And in your law it is written that the testimony of two men is true.
The Arians and Eunomians, who do not acknowledge the Son as Consubstantial with the Father, let them say here: "If He were not Consubstantial, how would He have dared to say, 'I have testimony and credibility the same as the Father'?"
As two people testify about something and their testimony is true (Deut. 19:15), it is evident that their credibility is also equal. So here too He proves that His own testimony is in no way inferior to the testimony of the Father. For listen with what authority He speaks further:
Jn. 8:18. I bear witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.
Do you see the equality of authority, and how He presents Himself as equally trustworthy as the Father? He would not have dared to say this if He were lower in dignity than the Father and were not equal to Him and Consubstantial. For if He had wanted to show that He is in any way inferior to the Father and less than Him, He would not have numbered Himself with the Father, nor would He have placed His own testimony alongside the testimony of the Father, but, being a slave, as the heretics blasphemously claim, He would have turned to one of His fellow slaves and made him a co-witness — for example, John or Moses; and in general, if He had desired such testimonies, He would have found a multitude of them. But now He wishes to show His Consubstantiality with the Father, and therefore He numbers Himself with the Father. If in other places He brings forward John, Moses, and the prophets as witnesses concerning Himself, do not be surprised at this. He does this in accommodation to the understanding of His listeners. They regarded John and Moses as greater than Him; therefore He brings forward the testimony of those whom they considered glorious and great. They had a lofty conception of God the Father. For what else did they glorify, if not God? Therefore now He also brings forward as witness Him Himself, the God Who is over all. And since He places Himself alongside such an infallible and truthful Witness, it is quite evident that He possesses the same importance and authority as the Father. And those who call Him a slave and in every respect less than the Father should be put to shame.
Jn. 8:19. Then they said to Him: Where is Your Father?
Others think that the Jews said to the Lord "where is Your Father" as an insult and reproach. Since His supposed father Joseph was poor, by the words "where is Your Father" the Jews were saying, as it were: "Your Father is obscure and of low birth, so why do You constantly remind us of Him?"
Jn. 8:19. Jesus answered: you know neither Me, nor My Father;
Since they were asking Him about the Father by way of temptation, and not with the purpose of learning the truth, He does not deem them worthy of an answer, but says: "You know neither Me nor My Father," that is, you cannot know My Father without Me. Although you think that you honor God, since you do not believe that He is Father to Me, His true Son, there is no benefit for you in this. You do not even know Him as He ought to be known. Otherwise you would have known and honored Me as well. But since now you neither know nor honor Me, you do not know Him either, nor do you render Him honor, although you think the opposite. And that you do not know Me — no one else is to blame for this but yourselves.
Jn. 8:19. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.
Do you hear, O impious one who subordinates the Son to the Father? If He were not Consubstantial with the Father, how could He have said that "if you had known Me, you would have known the Father also"? For if, in your opinion, the Son is a creature, how does one who knows a creature also know God? He who knows the nature of an angel does not yet thereby know the Nature of God. But if he who knows the Son also knows the Father, then the Son is truly of one and the same Nature with the Father. Will you maintain that those who know a creature also know God? By no means. For many, and indeed all, see and know the creature, but God no one sees or knows.
Jn. 8:20. These words Jesus spoke at the treasury, when He taught in the temple; and no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come.
"These words Jesus spoke at the treasury, when He taught in the temple." Thus He conducted Himself boldly! And yet, those who breathed murder against Him, having Him in their hands, did not dare to take Him. And still they did not understand that it was a deed of truly divine power that He, surrounded by enemies, remained among them unharmed and untouchable, while before Passover they had been seeking Him and lying in wait for Him. The One whom they sought when He was absent, and against whom they raged even in His absence — Him, when He was in the midst of their snares, they could not take. And despite all this, they did not acknowledge His power, because His hour had not yet come, that is, the appointed time of His death had not yet arrived, at which He intended to give Himself over to it. For even then they could have done nothing to Him, had the determined time not come, which He Himself had appointed for Himself. The crucifixion was not an act of powerlessness, but of permission; for He permitted it when He willed. They had long desired to put Him to death, but were restrained by the invisible bonds of His power. For He needed to remain longer alive in the flesh, so as to bring people greater benefit through the working of greater miracles and the delivery of greater teaching.
Jn. 8:21. Again Jesus said to them: I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.
Jn. 8:22. Here the Jews were saying: "Will He kill Himself, that He says: 'Where I am going, you cannot come'?"
Why does He so often say to them, "I am going away, and you will seek Me"? In order to shake and terrify their souls. For see what concern they immediately fell into. In perplexity they say, "Will He kill Himself?" Although they wanted to be rid of Him, asked Him to depart from them, and even wanted to kill Him, nevertheless they regarded the present circumstance as so important that they were thrown into perplexity by it.
"I am going away." He says this often, also in order to show that He knows beforehand about His death, and that the Cross is a matter not of their power, but of His own will. "I," He says, "am going away": you are not leading Me, but I go voluntarily.
"Where I go, you cannot come." By these words He shows that He will truly rise in glory and sit at the right hand of God, while they will die in their sins. What then do they say to this? "Will He kill Himself?"
Jn. 8:23. He said to them: you are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.
Rejecting such a supposition of theirs and showing that suicide is a criminal act, the Lord says: "You are from beneath, and cannot conceive of anything divine, therefore it is natural for you to think this way; but I am not of this world, that is, I care for nothing worldly and earthly, and therefore I can never reach such madness as to kill Myself. For this is a demonic act, not a divine one."
Here Apollinarius, seizing upon this saying, says after the Manichaeans: "Do you see, the body of the Lord was not of this world, but from above, from heaven; as Paul also says, 'The second Man is the Lord from heaven' (1 Cor. 15:47)." What then must be said? One should ask him how he understands the Lord's words to the apostles: "You are not of the world" (John 15:19) — does he really mean that they too had bodies from heaven, and not from this creation? Or did the Lord say this because they did not care about the goods of this world? In the same way one must understand these words, "I am not of this world," that is, I am not what you are, you who care about worldly things.
In a similar manner, Paul also says to some: "You are not in the flesh" (Rom. 8:9), saying this not because they are bodiless, but testifying to their love of wisdom and freedom from fleshly passions.
Jn. 8:24. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.