Augustinus, In Joannis Evangelium tractatus CIII-CXVI

dead with the Father, at Whose right hand He sits. When therefore He saw that the time of that predestined glorification of His had now come, so that now also there might come about in the rendering what had already been done in the predestination, He prayed, saying, And now glorify Thou Me, Father, with Thyself, with the glory which I had before the world was, with Thee: as if He were saying, The glory which I had with Thee, that is, that glory which I had with Thee in Thy predestination, it is time that I should have with Thee, living also at Thy right hand. But since the discussion of this question has held us long, the things that follow are to be treated in another sermon.

Tractate 106.

On what the Lord says, I have manifested Thy name to men; as far as this, And they have believed that Thou didst send Me. (John 17:6–8)

1. On these words of the Lord, as He Himself shall grant, we are going to discourse in this sermon, which run thus: I have manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world. Now if He says this only of those disciples with whom He supped, and to whom He spoke so many things before He began to pray, this does not belong to that clarification, or, as others have rendered it, glorification, of which He was speaking above, by which the Son clarifies or glorifies the Father. For how great or of what kind is the glory of having become known to twelve, or rather eleven, mortals? But if by what He says, I have manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world, He wished all to be understood, even those who were going to believe in Him, belonging to His great Church which was to be out of all nations, of which it is sung in the Psalm, In the great Church I will confess to Thee (Ps. 34:18), this is plainly that glorification by which the Son glorifies the Father, when He makes His name known to all nations and to so many generations of men. And this which He says, I have manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world, is of the same kind as what He had said a little before, I have glorified Thee upon the earth (John 17:4): in both places putting the past for the future tense, as one who knew that it was predestined that it should come to pass, and therefore saying that He had done what He was without any doubt going to do.

2. But that He said what He said, I have manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world, of those who were already His disciples, not of all who were going to believe in Him, the words that follow show to be more credible. For when He had said this, He added: They were Thine, and Thou gavest them to Me, and they have kept Thy word: now they have known that all things which Thou gavest Me are from Thee; for the words which Thou gavest Me I have given them: and they have received them, and have known truly that I came forth from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. Although all these things too could have been said of all the faithful to come, in hope already accomplished, while they were still in the future: yet that He is understood to speak these things of those disciples alone whom He then had, that presses the more which He says a little after, While I was with them, I kept them in Thy name: those whom Thou gavest Me I have guarded, and none of them has perished, except the son of perdition,

that the Scripture might be fulfilled; signifying Judas, who betrayed Him: for out of that number of twelve Apostles he alone perished. Then He adds: But now I come to Thee. From this it is plain that He had spoken of His bodily presence, When I was with them, I kept them, as though that presence were already no longer with them. For in this way He wished to signify His ascension, soon to come, of which He said, But now I come to Thee: being about to go, that is, to the right hand of the Father; whence He is to come to judge the living and the dead, likewise in bodily presence, according to the rule of faith and sound doctrine: for in spiritual presence He was certainly going to be with them after His ascension, and with His whole Church in this world even to the consummation of the age (Matt. 28:20). Therefore those of whom He said, When I was with them, I kept them, are not rightly understood to be any but these, whom, believing in Him, He had already begun to keep by His bodily presence, and whom He was about to leave by His bodily absence, so that He might keep them with the Father by His spiritual presence. But afterwards He adds His others as well, where He says: Not for these only do I ask, but also for those who shall believe in Me through their word. Here He shows more plainly that He was not speaking above of all who belong to Him, from the place where He says, I have manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me; but only of those who were listening to Him when He was saying these things.

3. So from the very opening of His prayer, where, with eyes lifted up to heaven, He said, Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee, up to what He says a little later, And now glorify Thou Me, Father, with Thyself, with the glory which I had before the world was, with Thee; He wished all His own to be understood, by making the Father known to whom He glorifies Him. For when He had said, that Thy Son may glorify Thee, He at once showed how this would come about, saying, As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that to all that Thou hast given Him He may give eternal life: and this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent (John 17:1–20). For the Father cannot be glorified by the knowledge of men unless He also is known through Whom He is glorified, that is, through Whom He becomes known to the peoples. This is the glorification of the Father, which was not wrought with respect to those Apostles alone, but is wrought with respect to all men, of whom, as His members, Christ is the head. For it cannot be understood of the Apostles alone, As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that to all that Thou hast given Him He may give eternal life; but certainly of all to whom, believing in Him, eternal life is given.

4. Now, then, let us see what He says about those disciples of His by whom He was then being heard. I have manifested, He says, Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me. Did they not, then, know the name of God, since they were Jews? And where is what is read, In Judaea God is known; in Israel His name is great (Ps. 75:2)? So: I have manifested Thy name to these men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world, who hear Me saying these things: not that name of Thine by which Thou art called God, but that by which Thou art called My Father; a name which could not be manifested without the manifestation of the Son Himself.

For inasmuch as He is called the God of the whole creation, this name could not have been altogether unknown even to all the nations before they believed in Christ. For such is the power of true divinity that it cannot be wholly and utterly hidden from a rational creature already using its reason. For, apart from a few in whom nature is excessively depraved, the whole human race confesses God as the maker of this world. In this, then, that He made this world, conspicuous with heaven and earth, God was known to all nations even before they were instructed in the faith of Christ. But in this, that He is not to be worshipped, to His own injury, together with false gods, God was known in Judaea. And in this, that He is the Father of this Christ, through Whom He takes away the sin of the world, this name of His, previously hidden from all, He has now manifested to those whom the Father Himself gave Him out of the world. But how did He manifest it, if the hour had not yet come of which He had spoken above, that the hour would come when, He says, I will no longer speak to you in proverbs, but will tell you openly of My Father (John 16:25)? Or will a manifest telling be thought to be in proverbs? Why then was it said, I will tell you openly, unless because what is in proverbs is not open? But what is not hidden in proverbs, but is made manifest in words, is without doubt spoken openly. How then did He manifest what He had not yet spoken openly? Accordingly it is to be understood that the past has been put for the future tense, as in that saying, All things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you (John 15:15): which He had not yet done, but spoke as if He had done it, because He knew that it was immovably fixed beforehand that He would do it.

5. But what is meant by, Whom Thou gavest Me out of the world? For it was said of them that they were not of the world. But this was granted them by regeneration, not by generation. What, too, is meant by what follows, Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to Me? Were they at some time the Father's, when they were not His only-begotten Son's; and did the Father at some time have something without the Son? Far from it. Nevertheless God the Son at some time had something which the same Son as man did not yet have; for He had not yet been made man from His mother, when He nevertheless had all things together with the Father. Therefore in saying, Thine they were, God the Son did not thereby separate Himself, without Whom the Father never had anything; but He is accustomed to ascribe all that He can do to Him from Whom He Himself is, Who can do it. For from Whom He has it that He is, from Him He has it that He can; and He has always had both together, because He never was without being able. Wherefore whatever the Father could, the Son always could together with Him; since He Who never was without being able was never without the Father, and the Father was never without Him. And for this reason, just as the Father is eternal and almighty, so the Son is coeternal and almighty; and if almighty, then certainly all-holding. For we render it rather word for word, if we wish to speak properly, what is called by the Greeks pantokrator: which our people would not have rendered thus, so as to say almighty, since pantokrator is all-holding, unless they had felt it to be worth just as much. What then could the eternal All-holding ever have had which the coeternal All-holding did not have at the same time? Since then He says, And Thou gavest them to Me, He shows that as man He received this power, that He should have them

since He Who was always omnipotent was not always man. Wherefore, although He may seem rather to have ascribed to the Father that He received them from Him, since whatever He is, He is from Him of Whom He is; yet He Himself also gave them to Himself, that is, Christ as God with the Father gave men to Christ as man, which with the Father He is not. Finally, He Who in this place says, Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to Me, had already said earlier to the same disciples, I have chosen you out of the world (John 15:19). Let carnal thinking be crushed here and perish. The Son says that men were given to Him by the Father out of the world, to whom in another place He says, I have chosen you out of the world. Those whom God the Son chose out of the world together with the Father, the same Son as man received out of the world from the Father: for the Father would not have given them to the Son, had He not chosen them. And therefore, just as the Son did not thereby separate the Father when He said, I have chosen you out of the world, since the Father also chose them together with Him: so He did not thereby separate Himself either when He said, Thine they were, since they were equally the Son's own as well. But now the same Son as man received those who were not His, because the same God also received the form of a servant, which was not His.

6. He goes on and says, And they have kept Thy word: now they have known that all things which Thou hast given Me are from Thee: that is, they have known that I am from Thee. For the Father gave all things at once, when He begot Him Who should have all things. For the words, He says, which Thou gavest Me, I have given to them, and they have received them: that is, they have understood and held fast. For the word is received then, when it is grasped by the mind. And they have known, He says, truly that I came forth from Thee, and they have believed that Thou didst send Me. Here too truly is to be understood: for what He said, they have known truly, He wished to explain by adding, and they have believed. This therefore they have believed truly, which they have known truly: for I came forth from Thee is the same as Thou didst send Me. When therefore He had said, they have known truly, lest anyone should think that this knowledge had already come about by sight, not by faith, He added by way of explanation, and they have believed, so that we should understand truly, and understand that this was said, they have known truly, which is, they have believed truly: not in the way which He signified a little before, when He said, Do you now believe? The hour is coming, and has now come, that you will be scattered each one to his own, and will leave Me alone (John 16:31–32). But they have believed truly, that is, as one ought to believe, unshakably, firmly, steadfastly, strongly; no longer about to return to their own and abandon Christ. As yet, therefore, the disciples were not such as He describes them with words of the past tense, as though they already were so, foretelling what they would be, namely once they had received the Holy Spirit, Who, as was promised, would teach them all things. Before they received Him, how did they keep His word, which He said of them as though they had done it, when the first of them denied Him three times (Matt. 26:69–74), after he had heard from His mouth what would befall the man who should deny Him before men (Matt. 10:33)? He gave them therefore the words, as He said, which the Father gave Him: but when they received them not outwardly in their ears, but inwardly in their hearts spiritually, then they truly received them, because then they truly knew; and they truly knew because they truly believed.