And you have not his word abiding in you: for whom he has sent, him you believe not.
All Commentaries on John 5:38 Go To John 5
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Ye have not His word abiding (Arabic, made strong) in you, &c. The connection and subsequent argument of these words is obscure, which different writers explain in different ways.
1. You may explain them as a sort of concession, thus. "You, 0 ye scribes, when I allege the testimony of God My Father concerning Me, make objection that ye have not heard it, that ye have neither seen His face, nor His appearance, as Moses saw, whom ye profess to believe. I grant what you say, but I add that no one, not even Moses, heard God"s own voice, nor saw His appearance, nor His face. They only beheld that immense fire by which God was concealed, and heard a sound formed in the air by an angel, instead of God"s voice. For I alone, who am the Son of God by nature, have heard His real voice, and seen His appearance, or His Divine face, which I see continually. Nevertheless I urge upon you that ye have beard the voice of God giving attestation to Me, when at My baptism the Father publicly declared, This is My beloved Song of Solomon , in whom I am well pleased. Again, ye have heard the word of God concerning Me in the Holy Scriptures, Moses and the prophets, who bear witness that I am the Messiah. But ye, although ye have heard this word and testimony of God concerning Me, yet have it not abiding in you, because ye receive not in your minds, nor understand, nor believe it, inasmuch as ye do not believe in Me, as sent by God. In this ye gravely err and sin. For if ye have heard the word of an angel in God"s stead speaking with Moses as His servant, and believe him, much more ought ye to believe the Word of God bearing witness to Me that I am His Song of Solomon , especially since Moses bears witness to Me, and bids you to hearken unto Me, as follows. So Euthymius. This meaning seems clear, plain, and true.
2. However, S. Hilary (lib9 , de Trin.) thus connects and expounds this whole passage. "This is why ye have not heard His voice, nor seen His appearance, neither doth His word abide in you, because ye do not believe in Me." As though it were said, "If ye would believe in Me, ye would hear the Father"s voice, and see His appearance. For he that seeth Me seeth the Father also. In like manner, he that heareth Me heareth the Father also, and the word of the Father abideth in him."
3. SS. Cyril and Chrysostom think that these words were spoken to confound the Jews, who boasted that they had heard and seen God promulging the Decalogue on Sinai. "Ye boast falsely, 0 ye Jews, that ye have seen and heard God on Sinai, for God is a pure Spirit. Wherefore that voice which ye heard, and that appearance of fire which ye saw on Sinai, was neither the voice nor the true appearance of God, but only a corporeal symbol and figure, shadowing forth to you who are fleshly and ignorant the invisible Godhead."
4. S. Athanasius (lib4 , cont. Arian.) by the Word, Greek, λόγος, understands Christ the Son of God, who is the Word of the Father. This he asserts is aptly joined with the appearance and form of God, because He is the character, and the lively image of the Father. And the meaning Isaiah , "Ye have not heard the voice of God, nor seen His form; and when there remained for you one only way to do this, by believing in Me, who am the Word of the Father, and the image of His Substance (or Person), whom whosoever seeth sees also the Father, ye despise this way, and will not believe Me. Wherefore ye know not the Father, and are deprived of Divine knowledge."
5. Toletus: "Ye, 0 ye Jews, being terrified by the voice of the angel"s trumpet, and by the fire that lightened on Sinai, asked that ye might not hear any more that terrible voice, nor see the dreadful fire, but that God might speak to you by Moses as a mediator. But you keep not the promise by which you bound yourselves. You accepted the stipulation that ye would hear the Prophet of your own nation whom He should send. But His word and compact abide not in you, because what ye promised ye are not willing to fulfil. For, behold, I am He whom He has sent, and ye neither believe Me, nor hear Me, as ye promised."
The first meaning seems the best and most apposite.
