My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
All Commentaries on John 10:29 Go To John 10
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
My Father which gave them Me is greater than all (the Vulgate and Latin fathers read "majus," the Greek fathers μείξων), and no one is able to pluck them out of My Father"s hand. Because the Divine Nature which the Father gave Me, and its almighty power, is greater than all created beings, even angels and devils, and as no one can pluck them out of My Father"s hand, so can they not pluck them out of My own, for the hand and the power of the Father and Myself are one and the same. (So S. Augustine, Bede, Maldonatus; and see S. Ambrose, de Spir. Sancto, iii18. S. Hilary, de Trin. lib. vii, and Tertullian, contra Praxeam). He says this against the Jews who regarded Him as a mere Prayer of Manasseh , "Know then that the Eternal Father gave Me a Divine Nature and Personality far higher than any created nature, whether angels or men." Others explain it, that the sheep committed to Me by the Father must be more highly valued by Me than anything else; and no one can pluck them either out of My Father"s hand, or out of My own hand. But the first explanation is both the most sublime, and most full of meaning.
S. Cyril explains it thus, "My Father has committed to Me, His Incarnate Song of Solomon , the care of His sheep. As God I have equal power with Him, and as man My hand is strengthened by the Almighty Hand of the Father." Whence the Interlinear Gloss explains the word "hand" by "Me, who am the Hand of the Father." For as S. Augustine says, "men call their "hands" those persons through whom they do what they wish." The two explanations come to the same thing.
