Jesus cried and said,
He that believes on me, believes not on me, but on him that sent me.
All Commentaries on John 12:44 Go To John 12
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me ("only" as adds the Arabic version) but (also) on Him that sent Me. It is uncertain whether Jesus said these words at the same time as those which precede them (ver35), as Maldonatus thinks, i.e, before he hid Himself and withdrew (as I said, ver36), being there mentioned by anticipation, when in the regular order it should be placed at the end of the chapter; or at another time, as Theophylact supposes. It is in fact a question to be solved. For Christ in these last three days of His life, came back in the morning to the Temple. But when He saw that some believed not, and that others believed but did not dare to profess their faith, for shame, and for fear of the Pharisees, He cried with a loud voice, to drive away this shame and fear: "He that believeth in Me" believeth not in a mere poor and wretched Prayer of Manasseh , but in a man who is also God, and he therefore "believes in God who sent Me," in God the Father with Whom I am consubstantial. Be not ashamed of my poverty and humility, for though I am outwardly poor and humble, yet in my inward nature I am rich and highly exalted. For I am God of God. And therefore he that believeth in Me believeth in God. But what is more noble and glorious than to believe in God? What can he fear or be ashamed of who believes in God? S. Cyril adds, "Jesus cried out to signify that He did not wish to be worshipped in a cowardly and stealthy way, but that He wished us boldly and clearly to profess and proclaim the faith." "Again He cried out," says Rupertus, "because He had but little time left Him to preach in. He then who wishes to hear Me, to believe and be saved, should do so at once, for after three days no one will be able to hear Me." And so S. Chrysostom says, "Why do ye fear to believe in Me? Faith in God comes through Me. just as he who drinks the water of the river, drinks he not of the source?" And S. Augustine, "Because the manhood only appeared to men, and the Godhead was latent, lest they should think Him to be only that which they saw (a man), and He wished Himself to be believed in (as God) the same and as great as the Father; He saith, "He that believeth in Me, believeth not in Me," that Isaiah , in that which He seeth, "but in Him who sent Me, that Isaiah , in the Father.""
It Isaiah , however, quite plain that the Son is God, consubstantial with God the Father. The Arians denied this, and objected: He who believeth in the Apostles who were sent by God, believeth in God, and yet does not believe that the Apostles are gods. I reply by denying the conclusion. We believe the Apostles, but not in the Apostles. But Christ here says, "He who believeth in Me, believeth in Him who sent Me." But no one believes in any one, excepting in Him who is God. If, then, we believe in Christ, we believe that He is God: and since there is but one God, we believe that He is numerically the same God with God the Father. And therefore He says, "He that believeth in Me, believeth in Him that sent Me;" He who believes in Me as God the Song of Solomon , believes also in God My Father, for we have both one nature and one majesty. So SS. Augustine, Cyril, Theophylact, Euthymius, and others. Whence Christ adds, to make it clearer still, —
