All things that the Father has are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.
All Commentaries on John 16:15 Go To John 16
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
All things that the Father hath are Mine. For all things, saying His paternity (says the Council of Florence), the Father, by begetting the Song of Solomon , communicated to Him. He therefore communicated to the Son the power of breathing forth the Holy Spirit, which He Himself has. He therefore adds in explanation, "Therefore I said, He shall receive of Mine and shall declare it to you. By using the Name Father He declared Himself to be the Song of Solomon , but did not claim the Paternity, as Sabellius taught. But all things which the Father hath in His substance, His eternity, His unchangeableness, His goodness—all these hath the Son also." And S. Hilary (de Trinit. lib. viii.) says, "He teaches that all things which are to be received from the Father, are yet received from Himself, for all things the Father hath are His. The general statement (universitas) does not admit of distinction." And hence it is again inferred that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Song of Solomon , for the Son hath all things which the Father hath, saving His Paternity. But the Father has actively the power of breathing forth the Holy Spirit, therefore the Son hath the same. For if the Father and the Son had not all things in common, saving their opposite relation to each other [as Father and Son], they would be distinguished by more than relation, and consequently be diverse in substance. For the Father as breathing forth [the Spirit] is not correlative to the Son. And therefore if He is distinguished from the Son by His breathing forth the Spirit, He is distinguished by it, not as something relative, but as a kind of "form" subsisting in the Father, and therefore the Father and the Son differ in substance, which is the Arian heresy.
