These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time comes, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father.
All Commentaries on John 16:25 Go To John 16
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
These things have I spoken to you in proverbs; but the cometh when I shall no longer speak unto you in Proverbs , but shall show you plainly of the Father. I said (Preface to Prov.) that a proverb, parable, and adage often meant the same thing, viz, some occult, obscure, and mysterious saying, though it does not contain a parable. This is the meaning here. What I have said about "a little while," "the Holy Spirit," "My departure to the Father," "your joy," &c, seems to you now obscure and enigmatical. But you will soon have full experience of them, both by My own teaching in the forty days, when I shall make known to you the meaning of Holy Scripture (Acts i3), and more fully by the Holy Spirit, whom I will send to you at Pentecost, to teach you clearly and distinctly the mysteries of the faith, and to inflame you with the love of them. So S. Augustine, Bede, Maldonatus, and others. S. Gregory (Moral. xxx5) refers this promise to the state of blessedness in heaven, for there it will be most abundantly fulfilled, when we shall see God face to face.
