At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
Read Chapter 14
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
In that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, &c. After I have risen again, and ascended into heaven, and sent you the Holy Ghost, ye shall by His illumination know these three things more clearly and certainly, viz, that I am in the Father, by the unity of the Divine Essence, that is to say, that I am true God2. That ye may be in Me through Love, through the special guardianship which I have over you. Cyril adds a deeper meaning, "That ye may be in Me through union of substance. For since I have assumed human flesh, I have united the whole nature of Prayer of Manasseh , and as it were all men to Myself3. That I may be in you as inhabiting, illuminating, and directing you to all good, and to everlasting life in heaven by My grace. Wherefore, says the Interlinear, ye shall know that I am in the Father, as a ray of light in the sun, one with Him, and ye in Me as branches in the vine, and I in you, as the vine in a branch, causing (heavenly) sap, and the life of grace to flow into you...
The meaning of the passage before us is somewhat hard to reach, and as it were demands that the inquiry applied to it be keen, and imposes very considerable delay on our discourse: howbeit we believe that Christ will once more direct us into truth. Now some, albeit among the number of those once supposed among the impious heretics to be of eminence, refusing malignantly to confess that the Son is of the essence of God the Father, and is therefore in Him, conceive that the union is an accidental one and not one of nature; and in fact they have written----belching forth thereby what proceeds from their own minds, not from the Holy Spirit----that, forasmuch as the Son is loved by the Father, and Himself loves the Father in return, it is after this sort that He is in Him. And these demented men bring as a proof hard to overthrow, the words attached to the clause before us, to wit concerning us and Him; and indeed they say, resting withal their blasphemies on the staff of a reed, that as we...
In that day, when I am risen again, or when the Holy Spirit is come, you shall know that I am in the Father, and how, and in what manner: as also, how I am in you, and you in me. Our Saviour Christ, on several occasions, speaks of different ways of being united, or of being one; as first, of being one in nature and substance, and by such an union, as agrees only with the divine persons, who are one in all things. 2ndly, Persons may be one, or united in affection and love, which also, as to its most perfect manner, agrees only with the three divine persons; but a similitude, and an imitation of this union of love, is found among creatures, both when they love God, and when for God's sake, they love one another: yet these unions are as different as God, and his creatures. The Arians and Socinians lay hold on these expressions, and of the words, (chap. xvii. ver. 21.) when Christ prays, that his disciples may be one, as he and his Father are one, which words imply no more than a similitud...
With regard to the Father, these words refer to Essence; with regard to the disciples, to agreement of mind and help from God. And how, tell me, is this reasonable? says some one. And how, pray, is the contrary reasonable? For great and altogether boundless is the interval between Christ and the disciples. And if the same words are employed, marvel not; for the Scripture is often wont to use in different senses the same words, when applied to God and to men. Thus we are called gods, and sons of God, yet the word has not the same force when applied to us and to God. And the Son is called Image, and Glory; so are we, but great is the interval between us. Again, You are Christ's, and Christ is God's 1 Corinthians 3:23, but not in like manner as Christ is God's are we Christ's. But what is it that He says? When I am arisen, He says, -->you shall know that I am not separated from the Father, but have the same power with Him, and that I am with you continually, when facts proclaim the aid wh...
