And you have not his word abiding in you: for whom he has sent, him you believe not.
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Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Ye have not His word abiding (Arabic, made strong) in you, &c. The connection and subsequent argument of these words is obscure, which different writers explain in different ways.
1. You may explain them as a sort of concession, thus. "You, 0 ye scribes, when I allege the testimony of God My Father concerning Me, make objection that ye have not heard it, that ye have neither seen His face, nor His appearance, as Moses saw, whom ye profess to believe. I grant what you say, but I add that no one, not even Moses, heard God"s own voice, nor saw His appearance, nor His face. They only beheld that immense fire by which God was concealed, and heard a sound formed in the air by an angel, instead of God"s voice. For I alone, who am the Son of God by nature, have heard His real voice, and seen His appearance, or His Divine face, which I see continually. Nevertheless I urge upon you that ye have beard the voice of God giving attestation to Me, when at My baptism the Father publicly declared, Thi...
CHAPTER II. That the Son is the Image of God the Father, wherein also is an exposure of the Jews as not understanding the words darkly uttered by Moses.
One may see that not simple is the arrangement of ideas poured forth upon the passage before under consideration, but that it is a swarm of hidden contemplations, which very easily escapes the mind of uncritical hearers, and haply admits of being seen by those only who investigate more keenly. For what was it (will one perchance say) that induced Jesus, when He was saying that He was borne witness to by His God-befitting Operation, to come to something most exceeding remote as though it belonged to the subject? I mean that the Pharisees had neither at any time heard the Voice of God the Father nor seen His Form nor yet had His Word abiding in them. And I will agree, and so I suppose will every one else, that not without some cause is this their difficulty. What sense then we shall adapt to the passage before us, and what again we, o...
That is, the ordinances, the commandments, the Law, and the Prophets. For even if God ordained these, still they are not with you, since you believe not on Me. Because, if the Scriptures everywhere say that it is necessary to give heed to Me, and yet ye believe not, it is quite clear that His word is removed from you. Wherefore again He adds,
For whom He has sent, Him ye believe not.
Then that they may not argue, How, if we have not heard His voice, has He testified unto you? He says,
