For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me.
Read Chapter 6
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
For I came down, &c Christ gives the reason why He will not cast out him whom the Father hath given Him, viz, because He Himself came in flesh, and into the world, for this end alone, that He might do the Father"s will, which Isaiah , that those whom the Father wills to give to Him, and to save, Christ should accept and save. This is why He adds in explanation, This is His will, &c. Listen to S. Cyril in the Council of Ephesus, profoundly handling these things. "When He adds that He was accomplishing not His own, but His Father"s will, He quells indirectly the madness of the Jews, who were always labouring to bring about their own will, and holding cheap the Divine laws, and making of no value what was pleasing to their Lord- whilst, I say, He here openly commends their prompt profession of obedience, He nevertheless darkly rebukes their rebellion."
Therefore eternal and divine things are to be followed, and all things must be done after the will of God, that we may follow the divine footsteps and teachings of our Lord, who warned us, and said, "I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me.".
And in another place He says, "I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me.".
In the Gospel according to John: "I came not down from heaven to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me."
CHAPTER I. That in nothing is the Son inferior to God the Father, because He is of Him by Nature, although He be said by some to be subject.
This passage will seem hard to a person who considers it superficially, and not far removed from offence regarding the faith, so that they even expect us hence to fall into difficulties hard to be overcome, which come from our opponents. But there is nothing at all hard herein, for all things are plain to them that understand, as it is written, and right to them that find knowledge, that is to those who piously study to interpret and understand the mysteries contained in the Divine Scriptures. In these words then Christ gives us a kind of proof and manifest assurance that he that cometh to Him shall not be cast out. For for this cause (saith He) I came down from Heaven, that is, I became Man according to the good pleasure of God the Father, and refused not to be employed in all but undesired works, until I should attain for them that believe on...
Christ does not say this as if he did not whatever he wished; but he recommends to us his humility. He who comes to me shall not be cast forth, but shall be incorporated with me, because he shall not do his own will, but that of my Father. And therefore he shall not be cast forth; because when he was proud, he did his own will, and was rejected. None but the humble can come to me. (St. Hilary and St. Augustine)
An humble and sincere faith is essentially necessary to believe the great mysteries of the Catholic faith, by means of which we come to God and believe in God. (Haydock)
You have (then) the restoration of the entire man, inasmuch as the Lord purposes to save that part of him which perishes, whilst he will not of course lose that portion which cannot be lost, Who will any longer doubt of the safety of both natures, when one of them is to obtain salvation, and the other is not to lose it? And, still further, the Lord explains to us the meaning of the thing when He says: "I came not to do my own will, but the Father's, who hath sent me.".
And it is not His own will, but the Father's, which He has accomplished,
