| 48. Qui spernit me, et non accipit verba mea, habet qui iudicet eum: sermo quem locutus sum, ille iudicabit eum in novissimo die. | 48. He that despiseth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. |
48. Hath one that judgeth him; namely, the Father ([viii. 50]). Hence the sense of the verse is that he that despiseth Me ... hath one that [pg 225] judgeth him even now; and moreover, on the last day My words shall rise in judgment against him.
| 49. Quia ego ex meipso non sum locutus, sed qui misit me Pater, ipse mihi mandatum dedit quid dicam, et quid loquar. | 49. For I have not spoken of myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me commandment what I should say, and what I should speak. |
49. This verse gives the reason why the words of Christ shall stand in judgment against the unbeliever; because His words were not merely His own, uttered by His private authority, but spoken by the command of His Father, whom therefore they despise, in despising Him. In our view Christ here speaks of Himself as man.
If say and speak are to be distinguished, then “say” (εἴπω) refers to the formal discourses, “speak” (λαλήσω) to the ordinary conversations; so that in all His words Christ had spoken to them the words of God.
| 50. Et scio quia mandatum eius vita aeterna est. Quae ergo ego loquor, sicut dixit mihi Pater, sic loquor. | 50. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting. The things therefore that I speak; even as the Father said unto me, so do I speak. |
50. To show them their folly, and in the hope of yet inducing them to believe, He tells them He knows with certainty that the command of the Father (that is, what the Father had commanded Him to say and do, and hence, all His own words and works) is the cause of life eternal to mankind. Hence their folly in not believing.
The things therefore that I speak; even as the Father said unto me, so do I speak. Thus He concludes, insisting on the fact that He is the legate of God (consubstantial with the Father, verse 45), and as such worthy to be believed.