The Holy Ghost gave glory to Christ before men by showing that Christ was the Messias and Saviour of the world. This He did principally through the Apostles, by imparting to them (in so far it was necessary or useful for them) the knowledge which He had received from the Son, and especially, as the context here (verse 16) proves, the knowledge of future things. In the words, “He shall receive of mine,” we refer “mine” to the Son's knowledge, which, however, in reality does not differ in a Divine Person from His essence.[105]
As we remarked already on verse 13, a Divine Person (having no other nature than the Divine), cannot be conceived to receive anything except in His procession; and hence when the Holy Ghost is here said to receive from the Son, we have a convincing proof that He proceeds from the Son.
The schismatical Greeks attempted in two ways to get rid of the argument that is thus afforded for the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son.
(a) First, they supplied πατρός after τοῦ ἐμοῦ, and thus represented Christ as saying that the Holy Ghost should receive from the Father. Hence they concluded that He proceeds only from the Father. But we say in reply—(1) that it is against the rules of Greek syntax that the possessive pronoun τοῦ ἐμοῦ should refer to a word not expressed in the phrase. (2) That all the fathers, Greek as well as Latin, referred τοῦ ἐμοῦ to what is in the Son and not to the Father. (3) The context here Proves that τοῦ ἐμοῦ does not refer to the Father. For in verse 15 we have the pronoun repeated in the plural: “All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine (ἐμά ἐστιν). Therefore I said, he shall receive of mine,” and it is plain that in both instances mine refers to the same thing; hence not to the Father, but to what is in the Son, communicated from the Father.
(b) Equally inadmissible is the other interpretation by which it was attempted to explain away this text. According to this second view, Christ's words would mean: The Holy Ghost shall glorify Me because He shall receive of Mine from My Father, and shall show it to you. But there is nothing to justify this insertion of the words “from My Father;” on the contrary, the whole context points to the fact that the Holy Ghost is to receive what is the Son's (of mine) from the Son Himself. For since the Holy Ghost in reality glorified the Father and Himself as well as the Son, when we find it here stated that He shall glorify the Son, because He shall receive of Him, the natural inference is, that He receives from Him directly, and not merely through the Father. Besides, when the text distinctly states that the Holy Ghost shall receive of the Son, it is wholly arbitrary and really not an interpretation of the words at all to say that He receives of the Son through the Father, and not directly of the Son Himself.
Hence the words of this verse plainly mean that the Holy Ghost receives from the Son, and consequently, as we saw above on verse 13, afford a proof that He proceeds from the [pg 286] Son, just as those of xv. 26 prove that He proceeds from the Father. He proceeds, therefore, as our faith professes, Ex Patre Filioque.
| 15. Omnia quaecumque habet Pater, mea sunt. Propterea dixi: quia de meo accipiet, et annuntiabit vobis. | 15. All things whatsoever the Father hath, are mine. Therefore I said, he shall receive of mine, and show it to you. |
15. Therefore I said, he shall receive, &c. The present (λαμβάνει) is the more probable reading, but it is used for the future, so that the Vulgate gives the meaning. This verse is variously connected with the preceding, even by Catholic commentators. We believe that Christ is here proving what He has just said, namely, that the Holy Ghost should receive of Him. The proof is this: All whatsoever the Father hath (except, of course, the relation of Paternity) is the Son's; but the Father has spiratio activa: in other words, the Holy Ghost proceeds from Him, therefore He proceeds from the Son also: “All things whatsoever the Father hath are mine; therefore I said, He shall receive of mine, and shew it to you.” Note that this verse, too, furnishes a clear proof of the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son, since the Son has all that the Father hath.
| 16. Modicum, et iam non videbitis me: et iterum modicum, et videbitis me: quia vado ad Patrem? | 16. A little while, and now you shall not see me: and again a little while, and you shall see me: because I go to the Father. |
16. Instead of ού the best supported Greek text reads οὐκέτι (no longer), and omits the words “because I go to the Father.” We are not, however, convinced that the Vulgate is wrong in retaining the words, for the next verse, where they are certainly genuine, makes it clear that our Lord must have used the words here; though, of course, it is possible that St. John did not record them.