| 26. In illo die in nomine meo petetis: et non dico vobis quia ego rogabo Patrem de vobis: | 26. In that day you shall ask in my name: and I say not to you, that I will ask the Father for you: |
26. I say not to you, that I will ask the Father for you. The sense is: I need not say, I do not need to tell you, that I will ask the Father for you. This form of expression is what is called “praeteritio,” not “exclusio,” for we know that Christ is “always living to intercede for us” (Heb. vii. 25). The connection in the following verse: “For the Father Himself,” &c., shows that Christ also wished to intimate [pg 291] that such intercession on His part would not be necessary, because the Father Himself would be prompt to hear and answer their prayers. Thus they should understand that, though Christ, their advocate, was leaving them, yet they had no reason to be disheartened, since the Father unsolicited would love them and hear their prayers, because they had loved Christ, and believed Him to be the Messias sent by God.
| 27. Ipse enim Pater amat vos, quia vos me amastis, et credidistis quia ego a Deo exivi. | 27. For the Father himself loveth you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. |
| 28. Exivi a Patre, et veni in mundum: iterum relinquo mundum, et vado ad Patrem. | 28. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world, and I go to the Father. |
28. Taking up the closing words of the preceding verse, He insists upon the truth of what they have believed. For in coming into the world I did come out from God, who is My Father, and now I return to Him in leaving the world, Some commentators refer the words: “I came forth from the Father” to the eternal procession, and the following words to the mission in time; but we think the view we follow more probable; for what is here asserted is what the Apostles had already believed, and we doubt if they yet understood or believed in the eternal procession.
| 29. Dicunt ei discipuli eius: Ecce nunc palam loqueris, et proverbium nullum dicis: | 29. His disciples say to him: Behold now thou speakest plainly, and speakest no proverb. |
29. In saying that He was about to leave the world and go to the Father, He spoke plainly, and explained their doubts of verse 17.
| 30. Nunc scimus quia scis omnia, et non opus est tibi ut quis te interroget: in hoc credimus quia a Deo existi. | 30. Now we know that thou knowest all things, and thou needest not that any man should ask thee. By this we believe that thou comest forth from God. |
30. Seeing that He had read their thoughts (verse 19), and anticipated their inquiries, even for this reason they declare their faith in Him as the Messias and Son of God to be confirmed and made perfect.
| 31. Respondit eis Iesus: Modo creditis? | 31. Jesus answered them: Do you now believe? |
31. Christ's reply does not deny that they believe; yet insinuates, if we take it interrogatively with the Vulgate, that He had reason to doubt the firmness of the faith they boasted, as indeed He goes on to declare plainly in the following verses.