67. Had Christ in the preceding discourse spoken only of faith, surely, all-merciful and loving as He is, He would have made His meaning clear, before allowing many of His disciples to depart from Him for ever. It was only, then, because they understood Him correctly, and refused to believe Him, that He allowed them to depart.
| 68. Dixit ergo Iesus ad duodecim: Numquid et vos vultis abire? | 68. Then Jesus said to the twelve: will you also go away? |
68. The twelve. These are spoken of as well known, though this is the first mention made of their number in this Gospel.
Will you also go away? While the question implies that such desertion was to be feared, its form implies a negative answer, and suggests that in the case of the chosen twelve such conduct ought to be impossible.
| 69. Respondit ergo ei Simon Petrus: Domine, ad quem ibimus? verba vitae aeternae habes: | 69. And Simon Peter answered him: Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. |
| 70. Et nos credidimus, et cognovimus quia tu es Christus Filius Dei. | 70. And we have believed and have known that thou art the Christ the Son of God. |
69-70. Peter replies for all the Apostles (not knowing the unbelief of Judas), and confesses the truth of Christ's doctrine, and, according to the Vulgate reading, the Divinity of Christ. It is very doubtful, however, whether the Vulgate reading here is correct. The oldest Greek MSS. read: “And we have believed and know that Thou art the Holy One (ὁ ἅγιος) of God.” Whether in the mind of St. Peter this latter form of the words meant a full confession of Christ's Divinity, or only that He was the Messias, it is difficult to say. It would seem indeed from the praise bestowed upon Peter by our Lord (Matt. xvi. 16) on an occasion subsequent to this, that then for the first time Peter fully confessed Christ's Divinity.
| 71. Respondit eis Iesus: Nonne ego vos duodecim elegi, et ex vobis unus diabolus est? | 71. Jesus answered them: Have not I chosen you twelve; and one of you is a devil? |
71. Peter had answered as he thought for all the Apostles, but Christ shows that He knows to the contrary. A devil, that is to say a sinner inspired by the devil (viii. 44), Judas was (est) even then.
| 72. Dicebat autem Iudam Simonis Iscariotem: hic enim erat traditurus eum, cum esset unus ex duodecim. | 72. Now he meant Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon: for this same was about to betray him, whereas he was one of the twelve. |
72. The Evangelist explains who was meant. “The name Iscariot has received many interpretations, more or less conjectural, but it is now universally agreed that it is to be derived from Kerioth (Josh. xv. 25) a city in the tribe of Judah, the Hebrew אישׂ קרִות 'īsh Kerīyoth passing into Ἰσκαριώτης” (Smith's B. D., 2nd Ed.). In this view, Judas, unlike the other Apostles (Acts ii. 7), was from the Province of Judea.