37, 38. On the last day, the great day of the feast, that is, the eighth day, Jesus cried aloud to the people assembled at the temple. His words mean: If anyone thirst spiritually, let him come to Me by faith, and grace shall be abundantly poured into his soul. The words: Out of his belly, &c., are nowhere to be found in the Old Testament; but, as signifying the abundance of grace in the new dispensation, they convey the sense of many passages of the Old Testament. See Is. xli. 18, xliv. 3.; Ezech. xxxvi. 25; Joel ii. 28.
| 39. Hoc autem dixit de Spiritu, quem accepturi erant credentes in eum: nondum enim erat Spiritus datus, quia Iesus nondum erat glorificatus. | 39. Now this he said of the Spirit which they should receive who believed in him: for as yet the Spirit was not given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. |
39. The Evangelist gives an authentic interpretation of our Lord's words: For as yet the Spirit was not given. These words explain why our Lord spoke of the abundant outpouring of the Spirit as still to come, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, inasmuch as Christ was not yet glorified (xvi. 7). When it is said that the Holy Ghost was not yet given, the meaning is, that He was not yet given so abundantly, so manifestly, or so universally, as He has been since the first Pentecost. It is not meant that the Holy Ghost had not been given to the just of the Old Testament. They, as well [pg 145] as we, had the grace of the Holy Ghost in their souls; moreover, according to the common teaching of the fathers and theologians, they, like the just now, had the Holy Ghost united to their souls, not merely by His grace, but also by a substantial union. This union is not, however, peculiar to the Holy Ghost, but is common to the Three Divine Persons, by reason of their unity of nature, and is only by appropriation attributed to the Holy Ghost. See Franz., De Trin., last Disp.; Corl., pp. 198, 199.
| 40. Ex illa ergo turba cum audissent hos sermones eius, dicebant: Hic est vere propheta. | 40. Of that multitude therefore, when they had heard these words of his, some said: This is the prophet indeed. |
| 41. Alii dicebant: Hic est Christus. Quidam autem dicebant: Numquid a Galilaea venit Christus? | 41. Others said: This is the Christ. But some said: Doth the Christ come out of Galilee? |
| 42. Nonne scriptura dicit: Quia ex semine David, et de Bethlehem castello, ubi erat David, venit Christus? | 42. Doth not the scripture say: That Christ cometh out of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem the town where David was? |
| 43. Dissensio itaqua facta est in turba propter eum. | 43. So there arose a dissension among the people because of him. |
| 44. Quidam autem ex ipsis volebant apprehendere eum: sed nemo misit super eum manus. | 44. And some of them would have apprehended him: but no man laid hands upon him. |
40-44. The Evangelist notes the difference of opinion among the crowd. Some believed Him to be the Prophet promised to Moses (Deut. xviii. 18); others (wrongly distinguishing between the Prophet and the Messias) held Him to be the Messias; others doubted (verse 41); others remained wholly incredulous (verse 44). In verse 42, three different passages of Sacred Scripture are combined: “of the seed of David” (Is. xi. 1); “from Bethlehem” (Mich. v. 2); “the town where David was” (1 Kings xvii. 12).
| 45. Venerunt ergo ministri ad pontifices et pharisaeos. Et dixerunt eis illi: Quare non adduxistis illum? | 45. The ministers therefore came to the chief priests and the Pharisees. And they said to them: Why have you not brought him? |
| 46. Responderunt ministri: Numquam sic locutus est homo, sicut hic homo. | 46. The ministers answered: Never did man speak like this man. |
| 47. Responderunt ergo eis pharisaei; numquid et vos seducti estis? | 47. The Pharisees therefore answered them: Are you also seduced? |
| 48. Numquid ex principibus aliquis credidit in eum, aut ex pharisaeis? | 48. Hath any one of the rulers believed in him, or of the Pharisees? |
| 49. Sed turba haec, quae non novit legem maledicti sunt. | 49. But this multitude that knoweth not the law, are accursed. |
45-49. The officers, who had been sent a few days before to apprehend Christ (see above, [14], [32]), or perhaps other officers, return and bear favourable testimony to Him, for which they are rebuked by the Pharisees.
| 50. Dixit Nicodemus ad eos, ille qui venit ad eum nocte, qui unus erat ex ipsis. | 50. Nicodemus said to them, he that came to him by night, who was one of them. |
| 51. Numquid lex nostra iudicat hominem nisi prius audierit ab ipso, et cognoverit quid faciat? | 51. Doth our law judge any man, unless it first hear him, and know what he doth? |
| 52. Responderunt, et dixerunt ei: Numquid et tu Galilaeus es? Scrutare scripturas, et vide quia a Galilaea propheta non surgit. | 52. They answered and said to him: Art thou also a Galilean? Search the scriptures, and see that out of Galilee a prophet riseth not. |
50-52. Nicodemus (iii. 1, 2) interposes in Christ's favour; to whom the members of the Sanhedrim impatiently reply that no prophet had ever arisen in Galilee, thus disposing, as they thought, of Christ's claim to be a prophet. But they were wrong in their assumption that Christ had been born in Galilee (see Luke ii. 4-7), and equally wrong in the conclusion they drew that, being a Galilean, He could not be a prophet. For the Sacred Scriptures had nowhere said that a prophet could not arise in Galilee; nay, they prove that the prophet Jonas was a Galilean, 4 Kings, xiv. 25.
| 53. Et reversi sunt unusquisque in domum suam. | 53. And every man returned to his own house. |