Skip to content

Commentaries
English
John
  
54Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing; it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that He is your God.55But you have not known Him, but I know Him. If I said, I do not know Him, I should be a liar like you; but I do know Him and I keep His word."


Calmly Jesus replied, and revealed his essence in greater detail. He the Christ does not seek glory for himself. He is ever glorious by nature. God guarantees the honor of His Son, as the Father is in the Son, through him God’s Fatherhood is made plain. Yes, the Jews claimed that the omnipotent One is their God, but they did not truly know Him. Their father was Satan hiding himself under "the name of God", using that name falsely. They pretended piety, but were empty of the Spirit of love. Whoever knows God, loves as God loves him. For that reason any religion that alleges that merely to hold on to the name "God" is enough, does not prove the validity of that way of life; the whole creed may be faulty. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All the characteristics and names of the divine essence which other religions mouth are nothing other than elementary ideas. The truth of God lies in the unity of the Trinity. Thus Jesus rebuked the Jews saying, "You do not know Him. Your lives and thoughts are based on lies. You are blind to the truth." At the same, Jesus insisted that he knew the Eternal. If this were not so, his testimony to Fatherhood would have been a lie. But Jesus proclaimed God’s true image to the Jews.