Irenaeus — Commentary on Scripture

John 13:5

After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

Now in the last days, when the fulness of the time of liberty had arrived, the Word Himself did by Himself "wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion," when He washed the disciples' feet with His own hands. For this is the end of the human race inheriting God; that as in the beginning, by means of our first [parents], we were all brought into bondage, by being made subject to death; so at last, by means of the New Man, all who from the beginning [were His] disciples, having been cleansed and washed from things pertaining to death, should come to the life of God. For He who washed the feet of the disciples sanctified the entire body, and rendered it clean.

John 14:2 · 2 passages

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

All things belong to God, who supplies all with a suitable dwelling place, even as his Word says that a share is allotted to all by the Father, according as each person is or shall be worthy. And this is the couch on which the guests shall recline, having been invited to the wedding.

As the Head rose from the dead, so also the remaining part of the body—[namely, the body] of every man who is found in life—when the time is fulfilled of that condemnation which existed by reason of disobedience, may arise, blended together and strengthened through means of joints and bands by the increase of God, each of the members having its own proper and fit position in the body. For there are many mansions in the Father's house, inasmuch as there are also many members in the body.

John 14:6

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

But when this name of six letters was manifested (the person bearing it clothing Himself in flesh, that He might come under the apprehension of man's senses, and having in Himself these six and twenty-four letters), then, becoming acquainted with Him, they ceased from their ignorance, and passed from death unto life, this name serving as their guide to the Father of truth.
Since, therefore, the tradition from the apostles does thus exist in the Church, and is permanent among us, let us revert to the Scrip-rural proof furnished by those apostles who did also write the Gospel, in which they recorded the doctrine regarding God, pointing out that our Lord Jesus Christ is the truth.
If ye had known Me, ye would have known My Father also: and from henceforth ye have both known Him, and have seen Him."

John 14:7 · 2 passages

If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

The Son reveals the knowledge of the Father through his own manifestation. For the manifestation of the Son is the knowledge of the Father, since all things are manifested through the Word.

And again, the Lord replied to Philip, who wished to behold the Father, "Have I been so long a time with you, and yet thou hast not known Me, Philip? He that sees Me, sees also the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? For I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; and henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him."

John 14:11

Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.

How, then, could the fruit of ignorance and defect sustain Him who contains the knowledge of all things, and is true and perfect? Or how could that creation which was concealed from the Father, and far removed from Him, have sustained His Word? And if this world were made by the angels (it matters not whether we suppose their ignorance or their cognizance of the Supreme God), when the Lord declared, "For I am in the Father, and the Father in Me"

John 14:28

Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

For if any one should inquire the reason why the Father, who has fellowship with the Son in all things, has been declared by the Lord alone to know the hour and the day

John 15:2

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Concerning Jerusalem and the Lord, they venture to assert that if it had been “the city of the great King,” it would not have been deserted. This is like someone saying that if the stalk were a creation of God, it would never part company with the wheat. And that the vine twigs, if made by God, never would be lopped away and deprived of the clusters. But these [vine twigs] were not originally made for their own sake but for that of the fruit growing on them. When that fruit comes to maturity and is taken away, the twigs are left behind, and those that are not fruitful are lopped off altogether. It was the same way with Jerusalem, which had in itself borne the yoke of bondage … when the fruit of liberty had come, and reached maturity, and been reaped and stored in the barn, and when those which had the power to produce fruit had been carried away from it [i.e., from Jerusalem] and scattered throughout all the world.… Once the fruit, therefore, had been sown throughout all the world, it [Jerusalem] was deservedly forsaken, and those things that had formerly brought forth fruit abundant…

Concerning Jerusalem and the Lord, they venture to assert that if it had been “the city of the great King,” it would not have been deserted. This is like someone saying that if the stalk were a creation of God, it would never part company with the wheat. And that the vine twigs, if made by God, never would be lopped away and deprived of the clusters. But these [vine twigs] were not originally made for their own sake but for that of the fruit growing on them. When that fruit comes to maturity and is taken away, the twigs are left behind, and those that are not fruitful are lopped off altogether. It was the same way with Jerusalem, which had in itself borne the yoke of bondage … when the fruit of liberty had come, and reached maturity, and been reaped and stored in the barn, and when those which had the power to produce fruit had been carried away from it [i.e., from Jerusalem] and scattered throughout all the world.… Once the fruit, therefore, had been sown throughout all the world, it [Jerusalem] was deservedly forsaken, and those things that had formerly brought forth fruit abundantly were taken away. For from these, according to the flesh, were Christ and the apostles enabled to bring forth fruit.

John 15:9-10 · 2 passages

As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

Whoever holds, without pride and boasting, to the true glory regarding created things and the Creator (who is the Almighty God of all and who has granted existence to all) and continues in his [i.e., God’s] love and subjection and continues to give thanks shall also receive from [God] the greater glory of promotion, looking forward to the time when he shall become like him who died for him.

For he who holds, without pride and boasting, the true glory (opinion) regarding created things and the Creator, who is the Almighty God of all, and who has granted existence to all;

John 15:15

Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

Inasmuch as all natural commandments are common to both Christians and Jews, the Jews indeed had the beginning and origin of the commandments, but [those commandments] received their growth and completion in us. For to yield assent to God, and to follow his Word, and to love him above all and one’s neighbor as one’s self (now people are neighbors to one another), and to abstain from every evil deed, and all other things of a similar nature that are common to both [covenants]—all of this reveals one and the same God. But this is our Lord, the Word of God, who in the first instance certainly drew slaves to God, but afterward he set those free who were subject to him, as he himself declares to his disciples, “I will not now call you servants, for the servant does not know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from my Father I have made known.” For when he says, “I will not now call you servants,” he indicates in the most marked manner that it was he who originally appointed for men and women that bondage with respect to God through the law a…

Inasmuch as all natural commandments are common to both Christians and Jews, the Jews indeed had the beginning and origin of the commandments, but [those commandments] received their growth and completion in us. For to yield assent to God, and to follow his Word, and to love him above all and one’s neighbor as one’s self (now people are neighbors to one another), and to abstain from every evil deed, and all other things of a similar nature that are common to both [covenants]—all of this reveals one and the same God. But this is our Lord, the Word of God, who in the first instance certainly drew slaves to God, but afterward he set those free who were subject to him, as he himself declares to his disciples, “I will not now call you servants, for the servant does not know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from my Father I have made known.” For when he says, “I will not now call you servants,” he indicates in the most marked manner that it was he who originally appointed for men and women that bondage with respect to God through the law and then afterward conferred on them freedom. And, in that he says, “For the servant does not know what his lord does,” he points out, by means of his own advent, the ignorance of a people in a servile condition. But when he terms his disciples “the friends of God,” he plainly declares himself to be the Word of God whom Abraham also followed voluntarily and under no compulsion because of the noble nature of his faith—and who thus became “the friend of God.”

John 15:16 · 2 passages

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

For this is the glory of man, to continue and remain permanently in God's service. Wherefore also did the Lord say to His disciples, "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you; "

As much as God lacks nothing, so much do we stand in need of fellowship with God. For this is the glory of humanity: to continue and remain permanently in God’s service. This is also why the Lord said to his disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you,” indicating that they did not glorify him when they followed him but that, in following the Son of God, they were glorified by him.

John 15:26

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

The Lord promised to send the Comforter who would join us to God. For as a compacted lump of dough cannot be formed of dry wheat without liquid, nor can a loaf possess unity, so, in the same way, neither could we, being many, be made one in Christ Jesus without the water from heaven. And as dry earth does not produce fruit unless it receives moisture, in the same way we also, being originally a dry tree, could never have produced life-bearing fruit without the voluntary rain from above.

John 16:7

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

This Spirit did David ask for the human race, saying, "And stablish me with Thine all-governing Spirit;" who also, as Luke says, descended at the day of Pentecost upon the disciples after the Lord's ascension, having power to admit all nations to the entrance of life, and to the opening of the new covenant; from whence also, with one accord in all languages, they uttered praise to God, the Spirit bringing distant tribes to unity, and offering to the Father the first-fruits of all nations. Wherefore also the Lord promised to send the Comforter, who should join us to God. For as a compacted lump of dough cannot be formed of dry wheat without fluid matter, nor can a loaf possess unity, so, in like manner, neither could we, being many, be made one in Christ Jesus without the water from heaven.

John 17:3

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Now to whom is it not clear, that if the Lord had known many fathers and gods, He would not have taught His disciples to know.

John 17:5

And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

For not alone antecedently to Adam, but also before all creation, the Word glorified His Father, remaining in Him; and was Himself glorified by the Father, as He did Himself declare, "Father, glorify Thou Me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was."

John 17:12

While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

For he (Antichrist) being endued with all the power of the devil, shall come, not as a righteous king, nor as a legitimate king, one in subjection to God, but an impious, unjust, and lawless one; as an apostate, iniquitous and murderous; as a robber, concentrating in himself all satanic apostasy, and setting aside idols to persuade men that he himself is God, raising up himself as the only idol, having in himself the multifarious errors of the other idols. This he does, in order that they who do now worship the devil by means of many abominations, may serve himself by this one idol, of whom the apostle thus speaks in the second Epistle to the Thessalonians: "Unless there shall come a failing away first, and the man of sin shall be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God."

John 17:24

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

Service [rendered] to God brings no profit to God, nor does God need our obedience. However, he grants life, incorruption and eternal glory to those who follow and serve him, bestowing gifts on those who serve [him] because they do serve him and on his followers because they do follow him. But he does not receive any benefit from them because he is already rich, perfect and in need of nothing. Still, God demands service from men and women so that he can benefit those who continue in his service, since he is so good and merciful. For as much as God lacks nothing, that is how much we stand in need of fellowship with God, because our glory consists in continuing and remaining permanently in God’s service.