23. They have not the love of God in them,
He says, because they rejected Him coming in the name of the Father,
but accepted another, who came in the same name, and received glory of
one another, but neglected the glory of Him, Who is the only true
God. Is it possible to think that He separates Himself from the
glory of the only God, when He gives as the reason why they seek not
the glory of the only God, that they receive Antichrist, and Himself
they will not receive? To reject Him is to neglect the glory of
the only God; is not, then, His glory the glory of the only God, if to
receive Him steadfastly was to seek the glory of the only God?
This very discourse is our witness: for at its beginning we read,
That all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.
He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which sent
Him Ib. v.
23.. It is only
things of the same nature that are equal in honour; equality of honour
denotes that there is no separation between the honoured. But
with the revelation of the birth is combined, the demand for equality
of honour. Since the Son is to be honoured as the Father Following the
punctuation of the older Editions, and placing the full stop after,
instead of before, the sentence “cum Filius ita honorandus ut
Pater sit.”,
and since they seek not the honour of Him, Who is the only God, He is
not excluded from the honour of the only God, for His honour is one and
the same as that of God: just as He that honoureth not the
Son, honoureth not the Father also, so he who seeks not the honour
of the only God, seeks not the honour of Christ also. Accordingly
the honour of Christ is inseparable from the honour of God. By
His words, when the news of Lazarus’ sickness was brought to Him,
He illustrates the complete identification of Father and Son in
honour: This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of
God, that the Son of Man may be glorified through him. St. John xi. 4, “through him” = through
Lazarus. The Greek is δι᾽
αὐτῆς, “thereby”
(R.V.). Lazarus dies for the glory of
God, that the Son of God may be glorified through him. Is there
any doubt that the glory of the Son of God is the glory of God, when
the death of Lazarus, which is glorious to God, glorifies the Son of
God? Thus Christ is declared to be one in nature with God the
Father through His birth, since the sickness of Lazarus is for the
glory of God, and at the same time the Mystery of the faith is not
violated, for the Son of God is to be glorified through Lazarus.
The Son of God is to be regarded as God, yet He is none the less to be
confessed also Son of God: for by glorifying God through Lazarus,
the Son of God is glorified.