John 13:31-32

“ When therefore he was gone out, Jesus says, Now has the Son of man been glorified; and God has been glorified in him. 32. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and will straightway glorify him. ”

These two verses are as if a cry of relief which escapes from the heart of Jesus at the sight of the withdrawing traitor. Some documents reject οὖν, therefore, which would allow us, with many commentators, to connect the words ὅτε ἐξῆλθεν with the preceding clause: “It was night when he went out.” But this useless appendage would weaken the solemn gravity of the brief clause: “ Now it was night. ” And the verb λέγει, he says, would also come in too abruptly. ῝Οτε οὖν must therefore be read: “ When therefore he was gone out, Jesus says. ”

The νῦν, now, which begins the following words, puts them quite naturally in connection with the fact which has just taken place, the departure of Judas. Hengstenberg, Weiss and Keil do not believe in such a connection.

This now, according to them, refers to the impending end of His earthly activity, the result of which Jesus contemplates with joy. This, as it seems to me, is to fail to recognize the connection of ideas which John himself wished to set forth by saying so expressly: “ When he was gone out, He says. ”

The past tense ἐδοξάσθη, is glorified, sums up all the past life of Jesus, up to the scene which has just occurred, and which, in certain respects, is the crowning point of it. Empty human glory, which He had always rejected, has just been expressly declared to be excluded from His work and that of His apostles. The washing of their feet has condemned it; it has just gone out with Judas, who was the stubborn representative of it among the disciples. The true glory, that which comes from God, that which consists in humility and charity, has been realized to the utmost in the person of Jesus; it has just triumphed over the false glory. Some interpreters have referred this term is glorified to the future glory of Jesus, either through His death (Meyer), or through His exaltation to the right hand of God (Luthardt, Gess). But, in John 13:32, Jesus sets in opposition to this verb in the past tense the future δοξάσει, will glorify, to designate His glorification which is to come. Comp. also John 17:10, where He declares Himself already now glorified (δεδόξασμαι) in the hearts of the apostles.

We understand from this why He designates Himself as the Son of man. It is indeed by the humiliation with which He has placed Himself on the level with His brethren and made Himself their servant, that He has obtained this glory.

A glory which consists even in humility does not, like human glory, make him who possesses it a usurper of the glory of God. For this reason He is able to speak of it without scruple as He does here. Its essence is to give all glory to God, as He immediately adds: “ And God is glorified in him. ” In this glory of Jesus that of God Himself has shone forth. The perfection of the paternal character of God has been manifested fully in the person and work of the Son of man, John 13:32. But God cannot abandon him who has made himself the instrument of His glory. “He honors him who serves Him” (John 12:26).

The first words of John 13:32: If God is glorified in him, are rejected by the Alexandrian authorities. But even Tischendorf condemns this omission. Weiss also: “One cannot set aside the suspicion that the omission of these words in the most ancient Codd. is the result of the confounding of the two ἐν αὐτῷ.” Westcott and Hort retain them in spite of everything. The examples of such omissions in the Alexandrian text, however, are numerous, especially in the Sinaitic MS.

The clause: If God is glorified in him, fully explains the transition from the past tense is glorified to the future will glorify, John 13:32. The instrument of the glory of God on the earth, Jesus will be glorified by God in heaven. Could God do less than that which the Son of man has done for Him? This correlation is expressed by the word καί, also, which is placed for this reason at the beginning of the clause; comp. John 17:4-5.

Whether we read ἐν αὐτῷ with B. etc., or ἐν ἑαυτῷ with the T. R. and all the Mjj. except four, the meaning is still: in God. The two limiting phrases: in him (Jesus), and in him or in himself (God), answer to each other. When God has been glorified in a person, He draws him to His bosom and envelops him in His glory. It is thus that the future of Jesus is illuminated to His view in the brightness of His past. And this future is near. The departure of Judas has just revealed to Him the fact of its imminence by announcing that of His death. Soon, says Jesus, alluding to His exaltation through the resurrection and ascension. The second καί is explanatory: “ and that soon.” After having thus, under the influence of what has just occurred, given vent to His personal impressions, Jesus turns to His disciples and makes them the subject of His whole thought.