JOHN 12:40 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.”
'He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn — and I would heal them' — quoting Isaiah 6:10, John attributes the spiritual blindness to God's action: He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts. This presents the difficult theology of divine hardening: God is the agent who prevents perception and understanding, closing the possibility of repentance and healing. This reflects the Johannine tension between human responsibility and divine sovereignty in faith.
Church Fathers on John 12:40
And thus the Evangelist tacitly explains it, when he adds, But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him.
He means the miracles related above. It was no small wickedness to disbelieve against such miracles as those.
It is evident here that the arm of the Lord is the Son of God Himself. Not that the Father has a human fleshly form; He is called the arm of the Lord, because all things v ere made by Him. If a man had power of such a kind, as that without any motion of his body, what he said was forthwith done, the word of that man would be his arm. Here is no ground to justify, however, the error of those who say that the Godhead is one Person only, because the Son is the arm of the Father,…
Read all 13 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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