(45) He that believeth on me, believeth not on me.--These words do not occur literally in any discourse of our Lord which we now have, but the thought has met us again and again. (Comp. John 5:36; John 7:16; John 7:29; John 8:19; John 10:38.) We are not to weaken the words "not on Me but," into "not (only) on Me but," as is often done. Jesus came not in His own name (John 5:43), but in that of the Father. The Son claimed no position independent of the Father. He was the representative of the Father, and those who believed in Him believed not in the representative as apart from, but in that He represented, the Sender. The same thought occurs in Mark 9:37. (Comp. Note there.)
(45) And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.--The word means to see, in the sense of "behold, contemplate, gaze upon." Better, therefore, And he that beholdeth Me beholdeth Him that sent Me. The form of the expression is different from that of the previous verse, passing from the negative to the positive, in accord with the difference of thought. He that beholdeth Christ doth behold Him, and in Him beholds the impression of the substance of God. The same thought has occurred in the words of the Evangelist in John 1:14, and occurs in the words of our Lord in John 14:9.
12:44-50 Our Lord publicly proclaimed, that every one who believed on him, as his true disciple, did not believe on him only, but on the Father who sent him. Beholding in Jesus the glory of the Father, we learn to obey, love, and trust in him. By daily looking to Him, who came a Light into the world, we are more and more freed from the darkness of ignorance, error, sin, and misery; we learn that the command of God our Saviour is everlasting life. But the same word will seal the condemnation of all who despise it, or neglect it.
And he that seeth me, seeth him that sent me. Not with bodily eyes, for there were many that saw Christ, who never saw the Father: they saw Christ as a mere man, and were offended at the meanness of his outward appearance; they saw nothing divine in him, nor the glory of the Father through him; but with the eyes of the understanding, whoever saw or perceived the glory of Christ in his miracles, saw the glory of God in them also, for the Father that dwelt in him did the works, John 2:11, and whoever truly sees Christ with an eye of faith, sees his glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, as the brightness of his Father's glory, as having the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him, the same perfections as in the Father; so that he that hath seen the one, hath seen the other also, John 14:9.
(45) And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.--The word means to see, in the sense of "behold, contemplate, gaze upon." Better, therefore, And he that beholdeth Me beholdeth Him that sent Me. The form of the expression is different from that of the previous verse, passing from the negative to the positive, in accord with the difference of thought. He that beholdeth Christ doth behold Him, and in Him beholds the impression of the substance of God. The same thought has occurred in the words of the Evangelist in John 1:14, and occurs in the words of our Lord in John 14:9.