[Wow is the Son of Man glorified, etc., etc.] This is a deep Baying, and not least so because both the verbs are in the past tense. Literally rendered in each case, the verb should be " has been glorified." This is not an uncommon mode of speech. The glorification is so near, so certain, so complete, that it is spoken of as a thing accomplished, and even past. It was accomplished in purpose, and in a few hours would be ac- complished in reality. (iSo John xvii. 4.) The meaning of our Lord may probably be paraphrased thus : " Now has the time come that I, the Son of Man, should be glorified, by actually dying as man's substitute, and shedding my blood for the sins of the world. Now has the time come that God the Father should receive the highest glory by my sacrifice on the cross."
Let it be noted that the Lord regards His own atoning death on the cross as the most glorious part of His work on earth ; and that nothing so tends to glorify the Father's attributes of justice, holiness, mercy, and faithfulness to His promises, as the death of the Son.
Let it be noted that the Lord does not speak of His death as a punishment, or disgrace, or humiliation, but as an event most glorious, — glorifying both to Himself and to the Father. So Christians should learn to " glory in the cross."
If we do not take this view, and adhere to a strictly literal rendering of the verb glorified, as past, as Hengstenberg does, we must suppose it to mean, " Now at last, by my perfect righteousness in life and willingness to suffer in death, I, the Son of man, have received glory, and my Fatlier at the same time has received glory through Me." But the other inter- pretation, taking the past tense for the present or future, is better. "The sacrifice has begun. The last act of my redeem- ing work, — specially glorifying myself and my Father, — has actually commenced or is commencing."
Augustine and Ecolampadius hold that the expression, " Now is the Son of Man glorified," has a special reference to the glo- ry which surrounds our Lord when the wicked are all put away from Him, and He is attended only by saints. This pe- culiar glory was on Him when Judas Iscariot went out, and left Him and His faithful disciples alone.
32. — [If God be glorified in 7iim, etc.] This verse may be para- phrased as follows : " If God the Father be specially glorified in all His attributes by my death, He shall proceed at once to place special glory on Me, for my personal work, and shall do it without delay, by raising Me from the dead, and placing Me at His right hand." It is like the famous passage in Philippi- ans: "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him." It is the same idea that we have in the seventeenth chapter more fully : " I have glorified Thee on the earth ; — now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self." (Phil. ii. 9; John xvii, 5.)