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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep My saying, he shall never see death." Here He speaketh not of faith only, but of a pure life. Above He said, "shall have everlasting life," but here, "shall not see death." At the same time He hinteth to them that they could do nothing against Him, for if the man that should keep His saying should not die, much less should He Himself.
Cyril of Alexandria
He shows that it is superfluous to array long defences against those who are wont to delight in blaming; for He bends Himself to what was necessary, I mean the calling through faith unto eternal life, and all but bidding farewell to those who had through their unlearning grieved Him, He kneads up His own discourse with a sort of art. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
"If anyone keeps My word," that is, joins to faith a pure life as well (for only he truly keeps the Lord's teaching who also has a pure life), such a person shall not see the death by which sinners die, being delivered in the age to come to endless torment and falling away from the true life. At the same time, He lets them know that if the one who keeps My word does not die, then all the more so do I not die. Why then do you want to kill Me, over Whom death has so little power that I even grant true life to others? …
Western Saints
Augustine of Hippo
See is put for experience. But since, about to die Himself, He spoke with those about to die, what means this, If a man keep My saying, he shall never see death? What, but that He saw another death from which He came to free us, death eternal, the death of the damned, which is shared with the devil and his angels! That is the true death: the other is a passage only.
Gregory the Dialogist
But when the perversity of the wicked increases, preaching must not only not be broken off, but even increased. The Lord admonishes us of this by his own example, who after being said to have a demon bestowed the benefits of his preaching more generously, saying: "Amen, amen, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he shall not see death forever." But just as it is necessary for the good to become even better through insults, so the reprobate always become worse from benefit. …
Thomas Aquinas
Above, our Lord had promised two things to his followers: liberation from darkness and the attainment of life, saying, "He who follows me does not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (8:12). The first of these has been treated above; so we are now concerned with the second, the obtaining of life through Christ. First, he states the truth; secondly he counters its denial by the Jews (v 52). …
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